“A man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it, is committing another mistake.”
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While the NFL and the NFLPA continue to roll out one press release after another about the wonderful progress they’re making for today’s players on brain concussions, our focus has always remained focused on disability and pension benefits for its veteran players. Without the growing voices of the veterans to emphasize the long-term damages of life after football, we doubt if much of the progress we’ve seen today would even be happening. With help from our friends in the media and in Congress, our hope is to not only educate the fans and the general public about the long term effects of brain concussions but to also promote and advance new research into possible treatments for the problem. Like all things in life, everything is related directly or indirectly: Anything that benefits the retired players will surely help the active players, perhaps even on the field immediately after an injury. It would seem as though the NFL is slowly coming out of its decades of denial in finally acknowledging that concussions are bad for you. Now we have to get them to not only go back and pay those men who have long suffered in silence from being ignored by their employers but to look forward to ways of treating their suffering. And in doing so, we’ll not only be helping those hurt from the past but also those playing today and into the future.
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By openly studying and helping the veterans of the game, the direct and indirect benefits to all athletes as well as to the public at large far outweigh the flawed logic of denial. Retired players have benefited from the generosity of Dr. Daniel Amen and his clinical studies on the long-term aftereffects of concussions. And Dr. Ken Stoller has recently been treating some retired players with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) with promising results. We just received a detailed piece from Dr. Stoller on how the process works and his hands-on treatment with George Visger and Wayne Hawkins. Perhaps it’s only wishful thinking to hope that the NFL and the NFLPA will work together to provide these latest treatments for both its injured players on the field and off the field. We envision mandatory brain scans when new players enter and leave the game, as well as scans for all retired players. We also believe that HBOT may well be standard equipment in locker rooms in the future and retired players should all have direct access to such treatments as well.
A little history lesson and my jog down memory lane that others also might not have known:
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Economics 201 says that all businesses are valued on a cash flow basis thus valuations are set BASED ON SAID CASH FLOW… now let’s look at some simple FACTS:
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In 1986, John Mecom sold the New Orleans Saints for $65 million;
Prior to 1987, the NFLPA never had the “big bucks” to launch a big legal fight because the dues collected from the players prevented it due to meager salaries… but in 1987, the NFLPA told Topps Bubble Gum “$20 million for players’ rights (PREVIOUSLY FREE) on your bubble gum cards or up-and-comer Scoreboard Bubble Gum would…” They paid and the cash needed to launch a legal fight was now in hand;
The NFLPA then took said $20 million and hired a huge law firm and sued the NFL owners on the legality of the draft (aka indentured AND AN OBVIOUS VIOLATION OF THE ANTITRUST LAWS OF THIS COUNTRY). You see, the owners have always lobbied the politicians and they have always obliged the owners and changed the laws for the greater good (aka redistribution of wealth). Screw the players for the “common good.” (Geez – will it ever stop? No, it won’t.)
The NFLPA eventually won 14 consecutive lawsuits on said illegality;
NFL owners’ lawyers advised the owners: You’d better settle because to continue could BE VERY COSTLY and you WILL lose the draft and all control of your “feeder stock” (that would be us – the players );
Then the owners cut a deal with the players and made a HUGE increase in players’ salaries (many got several hundred % increases which have evolved to what is being enjoyed today by current players). Obviously, Upshaw never even said sorry to all of you guys who built this game and only let the active players “eat from the plate.” (Damn, retiring in 1985, I missed the big bucks! But if I had been really smart, I would have invented the Internet – LOL!);
One example: In a matter of days, Reggie White left Philly at $400,000 a year and went to Green Bay for $3.5 million a year;
Over the next 15 years, even while paying this HUGE money in salaries (compared to before the lawsuits) to hundreds and hundreds of players, a guy in Houston now owns the Texans which are now worth $965 million (Forbes annual estimate)! A $900 MILLION DOLLAR INCREASE, ALL WHILE PAYING SEVERAL HUNDRED PERCENT MORE IN SALARY TO PLAYERS! Imagine that!
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve received a huge volume of e-mails for all sorts of remarkable deals that range from new licensing deals to medical miracles to more golf outings (that’s in addition to all the get-rich-quick schemes and Nigerian scam deals!). Among the most common e-mails of late have been those “recruitment” sites that ask all retired players to sign up for a licensing deal immediately. Lots of talk and absolutely no substance on just exactly what they intend to do once they have your name on that licensing agreement. They don’t tell you exactly how they intend to represent you or what to expect in terms of payment. Just sign up to be included and we’ll take care of the details later. The worst part? They don’t disclose any information whatsoever on what their cut will be. Some of the retired players in our network have inquired about this new deal and we want to describe a real-life scenario and let you make your own minds up.
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Imagine someone coming up to your front door and telling you they have an unbelievable deal for you. Just sign up to join our group and some time later, you just might get a little something from someone. Never mind that you’re actually signing all your rights away to someone you’ve probably never met before in your life (and probably won’t ever again). And ignore the fact that not only do they not tell you what they’re going to give you but they’re not going to tell you what’s in it for them. They might even trot out a retired player or two to convince you they’re legit. It was bad enough that the NFLPA and its legal department created a legal document called a Group Licensing Agreement to convince retired players to sign up for a licensing deal that was actually sent out to thousands of you for years. It was then actually used to defraud the retired players out of millions in royalties. (We’re still wondering why there weren’t Federal charges filed for interstate fraud against the PA and all of the individuals involved? They used the US Postal Service across state lines to perpetuate a long-term fraud. The SEC uses that all the time as a key part of its arsenal in fraud cases).
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Our advice to anyone who gets an offer that sounds too good to be true: It probably IS too good to be true. Everyone always needs to be even more vigilant when it involves e-mail offers with no disclosure. That old warning Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware) still holds true – especially when it comes to the Internet.
We just updated this page on Friday afternoon with twothree additional documents that came in after we posted the original Class Counsels’ Proposal. We’ve added them below the first document:
Here’s a copy of the proposal just filed with the court by the attorneys on behalf of the retired players in the Players Inc. GLA lawsuit with two options to address the issue of the missing players. Both options suggest getting checks out to all the players who have already received their first checks so hopefully that will finally happen later this month. On the upside, the list of players that still can’t be located seems to be slowly shrinking, thanks in no small part to the efforts of the attorneys and the trustees over at Garden City Group. Of the 202 missing players, 76 more have been located and added to the active list, leaving just 126 still MIA. Some of the details on the methods available to search for people make for interesting reading (if not a little scary!). We’re trying to post a list of the missing 126 in hopes of passing it through the growing network of retired players who are now online.
Wow! You’d think that it was the NFL that’s suffering from one too many concussions with as many hits as they’ve been taking on the issue of concussions lately. This past week, another series of news stories have been hitting the wires, covering everything from brain injuries in general to football concussions in particular. This recent run started off with Evan Weiner‘s piece from the New Jersey Newsroom on how football players are discarded in retirement (click HERE to read that earlier post) as well as Alan Schwarz‘s continuing series on the NFL’s history of dodgy mishandling of concussions over the years (click HERE for the last round of recent coverage).
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The Washington Post’s Michael Wilbon wrote a new piece in their Sunday edition:
A very quiet news announcement hit the wires this past week that could have major repercussions for active players in upcoming contract negotiations. First, here’s the headline and a clip from the original release on Reuters:
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NFL in discussions about using chip-in-ball technology
On Thursday, July 29th, the Circuit Court in San Francisco under Judge Alsup issued a decision on how to distribute the remaining funds that are still owed to the 2,062 retired players who were part of the Players Inc. GLA lawsuit. The first checks had gone out earlier this year and the second checks were scheduled to be sent out by the end of July but it was pointed out that there were still around 200 players who have not been located from the original list. The earlier plan was to pro-rate the remaining funds and simply add the money to the second checks. However, an extension was added in February to give some of the missing players more time to get their names and contact information in to the people administering the fund. 25 – 30 more players did manage to sign up to receive their first checks and there were still 200+ players who still haven’t signed in at this time.
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Here’s the recent submission as officially filed with Judge Alsup by Plaintiff’s co-counsel, Manatt Phelps & Phillips. A date of August 12th is proposed as the cut-off date for finding the missing 200 players. Hopefully, checks should be going out some time soon after that.(Click on the thumbnails to enlarge for reading.)
(The Official NFL Concussion Poster is on the left and on the right, what it might have looked like when Dr. No was still chair of the “Mild” Traumatic Brain Injury Committee. Click on the posters to enlarge for viewing and printing.)
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This past year, we’ve seen some interesting changes as they relate to concussions and brain injuries. With the Congressional Committee going for the jugular on the seriousness of brain injuries as well as some hard-hitting media coverage from sports journalists like Alan Schwarz of the New York Times, we have to agree that there’s been serious movement in terms of acknowledging the reality of brain injuries. In Washington State, we saw the passage of Zach’s Law (named for Zachery Lystedt, a high school student who was paralyzed when he was sent back into a football game by his coach following a serious concussion). Zach’s Law sets a new standard for evaluation of concussions at the public school level that many other states are now beginning to follow. The NFL saw the departure of the co-chair of their “Mild” Traumatic Brain Injury Committee, Ira “Dr. No” Casson, and then created a new committee now re-named the NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee. To their credit, one of the new co-chairs is a well-respected REAL concussion expert, Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, who actually hails from Seattle and was instrumental in helping to draft Zach’s Law.
Alan Schwarz from the New York Times covered the new NFL concussion policy and those fancy new posters that they’re going to be hanging up in the lockers from now on.
The National Football League is producing a poster that bluntly alerts its players to the long-term effects of concussions, using words like “depression” and “early onset of dementia” that those close to the issue described as both staggering and overdue.
Those second GLA Players Inc. settlement checks have been near the top of everyone’s question list and we’ve been getting a lot of e-mails and calls about the latest news.
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We just talked to the fund administrator Garden City Group here in Seattle and they’ve informed us that Judge Alsup had some questions regarding the final distribution. There are still quite a few players who were listed in the original suit and can’t be located. Garden City Group has taken great efforts to contact most of them and most of their letters have been returned UNDELIVERABLE or NO FORWARDING ADDRESS. If each retired player could make it a point to contact at least 5 of your friends and then have them contact their friends to check the list to see if they’re included but haven’t received any checks yet, perhaps we can reach more of the players who haven’t been located yet.
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It’s an interesting position for the NFLPA as they’re supposed to be representing retired and active players but at the same time, they were the losing defendant in this case after withholding royalty payments to the retired players for using their likeness in video games and other products. The NFLPA is also supposed to have a large database of current contact information for many of the retired players and magically once every year, they manage to contact each of you to ask for your $100 membership renewal fee to the NFLPA. And the original list of plaintiffs for the trial – which can’t be all that old – was compiled just a couple of years ago from players who actually signed on to the lawsuit. The question now stands: How did the original list of 2,000+ names get compiled and how were those players contacted to sign up for the lawsuit in the first place?
We were all excited when the NFL finally got rid of Ira “Dr. No” Casson as Co-Chair of the NFL’s “Mild” Traumatic Brain Injury Committee. What surprised us was the selection of Dr. Richard Ellenbogen as co-chair of the newly-named NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee. Dr. Ellenbogen hails from Harborview Medical Center in Seattle as chief of neurological surgery and has been very proactive at the state level in legislation regarding concussions in youth athletics.
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George Visger was the perfect poster-boy for NFL brain concussions to contact Dr. Ellenbogen: Incredibly intelligent, well-spoken and very vocal as a perfect spokesman on the long-term damage from severe brain concussions that resulted directly from his career in professional football. George has been relentlessly involved with a two-pronged approach to the NFL’s concussion problem: The NFL needs to be held to the same standard as any employer in America when it comes to taking care of its injured employees – both active and retired – and clear rules need to be put in place to ensure worker safety both on and off the field. Last month, George proposed a detailed set of rules that address the most important issue facing the NFL, the NFLPA and its employees. The proposed rules were the result of collaboration among a group of retired players who worked with George to develop some guidelines that have been long overdue. We think they make a lot of sense and it covers ALL players with a common sense approach that only players with first-hand experience could develop.
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On a side note before we present the Visger Rules, we had sent a proposal to DeMaurice Smith several months back as the Amen Clinic trials was closing to see if the NFLPA would be interested in funding brain scans for active players BEFORE and AFTER they started their careers, as well as brain scans for all retired players. After seeing the need to continue helping the retired football players, Dr. Amen had graciously offered an incredibly discounted rate for any and all players sent to any of his clinics. Our proposal was simple: ALL active players would have a SPECT scan before starting their careers as well as when they retired; and ALL retired players would be allowed a brain scan as a new benefit. The cost would have been relatively minimal (considering all the money we see wasted every year as disclosed in the annual LM-2 filings) but the impact and effect would be invaluable to each and every player for a lifetime. George’s proposal goes even further: Each active player would also be required to have annual brain scans as an integral part of their mandatory checkup regimen. With the medical technology available today, each player and the Union could easily be provided with up-to-the-minute information on their entire physical condition that’s complete and accurate to help prevent further injuries. We felt that the proposal was the right thing to do and very pro-player (pro-employee – which is what Unions are supposed to be). Given the League’s recent gestures in this direction, the timing couldn’t have been better for the PA to initiate such a plan. After all, what could the League have to say against such a proactive move? This could easily be a high priority issue during any CBA negotiations which is why we felt it was important enough to present the idea directly to DeMaurice Smith. There has been absolutely NO response since the proposal was sent to them in April. We have no idea why this wouldn’t be a perfect issue for the Union (the retired AND active players’ Union) to take up with the League right now to show real unity by protecting all of its men – past and present. As with everything else, it seems we’re all still waiting just for a response…
Many of you have followed Brent Boyd’s years of fighting with the NFL for his earned disability benefits. Brent has kept us updated on his current appeal to the Disability Board for a new review of his case. Brent now has more medical evidence from recognized clinics like The Amen Clinic to support his case of football-related disability.
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In one recent conversation, Brent used a brilliant analogy:“Imagine if today’s young generations of minorities went back to all those great people who fought for civil rights in the 50′s and 60′s – often with their lives – and told them, ‘Thanks for all you did for us. Oh – and by the way, you guys still have to ride at the back of the bus, use a separate bathroom and drink out of that water fountain over there!’ That’s exactly the way the NFL is treating its retired veterans.”
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Current players get larger contracts with easier pension qualifications while the retired players keep getting sent to the back of the bus. And just as often (as you’re about to see in some of Brent’s documents), they still keep making up the rules against you when things don’t go their way. Brent’s attorneys filed an appeal on his last rejected application and just as it’s coming up for trial, the Disability Board decides they want ANOTHER doctor to examine him AND they secretly reject his claim once again. After three other doctors of their choosing had already ruled in Brent’s favor. And who’s front and center in all of this? The Groom Law Group. The same people who WROTE the plan and are now helping the NFL and the Disability Board continue to re-define the rules to deny him his earned benefits. A few years back, retired players were told that if you had already qualified for Social Security Disability (most people know how difficult it is to qualify for SSI), you would automatically “qualify” for NFL benefits. But then “discretionary” qualifications got added back into the process in side deals made between Gene Upshaw and Harold Henderson.
Mercury Morris has recently been discussing an investigation into the NFL and its handling of the retired players’ disability and pension benefits. Here’s his synopsis of what he’s made available to select members of the media so far:
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I want to tell you about a story I would like to read about Roger Goodell. I only recently discovered that Roger Goodell, while serving under Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, sat as the 7th non-voting member of the Retirement Board. That means Goodell has been aware of all of the disability and retirement misconduct that occurred from the mid 90′s to the present. I recently met with Federal investigators on three occasions to discuss filing charges – both criminal and civil – against the Retirement Board and the Groom Law Group. Goodell has been scamming the public about his “honest effort” in helping the retired players that he’s perpetuated in the media. When we did the story last May about the Retirement Board making up a provision to exclude me from representing other retired players whose benefits had been compromised with the sole intent of saving these multimillionaire owners money, I wasn’t aware that Goodell had put Harold Henderson in that very same seat he had occupied to oversee the obvious corruption at the hands of the Retirement Board. Out of my meeting with the investigators, it was disclosed to me that the Department of Labor has been working with the Retirement Board to cover up disability and retirement pension misconduct from the Bush administration (helping big business) to the Obama administration attempting to cover it up.
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The devastating part of this story is that when they passed this phony exclusion-by-felony rule, the two people I had been representing were basically left to fend for themselves. Dwight Harrison had a son who committed suicide after Dwight’s disability benefits were taken away. His retirement benefit money which amounted to $130,000 was then used to pay the Groom Law Group for attorneys’ fees. Because of this, his family broke up and his son later committed suicide. The Retirement Board, under Goodell now have blood on their hands. Marian Klein, the widow of the late Dick Klein, lost her home because the “across-the-board benefit increase” that was given to everyone else was denied to her. Again, I was closing in on proving that both criminal and civil acts had occurred against a retired player’s widow for no other purpose than to beat her out of $200 a month. Although they could never explain to her why she wasn’t entitled to this benefit that everyone else got, without me there to scrutinize their actions, they basically told her, “We lied about your exclusion, we have no real answer, and you’re still not going to get the benefit.” She too has gone through tough times, caring for her son who is now in the late stages of his battle with cancer. She had to move in with him after losing her home because of these people.
“A man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it, is committing another mistake.”
Wow! You’d think that it was the NFL that’s suffering from one too many concussions with as many hits as they’ve been taking on the issue of concussions lately. This past week, another series of news stories have been hitting the wires, covering everything from brain injuries in general
We were all excited when the NFL finally got rid of Ira “Dr. No” Casson as Co-Chair of the NFL’s “Mild” Traumatic Brain Injury Committee. What surprised us was the selection of Dr. Richard Ellenbogen as co-chair of the newly-named NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee. Dr. Ellenbogen hails from Harborview Medical Center in Seattle as chief of neurological surgery and has been very proactive at the state level in 
Many of you have followed Brent Boyd’s years of fighting with the NFL for his earned disability benefits. Brent has 