[John Semmens]

The rich salaries and benefits of the current crop of players are subsidized by taxpayer financing for stadiums.

This is on top of all the free advertising given to their product by the media. Every newspaper has a sports section. Every TV news hour has ten minutes set aside for sports. The bulk of the sports coverage is for proefessional teams.

The old time NFL players are stuck in the average guy’s retirement. They’re no worse off than the typical retiree in America.

I have no beef against guys making a living entertaining people via sporting contests. I do have a beef with politicians taxing the average schmos to subsidize wealthy pro-team owners and players.

This inequity arises from the pro-sports empire pitting one community vs. another with threats to take the team elsewhere. What Congress ought to do is levy fees on teams that use publicly financed stadiums in order to retire the public debts incurred in building them and to reimburse taxpayers for the subsidies they’ve been forced to pay. Action at the national level would reduce the leverage teams use against city politicians.

[Badeye]

The league doesn’t owe them a thing.

[theFIRMbss]

>The NFL owes its old and broken-down players nothing. That is just the way it is in business. You negotiate your pension and medical benefits at the time of your employment

Are the athletes pets
and is it their "owner's" job
to look after them

for life, or are they
citizens with their own life?
(But the trouble is,

everybody knows
athletes get no real schooling
so they're really not

equipped to handle
problems of everyday life
like real citizens...)

[bmwcyle]

This is why I will not watch sports any more.

[Zack Nguyen]

So long as no crimes are being committed and no one is being swindled, what business does congress have with the NFL pension system?

[IslandJeff]

When was the NFLPA formed? Sounds like their beef should be with them...

[Forgotten Amendments]

The NFL OWNS Tom Knott. They OWN everyone on ESPN. It makes me sick.

He may be an obnoxious lefty, but Brian Gumble is one of the few voices out there willing to take on the NFL Mafia.

In a couple of generations football will die like boxing is now. It is a vulgar, brutal spectacle now, not the sport I used to love.

[lonestar]

I read in the paper yesterday that Earl Campbell needs help getting out of a car and uses a walker and is followed by an aide with a wheel chair which he often needs.

He said because he was smart to turn finances over to his wife years ago, he is doing fine financially.

[jpl]

My opinion: I think that many of today’s pro athletes who earn sums of money Mike Ditka and his cohorts could never have dreamed of in their time are going to end up destitute in their old age as well, because the concept of saving money simply doesn’t exist in their world view.

[herMANroberts]

I have been to an NFL alumni event. It's sad to see how many are hobbling arounbd on bad knees or hips.

I am not very informed on their retirement salaries, but I hope they get the medical care they need.