Dave Pear's Blog

The NFLPA finally got around to making a proposal for pension increases to the 320+ widows who were left out of the current CBA. Keep in mind this is still a proposal until both sides sign off on it. Here’s the update that was sent out to Chapter Presidents from Former Player Executive Committee Representative Jim McFarland yesterday (our highlights in RED):
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Dear Fellow Chapter Officers:
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In case you have not already been informed, I am pleased to report from our conference calls today that we were notified that the NFL has agreed to pay its 51% of the Widows Legacy Benefit from Club Funds and that the NFLPA has offered to pay its 49% from $7 to 9 million of “fine money” that was not allocated to any specific charity. We are waiting for the NFL’s response.
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Thus, 51% will come from owner funds and 49% will come from player money taken from salaries in fine money under this proposal.
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Unfortunately, even if the NFL agrees to this proposal, the funds will not be immediately available to these widows and survivors just as funds were not immediately available for Pre-93 vested players. The process of paying such Legacy Benefits to these widows and survivors will be similar to the process of getting legacy benefits to Pre-93 vested players.
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With regard to the 2,841 former players who were immediately eligible to receive the legacy benefit, it has been a long, but steady process. As of today, apparently 84% of these former players are receiving their legacy benefit. Unfortunately 16% of these player elections are still in process for reasons including that some of these former players have QDRO issues with regard to divorced spouses, that they are receiving disability benefits which complicate determining their Legacy Benefit amount, and that 6% of these former players have not yet signed and returned their legacy benefit forms.
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Hopefully, these matters will be resolved soon. Let me know if you have any questions.
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Sincerely,
Jim McFarland
NFLPA Former Player Executive Committee Representative
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In our last post - click HERE if you’d like to read it again – we posted an exchange of e-mails from Bob Kuechenberg with questions on the current CBA, the Legacy Fund and benefits in general for retired players (particularly the pre-93ers). For weeks, those within the NFLPA have been stonewalling retirees with vague answers as well as pointing the finger at others to lay blame for lack of any clarity on what and how retired players will be receiving “new” benefits. One thing the PA has shown consistency with has always been, “We know what’s best for retired players and you’ll get what’s left AFTER we’ve already carved up the pie for the active players. And by the way – no one can talk about this stuff at local chapter meetings because it’s too negative and divisive!”
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What’s worse: The NFLPA was invited to the table for a real opportunity to sit down with the Commissioner and representatives of the retired players in September because “they were being sued by the retired players” so they couldn’t show up. Never mind that Nolan Harrison III and Jim McFarland were invited – AND attended – the first meeting and subsequent conference calls with the largest unified collective of retired players representatives to have ever assembled for one goal: To take charge of their own pension and disability benefits. And never mind that the non-Union (decertified) individuals and the League were also subsequently sued by retired players at that time. (EDITOR’S NOTE: To Jim McFarland’s credit, he’s been the only man on the inside who’s been speaking up on the real issues relevant to retired players but of course, no one seems to be listening to him and he has absolutely NO vote.)
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EDITOR’S NOTE – Aug 29, 2011: Irv Muchnick just posted a real perspective on the NFLPA’s ‘Legacy Fund’ this morning. Click HERE to read ‘Legacy Fund’ an Obvious Throwaway Line of CBA.
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Another exchange of e-mails from this past week with lots of great questions and points between Jim McFarland and Dewey McClain followed by Sam McCullum’s subsequent non-answer at the end. No one seems to have any clear definitions on what has or hasn’t been “negotiated” on behalf of retired players – all without any actual input or participation from the retirees themselves. We still keep wondering when the NFLPA managed to get all this done during the time they weren’t supposed to be a Union when they were decertified and now they’re trying to tell everyone that they’re still negotiating. Were you negotiating then or are you negotiating now? Were you a Union then or are you a Union now? And everyone was first asked to wait 30 days for definitive answers. Then it was 60 days. And now it’s apparently 90 days out. Could it be the old adage that the more lies you put out at the beginning makes it harder to come back to the truth at the end?
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EDITOR’S NOTE: We just received a copy of another e-mail that was sent out by Jim McFarland, a non-voting member of the NFLPA Former Players Executive Committee. Jim expresses his concerns with key issues that the Union appears to have “negotiated” on behalf of Retired Players (while they were no longer a Union) and he sounds like he’s just as surprised to finally hear about them as the rest of you… His e-mail to NFLPA counsel, Tom Depaso, is added to the bottom of this post.
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And on and on it goes. Dave just received one more enlightening e-mail from NFLPA’s Dave Duerson replacement, Sam McCullum, this morning with more “clarification” on their Coming Soon Improvements to Retired Players Benefits á la NFLPA. Here it is in its unedited form:
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Over the weekend, the retired players and the attorneys involved with the Eller et al vs. NFL et al class action lawsuit released a letter addressed to all retirees to outline a call for unity as well as to provide an update on the facts and actions to date.
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Dear fellow retired players,
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We have been asked by many of our fellow retired National Football League (“NFL”) players to provide more information about what the Eller v. NFL lawsuit is meant to accomplish and how the lawsuit will help benefit all retired NFL players. What follows is our attempt to do so.
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On March 28, 2011 the national law firms of Zelle Hofmann Voelbel & Mason LLP and Hausfeld, LLP, filed a class action on behalf of all retired NFL players against the NFL in federal court in the District of Minnesota to bring about wholesale improvements of the NFL player retirement system.
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This lawsuit came after the CBA negotiations between the NFL and NFLPA broke down, the Union decertified and the League subsequently locked the players out. The complaint seeks to do for retired players what the Reggie White class action lawsuit did for current players in the early 1990’s: create an organization and system whereby retired NFL players are able to advocate on their own behalf and therefore vastly improve the current landscape of the NFL retirement system. This class action – known as Eller et al., v. NFL – was consolidated with the class action on behalf of current players called Brady, et al vs. NFL. (Consolidated simply means that the cases are heard together and the NFL is better positioned to try and resolve both cases simultaneously – although the retired players are asking for and addressing different issues than the current players.)
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Recently, the largest collective group of representatives of various organizations for retired players or who have mass online audience met in Minneapolis. The group included representatives and/or members from the NFLPA, NFL Alumni, the Retired Players Association, Fourth & Goal, Gridiron Greats, Dignity after Football and DavePear.com/Independent Football Veterans. Most of the participants agreed to present the League with united proposals for changes in key areas affecting the well-being of retired players:

• (a)    pensions;
• (b)   disability benefits;
• (c)    medical benefits;
• (d)   medical monitoring; and
• (e)    vesting calculations.

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On April 4th, representatives of the National Football League acknowledged the need to provide “important improvements in retired player benefits.” They stated it was the “fair” and “right” thing to do in “respect” and “recognition” of their contributions to the game. The League said the retirees “voice” needs to be heard.
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On May 25th, the largest collective group of representatives of retired NFL Players ever assembled met a second time to reach a consensus on a series of united proposals for these needed improvements.
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The League has said that everyone needs to “focus on negotiations” because “there is a deal to be made.” We agree. The retirees therefore unanimously agreed to submit to the League a detailed framework for changes in retiree pensions, medical coverage and benefits, and disability programs. The framework will also include a component of medical monitoring for retirees that is designed to detect or prevent illness or disease at its earliest stages and provide for timely treatment.
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The retirees invite the League to be available for meetings beginning as early as Tuesday, May 31, to discuss this framework, exchange ideas and comments, and be best prepared to reach resolution when mediation formally resumes on June 7th and 8th in Minneapolis.
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As expressed in the April 4th letter from the League to the retirees, the League wished to hear the “voice” of the retirees. We are speaking. It’s now time for the League to listen.
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Any questions concerning this press release should be directed to Michael Hausfeld at Hausfeld LLP (202) 540-7200 or Daniel Mason, Mark Feinberg, or Shawn D. Stuckey at Zelle Hofmann Voelbel & Mason (612) 336-9100.
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Retired NFL Players’ Representatives’ Unite!
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The largest collective group of representatives for retired NFL players ever assembled met yesterday in Minneapolis, Minnesota and agreed to unanimously support the class action litigation brought by retired NFL players against the League and its member clubs. That lawsuit is now pending before Judge Susan Nelson in federal court in Minneapolis.
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Among those present were:
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Here we are coming in to a New Year and looking behind us at how much has happened in the past year. We’ve seen a recent flurry of comments and e-mails among a lot of the retired players discussing the current state of affairs within the NFLPA, not the least of which has been the disability benefits and the ongoing selection process for a new Executive Director. And the Commissioner keeps on rolling from city-to-city attempting to put on his dog-and-pony show about his compassionate concern for the disabled players. Wow! It’s been quite a year.

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