NFLPA's Revolving Door

A Call for Transparency and Accountability

NFLPA PAYS OUTSIDE STAFFING AGENCIES $304,610 in Four (4) Years

The NFLPA Human Resources (HR) Department

The following information was compiled from the U.S. Department of Labor, Federation of Professional Athletes (FPA), NFLPA, Labor-Management (LM-2) reports for Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 through Fiscal Year (FY) 2009.

There are approximately one hundred (100) employees at the NFL Players Association and NFL Players:

• FY 2006 = 91 Total employees;
• FY 2007 = 102 Total employees;
• FY 2008 = 100 Total employees;
• FY 2009 = 104 Total employees.

The number of employees under $10,000 is not reported.

The NFLPA has two tiers of employees in each department, managers/supervisors and a separate bargaining unit (support/administrative). The two principal officers in the NFLPA Human Resources (HR) Department that oversee the hiring of the employees are Mary Moran, HR Director and Blake Velcoff, current HR Manager. There are also support/administrative staffers in the HR department whose salaries are not included in the following analysis.

Total Combined salaries for the HR Director and HR Manager(s) = $856,249

FY 2006 =  Moran – $122,037 +   Kelly – $44,662 = $166,700

FY 2007 =  Moran – $161,128 + Velcoff – $33,692 = $194,820

FY 2008 =  Moran – $187,529 + Velcoff – $53,144 = $240,673

FY 2009 = Moran – $196,080 + Velcoff = $57,976 = $254,056

Total   = $856,249

The NFLPA’s policy is to build and retain its staff

Several departments, including the Legal Department have experienced high turnover in staffing. Employees throughout the organization have access to confidential information including player medical reports, personal and financial information. Training and orientation is expensive. The staff is being reconfigured with frequency and there is a poor retention rate. The lack of continuity affects jobs at every level – Support to Executive.

FPA/NFLPA records prior to FY 2006 do not reflect the amount of money spent on staffing agencies. Fortunately, in the past four years, the Labor Department has improved on the required itemization of information that is available to the general public. (See FY 2006 through FY 2009)

Employee lists in the LM-2 reports prior to FY 2006 can be cross-referenced for the rate of attrition. The following summary does not indicate the number of people who were hired by the NFLPA HR Department without the assistance of staffing agencies. Therefore the rate of turnover could be higher than indicated by the following information. When reading this information please remember that it is the NFLPA’s policy is to build and retain its staff.

Staffing Agencies Paid $304,610!

There were approximately 19 employees who were hired with the assistance of three (3) staffing agencies over a period of four years (FY 2006 through FY 2009). The total fees of $304,610 were paid to:

• The Choice Inc. = $267,610;
• Roth = $25,000;
• Mica Sports = $27,000; and
• Ruth Postow Staffing Agency = $11,104.*

Placement Fees Paid to Staffing Agencies for 19 employees

FY 2006 = Total fees paid were: $  59,502 for 4 employees

FY 2007 = Total fees paid were:  $104,987 for  9 employees **

FY 2008 = Total fees paid were:  $ 25,703 for  2 employees

FY 2009 = Total fees paid were:  $114,418 for 4 employees

*LM-2 breakdown:

FY 2006 – ($59,502) The Choice Inc. Staffing Agency was paid $16,000 + $32,398 non-itemized fees = $48,398 for three (3) employees. The Ruth Postow Staffing Agency was paid $11,104 for one (1) employee.

FY 2007 – ($104,987) The Choice Staffing Agency was paid $82,216 + $22,771 non-itemized fees = $104,987 for nine (9) employees.

FY 2008 – ($25,703) The Choice Inc. was paid $15,000 + $10,703 non-itemized fees = $25,703 for two (2) employees.

FY 2009 – ($114,418) The Choice Inc. Staffing Agency was paid $20,070 + $42,348 non itemized fees = $62,418 for two (2) employees (Website Administrator $13,470 and Paralegal $6,600 = $20,070).  Roth Staffing was paid $25,000 Sr. Accounting Manager for one (1) employee.  Mica Sports Executive Staffing was paid $27,000 VP of Licensing for one (1) employee.

** Only 4/9 employees from FY 2007 are still listed on the 2009 NFLPA website. That means that two (2) or three (3) years after being hired, five (5) out of nine (9) people were no longer employed and $47,410 was expended and lost in placement fees.

$1,160,859 Paid for HR Director + HR Manager Salaries + Placement Fees

FY 2006 = $166,700 HR Dir. and HR Mgr.  + $  59,502 placement fees = $226,202

FY 2007 = $194,820 HR Dir. and HR Mgr.  + $104,987 placement fees = $299,807

FY 2008 = $240,673 HR Dir. and HR Mgr.  + $  25,703 placement fees = $266,376

FY 2009 = $254,056 HR Dir. and HR Mgr.  + $114,418 placement fees = $368,474

Totals =  $856,249              +                    $304,610          =            $1,160,859

Summary

From FY 2006 to FY 2009, the NFLPA has paid over $1,160,859 in salaries and placement fees for the Human Resources Department toward the administration of a staff of one hundred (100) employees. Approximately 40% of NFLPA employees have been retained with 5 to 30 years of service and 60% of NFLPA employees have 5 or less years of service.

Approximately 19/60 newly and recently (5 years or less) hired employees were recruited through Staffing Agencies from FY 2006 – FY 2009. In one instance, for FY 2008 – a $10,000 PLACEMENT FEE was paid for a Receptionist position!  What was the salary for that position? What percentage of the Receptionist’s salary was paid in placement fees?

How are placement fees determined? What does the term “non-itemized” mean (on the LM-2 report)? What are the “non-itemized” costs associated with the Staffing agencies?

There is a certain amount of turnover that is expected in any organization. However, individuals who are being paid high salaries and high placement fees for their “knowledge and expertise,” appear to be benefiting more financially than the organization.

The NFLPA deserves a better return for the money that they spend. The NFLPA pays a lot of money to agencies to find “qualified” employees. A lot of time has been spent providing orientation and on-the-job training to new hires. The NFLPA pays salaries with great benefits, but only receives a short-term return on services, continuity and retention.

Why are people leaving such a desirable workplace? Is there a hostile working environment? How many people have been fired or harassed out of job opportunities and a career in professional sports at the NFLPA?

Submitted by:

Last week, Dave received a note and a packet of paperwork from Eden Haladay at the NFL Player Care Foundation. Dave had no idea why they were even sending him something like this but we took some time to look over the paperwork and the process involved.

Keep in mind that over the years, Dave’s experiences with the various “programs” have generally resulted in a lot of skepticism and made cynics out of most of us who have followed these things for a while. The best recent example was Dave’s experience with the Hip Replacement program (read about some of that in a recent post HERE).

Check out the application forms as well as all the Disclosures and caveats attached. Basically, they want you – and your spouse – to submit to what amounts to a full body-cavity search for financial and criminal background information. All this while the NFL hides behind its antitrust protection and the NFLPA continues to demand an audit of the NFL’s books – even as they both continue to keep as much information on themselves hidden as they possibly can. The Player Care Foundation wants at least two years of your tax returns – along with your spouse’s tax returns. Apparently, this is now going to be their new policy in processing applications. While we can understand the need to prevent fraud, there’s absolutely no assurances that your information will be kept confidential and not used against you for their own ends. During Upshaw’s reign, Dave’s personal, confidential medical information was posted online for a while in their White Paper debacle (read about that HERE) – a clear violation of HIPAA laws.

It’s not like they hand out much money to the few applicants who manage to apply but the real question remains: If the pension and disability benefits programs were actually functional and worked the way they were supposed to work – while at least matching that of MLB – would any of these window-dressing programs developed and run by hired bureaucrats be necessary? Shouldn’t the objective be to clear the roadblocks and make it easier for the retired players to get access to what’s owed to them rather than have them jump through endless hoops for something that’s not there? (As always, click on each page to enlarge for easier reading.)

Roger the Hutt and Princess Jane

Last Friday, we posted a short piece on what has been the typical divide-and-conquer approach to keeping the retired and active players divided (read that last post HERE), especially now that the NFLPA has a new Executive Director who seems to be intent on changing the status quo. And with the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) looming overhead, things must be getting interesting in the NFL war room. Some people may have had an “Oh crap!” moment last Friday after a letter from Commissioner Goodell was dumped into the US Postal System just before we put up that Roger the Hutt piece. The letter was sent to a mailing list of retired players and has already been arriving at East Coast addresses earlier this week. Read the letter for yourself to understand the owners’ generosity in continuing to fund the “Independence” of the NFL Alumni (click on the images to enlarge for reading). The Commissioner also included a flyer so you can see some of the other fine programs they’re rolled out to help you.

So this is what Commissioner Goodell learned from his fact-finding road trip? More on Dave’s encounter with the NFL Player Care Foundation in an upcoming post!

UPDATE: We noticed that the NFL’s fancy flyer includes the banners from MyGoalLine.com and NFLPlayerCare.com which both have the NFLPA’s logo as a co-sponsor of those programs (which is true). So does the NFLPA actually endorse this new “Alumni/Alliance” in any way, shape or form?

Roger the Hutt and Princess Jane (click to enlarge)

Now that the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) has taken center stage in the negotiations between the NFL and NFLPA, it’s getting down and dirty between the owners and the players and the war of words is heating up between NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith. And naturally, the old divide-and-conquer approach that worked in the past is getting rolled out again in an attempt to pit active and retired players on opposite sides of the fence by making “offerings of peace.”

So recently, the NFL announced its new Spinal Treatment Program (read about that in an earlier post HERE) to add to last year’s phenomenally successful – albeit relatively unused – Hip Replacement Program from which Dave received a whopping $517.63 for over $100,000 of surgery and rehab! (Dave’s going in for more spine surgery next month.) Roger must have been inspired by his short-lived Revival Meetings with retired players to listen to what was most important to retired players (Duh! Like no one knew!).

Some days, you can relate this whole saga to the long-running Star Wars series of Good against Evil and the rebellious Jedi warriors against the ominous Empire: an unlikely band of retired players going up against the money and power of a corrupt and overwhelming group of owners and old guard bent on destroying them. Boy – can we have a field day with this one! So for a quiet Friday, we present Roger the Hutt and his captive – or captivating – Princess Jane, conspiring on how to divide the insurgent rebels (with apologies to Jabba the Hutt and George Lucas). Who would you choose for which roles?

Kids today have lots of short acronyms they use for text-messaging. One of our favorites is ROTFLMAO: Rolling on the Floor Laughing My A** Off! That’s what came to mind the minute we heard this one earlier today. We just had to share it with everyone.

Remember Jean Fugett (President of the NFL Retired Players Steering Committee)? (Read some past posts on his gems of wisdom HERE, HERE, and HERE.) Either this guy is delusional again or he’s been taken out back to the woodshed and given a serious attitude adjustment. Today on the NFLPA’s website under their Leadership Corner (?) post for the day, Fugett now says, “ON TURNING TO THE UNION IN TIMES OF NEED: We want to make sure every retired player knows–whether he’s vested or not, recently retired or not, has a family or not — that we’re here for him. If he has a problem or a need, the union has experts, professionals and former teammates who can address nearly any issue and genuinely want to help. Retired players just need to pick up the phone.” (Read the rest of the post HERE.)

This from the same guy who stated earlier, “It is the same today with our retired group. Not all retired players support our Union. I was asked why and I can only speculate. Do they have their own individual agendas? Are they selfish or greedy like the NFL owners who say they want to take back from the players. Do they work for the NFL?

“Or, …are they depressed ex-players who were kicked in the head as a player and then kicked to the side of the road after their careers ended, now old and frustrated looking at this great game they helped to build, feeling nobody cares and that the world has passed them by.

“Honestly, if you come to the table and get the information and know the facts, one must wonder why would anyone who supports the active Players, especially a former player, would want to publicly attack the NFLPA and help the owners to divide and pull down the only organization that has consistently been there for all players, especially retired players, for over twenty-five years.”

We’re asking all retired players to pick up that phone and call Mr. Fugett. Tell him what you think. Please!!!

Maybe we should be thanking DeMaurice Smith. After all, he signed the 2008 LM-2 even though he didn’t step into office until this Spring. Some of these items seem to be listed out in more detail than last year and there are other details that weren’t disclosed in the 2007 LM-2.

• Electronic Arts Inc. Pg. 48 Amount $29,873,436.00 (WOW! here we go again – EA paid royalties for 2008 that totaled MORE than what the entire settlement was for the Players Inc. lawsuit, folks!) (Question: Just how many retired players have current GLA agreements for Players Inc. now? Or perhaps we should say, “How few?”)
• NFL Ventures: Sports Organizations Pg. 56 Amount $41,513,624.00 (Please explain)
• Don Russ Playoff Inc. (Licensee): pg. 59 $6,715,129.00
• Octagon Football: pg. 779 Amount: $411,929.00 (What is Octagon Football?)
• Super Bowl Game (tickets?) pg 789 Amount: $289,800.00 ( Who were these tickets for?)
• Washington Redskins: Pg. 794 Amount $141,929.00 ( What is this for?)
• NFL Coaches Assoc. (Group licensing) Pg. 776 Amount $500,000.00 (Does the NFLPA also represent NFL coaches now?)
• NFL Management Council Pg. 777 Amount $221,774.00 (What could this be for?)
• Weil, Gotshal & Manages: (Attorney fees) : Pg. 794 Amount $628,646.00 (What services did they provide?)
• NFL Experience (tickets) Pg. 777 Amount $8,033.00 (Even more tickets? Heck – between all the free tickets given to the NFLPA, the Alumni AND the NFL, no wonder paid tickets cost so damn much!)
• Dewey, Leboef: (Attorney fees) Pg. 756 Amount $8,146,976 (Was this all for the Players Inc. debacle?)
• Groom Law Group (Attorney fees) Pg. 762 Amount $586,355.00 (Which part of the disability debacle is this for?)
• The Fairmont Kea Lani Maui: Pg. 798 Amount $1,369, 082.00 Nothing but the best for the NFLPA Leadership. (Guess this must this include room service?)
• The Nanny Connection (again): Hawaii: child care provider 2008 NFLPA board meeting pg. 801 Amount $7,112.00 (How many children were each NFLPA leader allowed to bring?)
• NFLPA Board Meeting (United Airlines) Pg. 805 Amount $322,399,00 (These were first class seats? Just exactly how many people do they have?)
• Ritz- Carlton Hotel: Puerto Rico NFLPA Retired Players 2008 convention Pg. 803 Amount $227,040,00 (Steering Committee: Where’s the next meeting?)
• Gaguas, Puerto Rico: NFLPA Retired players 2008 convention Pg. 799 Amount $28,255.00 (Is this another child care expense or…?)
• Retired Chapters Officers Meeting Pg. 799 Amount $52,806.00 (Where did this important meeting take place? We KNOW we didn’t spend this much to put on our entire Summit!)

Find any other juicy LM-2 goodies that we need to point out? Drop us a line!

Remember Gene Upshaw’s Truth Squad that was going to tell-all and expose all those awful claims those nasty retired players like Dave Pear were saying about him and the NFLPA. (You can read Dave’s post from back in April 2008 by clicking HERE.) We decided to take that trip back down Memory Lane and see what happened to The Truth Squad. Lo and behold, we were shocked to see they still have a Truth Squad page up (under the News section). So we checked it out:

While we were at it we also check out that White Paper that was supposed to go with the ‘Truth.’

Don’t believe us? See all of this for yourself. Go to NFLPlayers.com (click HERE), type in Truth Squad or White Paper into the Search bar at the top of the page.

UPDATE: A little birdie just told us that The Groom Law Group has A HAND in maintaining and updating the NFLPA website (?!!) among their many other responsibilities like developing that dysfunctional excuse for a Disability & Pension Benefits Plan. So does that mean these guys have been responsible for disseminating ‘The Truth’? Can anyone confirm this for us?

First the press release that just hit the AP newswire today:

NFL Starts Spinal Program for Players

The NFL is starting a spinal treatment program for retired players.

The league will make specialists available at five hospitals across the United States to evaluate and treat retirees with spinal injuries.

It will be available to any player whose pension is vested, which comes after he has played three seasons plus four games.

The hospitals involved in the program are Mount Sinai in New York City; the Emory University Orthopaedics and Spine Hospital in Atlanta; UCLA Health System in Los Angeles; the U of California in San Francisco; and Washington University in St. Louis.

Each medical center provides an orthopedic spinal surgeon who will direct the program and also includes a neurosurgeon. Players who can’t afford treatment can get financial aid from the NFL Player Care Foundation.

Looks like Mary-Ann Fleming is going to be running another new program for the NFL! After such great successes as their hip replacement program, get ready for another underwhelming success! Some of you may still remember Dave’s left hip replacement surgery from last summer (click HERE to read about that and see gory pictures). At that time, the NFL had announced a new hip replacement program, conveniently timed to keep Congressional inquiries at bay for a while. The program seemed decent on the surface much like this Spinal Program. “Hey – we feel your pain. So we’re gonna take care of you guys.” Of course, like most of these programs, there probably isn’t much there when you peek behind the curtain. The hip replacement program also had clinics lined up to take care of the retired players – just like this Spinal Program. And the NFL offered financial aid to those who couldn’t afford it – just like this Spinal Program.

Here’s what they didn’t tell you about that hip replacement program: You have to make your own way to the clinic of your choice. You have to pay for everything and then submit your bills to them for review, approval and reimbursement. Just don’t hold your breath waiting. After months and months of going back-and-forth with people like Mary-Ann Fleming (NFL’s Manager of Player Benefits) and Valerie Cross (NFL’s Director of Player Benefits) and sending in several packages of co-pay and medication bills, Dave finally got a check! At first, they only offered enough to pay for a t-shirt and two seat cushions (read that post HERE). Then months later (actually early this year), they finally sent Dave a check for a whopping $517.63 (you can see that HERE)! And we still don’t know how many people have actually been successful in getting real help from this program. No one’s ever contacted us to confirm that they’ve gotten a complete hip replacement paid for by the NFL. Forgive us for being so cynical, but if you can’t run a real Hip Replacement Program, why bother telling everyone you’re now going to start a new Spinal Program?

What we haven’t told anyone up until now is that Mary-Ann Fleming had contacted Dave a couple of weeks before The Summit in Las Vegas at the end of May. She indicated that she wanted to resolve Dave’s additional costs from that hip replacement surgery but suggested that she had never received Dave’s HIPAA release so they could access his records for confirmation. Never mind that Dave had sent that along to her late last year by e-mail and US Mail and it had also been CC:’ed to his disability attorney John Hogan, as well as to Eden Halady (NFL’s Player Benefits) and Valerie Cross! Dave and I had to pick ourselves off the floor after reading her excuse in a return e-mail (a modern version of The-Dog-Ate-My-Homework!) click on the e-mail to enlarge it for reading:

And now these same highly-paid professionals are going to start another program?!!

Mary-Ann Fleming at The Summit

Oh yeah – at The Summit, Dave handed Mary-Ann Fleming another file folder of bills from his hip surgery that he’s received since that last check. Me – I’m not happy because I lost a bet with Dave; I actually thought they might hand him a check at The Summit just to look good before setting up their table outside of the conference hall to promote NFL benefits programs.

Mr. D Smith Goes to Washington

If there was ever a story that probably comes close to describing NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith’s journey to his new office, it would have to be the old movie classic, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (read about it on IMDb HERE). IMDb summarizes it this way: “A naive man is appointed to fill a vacancy in the US Senate. His plans promptly collide with political corruption, but he doesn’t back down.” And if you’ve never seen the movie, this is one classic well worth watching. (Click on the poster to enlarge it for better viewing and printing.)

Much like the movie’s protagonist (played in the 1939 Frank Capra classic by James Stewart), Mr. Smith drops into Washington D.C. only to find himself battling a corrupt cast of characters all around him. A lot of people are still understandably skeptical about his abilities to make the changes necessary to undo 25+ years of corruption. But so far, we’ve seen small, encouraging signs of change in the NFLPA. Those most resistant to change will likely be those with the most to lose in this game. We have no doubt that it was De Smith’s own decision to walk away from the appeal to the Players Inc. lawsuit started by Bernie Parrish. While there’s a long way to go in getting the changes that retired players need in their disability and pension benefits, De Smith has to be given credit for taking this bold initiative.

The beginning of a long journey starts with the first step.

While the cat’s away, the mice will play. There seem to be lots of conflicting public comments floating around these days. Since when did Miki Yaras-Davis become a spokesperson or advocate for retired players benefits and rights?

From Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback on SI.com:

“The NFL is refuting the assertion by NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith that benefits for needy retired players would be slashed in an uncapped year. Smith told me over the weekend that he’s highly motivated to get a deal done with the owners in the next 10 months to avoid the league slashing benefits to some handicapped veterans by as much as three-quarters if the league ever came to the imposition of an uncapped year, which the league says would happen if no deal is reached by next spring.

I’m told by a league official that the NFL does have the option to reduce payouts to retired players in an uncapped year, but there is no requirement to do so. “We have never said that we intend to reduce funding for disability benefits … and the union has not raised this issue with us,” the spokesman said.

Any decision on this is a ways off, I’m told. In addition, with the strides Commissioner Roger Goodell has made in repairing bridges with retired players, I’d be surprised if he imposed such a heavy cut with the retirees. The union told me players injured in games and having to go on permanent disability would have their benefits reduced by $224,000 per year to $48,000.

The response from the union today — Smith is in San Diego preparing to meet with the Chargers players — came via NFLPA director of benefits Miki Yaras-Davis: “The one and only way to guarantee these benefits is to get a successful CBA signed before an uncapped year. Otherwise we fear that they will go the way of coaches pensions.”"

And an earlier update from King’s news about that fire in DeMaurice Smith’s office. So the REAL question is: Who left a candle lit in DeMaurice’s private bathroom at 5:00 a.m. in the early morning hours while he was away from his office most of the week?

Tuesday June 2, 2009

“As you read this, NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith might still be assessing the damage in his Washington office after what can best be described as a bizarre fire in the bathroom adjacent to his office around 5 a.m.

I’m told Smith was approaching Washington at that time, on a red-eye flight back to D.C. after spending Monday with the San Francisco 49ers, filling in the players on the upcoming negotiations with owners. A union spokesman told me the fire was started from a candle in the bathroom, and that far more damage was done by water from the sprinkler system in the office than by the actual fire. The office and bathroom were drenched by the sprinklers, and apparently the computer system and files in the office are safe, but some of the memorabilia from Gene Upshaw’s era — which Smith kept intact in the office — might be damaged.”"

We’re always astounded with the creative accounting that comes out of the NFLPA. Now that the 2008 LM-2 (see the earlier post and full LM-2 HERE) has been finally released, there’s going to be a lot of articles and commentary on what different people find when reading this 810-page tree killer. Daniel Kaplan and Liz Mullen from Sports Business Journal pointed out a couple of their favorite tidbits this morning (read the entire piece HERE). Among the gems in the Journal article was the fact that Gene Upshaw’s widow received her husband’s deferred compensation probably in excess of $10 million.

“The union attributed the $16.5 million decline, to $276.7 million, to a deferred compensation payout to late Executive Director Gene Upshaw’s estate and to soft apparel sales. The decline is disclosed in the union’s latest annual report, which was filed late last month with the Labor Department and covers the period of March 1, 2008, through Feb. 28, 2009.

“There was a deferred compensation held in trust for Gene Upshaw that was paid to his estate upon his death,” said NFLPA general counsel Richard Berthelsen. “Under these deferred compensation plans, the employer holds the deferred comp as an asset until it is paid out to the employee.”

Berthelsen would not provide further details about Upshaw’s deferred compensation but said it was “the lion’s share” of the decrease in assets. Upshaw died in August.”

Then there are the lawyers:

“According to the report, the union paid, its outside counsel, $9.9 million during the year. Some of that was for the firm’s work defending the union against a lawsuit from retired players seeking licensing money, a matter that included a five-week trial. The union has appealed the decision that was made in favor of the players.

Dewey & LeBoeuf has defended the union in other matters over the past year, as well, including the StarCaps litigation, the CBS Interactive litigation, and grievances involving players Michael Vick and Plaxico Burress.”

So the retired players won $26.25 million in the announced settlement – likely to be paid out over a couple of years – and Upshaw’s widow got over $10 million immediately and Kessler’s law firm probably also got paid at least another $5 million for the class action trial. Interesting how the NFLPA can find a way to pay some people quicker than others.

And it looks like their insurer paid off some of their class action legal costs (page 43):

“The union also received a $5.5 million insurance payment from AIG in the past year, according to the LM-2. Berthelsen called it “a payment of insurance policy covering us for litigation,” but he declined further specific comment, saying cases are pending.”

And here’s one more from our own late night reading: On Page 65 of the same section as the AIG payout, there’s a line item under Eugene Upshaw Superbowl Tickets $24,000!

Wow!

We already have guys like Mike Florio starting to work toward dividing the Players who were recognized in the suit. Seems to me that there are always those who want to pit players against one another like Pit Bull Dogs. Why didn’t Mike mention that the Man who initiated the suit and provided the early financing is not even a member of the Class and isn’t even getting paid. (Click HERE to read that post from Mike Florio on ProFootballTalk).

I think that folks should just calm down a bit and give both Parrish and Smith time to gather their thoughts and we can hear how they see it all in thirty days or so. I just hope that all of the boys who do get paid will kick in the $1,000.00 to the war chest that Bernie has requested for the legal actions that we have planned so that ALL retired players can get a few bucks next time.

I also find it funny to hear darn near everybody taking credit for this settlement and the check isn’t even signed yet. Why weren’t they taking credit for us “getting our bubble gum taken” when “Mean Gene” aka “Darth Vader” was staring them down?

It was probably a wise move on the Owners part when they hooked up with the “Fourth and Alumni” fellas and it was smart on the part of Smith to put a “maybe settlement” on the table. It’s just politics folks, just politics. That’s the way and nature of the game.

Bob Grant

Getting our hands on the NFLPA’s 2007 LM-2 financial report to the US Dept. of Labor was as close as we can get to a forensic audit of how the Union spent (or misspent) everyone’s money (read that post from last February about 2007’s LM-2 HERE). And once again, it took a while to find it and even longer to download (crashed my browser a few times) and save as a PDF file (crashed a couple of times again!). But now we have all 810 pages of this file and it was around 5 Meg of data. Then we also had to break it up into smaller sections so the special document viewer wouldn’t choke on it. So at last, here it is!

Some interesting things we noticed on first glance:

It was signed by NFLPA President Kevin Mawae and new Executive Director DeMaurice Smith on May 28th, 2009 (like last year). But DeMaurice Smith wasn’t the head honcho in 2008. It was Gene Upshaw until August 2008 and then General Counsel Richard Berthelsen was acting Executive Director until a permanent replacement was put in place this year. Does that make DeMaurice Smith fiscally responsible for what happened last year BEFORE his watch?

You may remember the Jeff Nixon post about Drew Brees and the ensuing comments from retired players about his callous attitude towards them (read that HERE). Guess what? On Page 14 under the section All Officers and Disbursements to Officers, Brees was paid a total of $434,847 as Vice President of the NFLPA (page 14). While we haven’t yet looked into the details of what all that money was for, he was definitely better paid than former President Troy Vincent who only received $24,841 (before he was kicked out by Gene Upshaw for bringing up the idea of a successor) and current President Kevin Mawae, who received a paltry $27,442. Now we understand! Perhaps THAT’S why they call Drew Brees VICE President! All the other Vice Presidents received around $20 – $25,000 apiece last year (?).

And 2008 Executive Director Gene Upshaw received $1,256,281 while Richard Berthelsen got $1,013,351 last year. But wait! There’s more! Andre Collins, Director of Retired Players, received a total of $155,957 (page 18) while Director of Human Resources, Mary Moran, (daughter of snitch Congressman Jim Moran) made even more salary at $207,335 (page 26)!

We’re going to spend a week or two collectively looking over this piece of documentation and we’ll probably be posting a lot more observations as we find them. In the meantime, if any of our readers find any interesting gems and tidbits, please feel free to add your comments or send them to us so we can include them in a future post.

HOW TO USE DOCSTOC: You can enlarge the viewing window simply by clicking the FULL SCREEN button in the upper right corner of the navigation menu bar at the top. You can also download each section by clicking on the DocStoc button to go to their site where you’ll have a download option. And, of course, you can search for names or items simply by typing it into the search bar in the upper left corner of the menu bar and then clicking GO.

Part 1 – Sections 1 – 17 • Pages 1 – 94:

Part 2 – Section 18 Part 1 • Pages 95 – 345:

Part 3 – Section 18 Part 2 • Pages 346 – 594:

Part 4 – Section 18 Part 3 & Sections 19 -20 • Pages 595 – 810:

The NFLPA/Players Inc. lawsuit has just been leaked as settled for approximately $26 million! Read more on ESPN (click HERE).

(Oh – and what was that about your Grandmother, Jeffrey Kessler?!! Read his quote way back HERE.)

UPDATE:

Today, Herb Adderley was in a press conference confirming that the lawsuit was finally officially settled between the retired players and the NFLPA/Players Inc. for $26.25 million of the $28.1 million awarded from the trial in November 2008. It indicates that the NFLPA may have realized the high risk involved in pursuing an appeal. It may also have been a sign of a new direction in the NFLPA leadership as well as a clear denunciation of Jeffrey Kessler’s years of a combative style of litigation.

The retired players have been solidly proven to be right in their stand and while their Union – the NFLPA leadership – was clearly proven wrong in what they did in misrepresenting and defrauding them. Bernie Parrish’s years of tireless work in leading to this conclusion is finally vindicated.

New NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith certainly has his hands full. With the CBA negotiations in full throttle and an office full of old guard still trying to pull strings, he’s starting to get a small idea of the kind of organization that his predecessor Gene Upshaw left behind. (And he came home from a trip to the West Coast to find a fire in his office!)

We know that advice is generally only worth what you pay for it but we do have some free advice to pass on to him.

As retired players, we only have a few issues that really matter to us. First and foremost – despite all the factions and bickering going on now that the first Summit has concluded – disability and pension reform is still at the top of the list for each and every one of them. When you read all the comments that have been coming in on any of the posts, all of the players are calling for a full GAO audit of the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Retirement Fund. We all need to know how the money in this fund has been managed and dispersed (or not) in the past and we need to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

And dropping the appeal to the Players Inc. lawsuit would be a great first gesture of good faith. In one single move, you’d be sending a clear message to a lot of people. You’ll be showing the good faith and respect that the retired players have been waiting so long to receive and you’ll be sending a clear message to those inside your organization who continue to foment this decades-long battle with the very people who built the NFL and the NFLPA into what it is today. And it will gain you the respect of ALL players – active AND retired.

These are all simple solutions that will not only cost very little but will go a very long way to re-building the relationship with the people you claim to represent.

Oh – and one last item. You need to leave behind some old baggage. Some VERY old baggage. They’re like in-laws – after a few days…