Dave Pear's Blog

We recently got our hands on a list of some of the NFL and NFLPA’s assets as reported on their tax returns dating back from 2009. Like the earlier LM-2′s that the NFLPA is required to file annually with the Dept. of Labor each year, there are some very interesting items in this list. We’ve redlined some of the most interesting – and sometimes glaring – “assets,” many of which will need some explanation or serious investigation. (EDITOR’S NOTE: We believe our sources to be reliable and as always, if there’s anything in this document that needs correction, we would certainly invite the NFL and the NFLPA to open their books and correct us.)
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Of course, how could any list be controversial if it didn’t include Gene Upshaw? First item on the list is the Gene Upshaw NFL Player Health Reimbursement Account Plan Trust (?!!), with escalating assets of $194,238,969 in 2008, up from $75,3003,713 in 2007. We can assume that based on this kind of growth that the fund probably broke $250 million in 2010! That’s a quarter of a BILLION dollars, folks! And the fund was obviously in place years before Upshaw left the building in 2009. Just exactly what IS the Player Health Reimbursement Plan and has anyone out there received any benefits from this fund? Or is it someone’s idea of a piggy bank that the $16 million came from for his estate? With assets like these sitting around, we’re questioning why they claimed to be out of cash to pay all the retired players with one check for their GLA Players Inc. lawsuit settlement.
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Also interesting to note is that in 2009, the NFL Alumni Charities disclosed that they had no assets to report, yet as far back as 2003, their NFL Alumni Dire Need Charitable Trust had $1,230,857 in assets and it dropped to a paltry $131,702 in 2008! Yet the NFL Youth Football Fund (!) has seen its assets bounce from as high as $85,844,079 in 2007 to the last reported assets of $49,630,178 in 2009 – not pocket change. The NFL and the Union certainly seem more generous to everyone else EXCEPT their own retired players, especially when you contrast those generous assets to what was in the NFL Player Care Foundation coffers in 2009: $150,353! Now we understand why players like Dave were only reimbursed a few hundred dollars after his $50,000+ hip replacement surgery. In spite of all the press and fanfare about this great new program when it was first announced, they didn’t have enough to actually pay much out to anyone. It’s probably safe to assume that they paid more in salaries and management fees for the funds and pensions than they actually held and distributed to the players themselves!
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One final point: Is it just us or are the NFL Employee Reciprocal Flexible Benefits Plan Trusts for most of the teams listed woefully underfunded?
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Here’s the list so far uploaded to Scribd for easier viewing and to make it downloadable. You can click on the FULL SCREEN button to enlarge it for easier navigation (hit the ESC key to close). You can also click the DOWNLOAD button to save a PDF copy for printing and reading later:
NFL NFLPA Assets up to 2009 with Highlights
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Roger the Hutt and Princess Jane

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