Gentlemen:
…
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!)
One of the presentations that drew a lot of attention during The Summit was from Bruce Laird of Fourth and Goal. Fourth and Goal has been in ongoing discussions with the NFL to use the NFL Alumni organization as a possible platform for advocacy of disability and pension reform. At the conclusion of The Summit, the group voted to continue moving forward without embracing any single organization at this early stage while encouraging and supporting all organizations that will advance retired players’ issues. (You can look at the evolving Summit blog by clicking HERE and you’ll find Bruce Laird’s presentation under the PowerPoints tab – or click HERE.)
Bernie Parrish has already voiced some of his strong opinions in no uncertain terms (HERE and HERE) and this is definitely going to make it a very hot summer topic. There’s no middle ground or gray area on this one. Do the retired players embrace an existing organization that has been looked on as another business-as-usual club for elite members or will they be embracing an organization that’s been reborn into something that can actually serve the membership at large with complete transparency and representation for each and every one of its members? Only time will tell and everyone’s watching closely.
With The Retired Football Players Summit now over, we can get back to some recent news.
How time flies. It’s been over 6 months since NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell first announced his tour back in September to hear all about retired players’ grievances. (That story first appeared HERE.) You may remember that this tour was announced with great fanfare and press last year as Roger Goodell’s opportunity to speak and listen to the retired players across the country. If the reports have been accurate, it sounds like the Commish managed to visit a staggering 6 NFL cities out of a total of 32 teams (?!!) before all press releases stopped.
It looks like the NFLPA is realizing that more retired players may end up going to the First Annual Independent Retired Football Players Summit (to be held in Las Vegas) than they’re expecting at the annual Retired Players Convention (to be held in Palm Springs) this year at the end of May this year again. So to make up for the fact that there’s no fee to attend The Summit, the NFLPA is now generously offering to waive your registration fee giving you savings of up to $300 a couple! They’ll even pay your next year’s dues to save you another $100!
But it’s not the cost of registration that’s prohibitive. Read our earlier post about the cost of attending one of their meetings in Palm Springs (click HERE). continue reading »