Dave Pear's Blog

Typically, Mike Florio on ProFootballTalk (now owned by MSNBC Sports) tends to lean more anti-NFLPA in his posts. But today, when NFL mouthpiece Greg Aiello decided to knock the NFLPA for having their annual gathering in sunny Hawaii, Florio actually quipped back:

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“Still, the union’s trek to the islands has prompted a jab from NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, who made the following point via Twitter:  “Weather today in NY is atrocious . . . would rather be in Maui but can’t afford it.”

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“The union might respond to the dig by suggesting that Aiello ask former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue for a loan.  After all, Tagliabue made $3.3 million last year, despite retiring in 2006.”

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Chalk up another one for the old guys! Retired players are so sick and tired of getting ripped off every time they turn around. We recently came across an article that Electronic Arts was partnering with The Weather Channel to pay them for weather statistics to make Madden Football X more “realistic” – but they DON’T want to pay the retired football players themselves for their stats in order to make the game more “realistic”. I wonder when they’re planning on screwing around with the weather so they won’t have to pay for that either. Read all about the weather by clicking HERE.

So when you use the retired players’ likenesses right down to their race, size and stats, is that realistic enough for you, EA? But you don’t want to pay for that and you want to pay for the weather? Recently, EA announced that they were no longer going to be using retired players in their video games. Ha!

Anyway, that leads us to another news item. Bob Stein (1969 – 1975 Kansas City Chiefs, LA Rams, Minnesota Vikings and San Diego Chargers) is spearheading a new Class Action Lawsuit against the NFL for distributing footage of old games through their film distribution arm, NFL Films. Here’s their synopsis:

“Six retired National Football League (NFL) players have filed a class action lawsuit against the NFL. The lawsuit challenges the unauthorized use of the retired players’ names, images, and likenesses to promote the NFL brand and otherwise produce revenue for the NFL.  The players, Fred Dryer, Jim Marshall, Elvin Bethea, Joe Senser, Dan Pastorini, and Ed White, allege the NFL has earned substantial revenue by using the identities of retired NFL football players to promote the League’s “glory days”.  The NFL’s efforts to use its past to promote its brand have allowed the NFL to obtain revenues from current fans of the game.  The NFL’s total revenue exceeded an estimated $6.9 billion in 2008 alone.

The NFL has become the most powerful and profitable sport in America over many years through the sacrifice of the players who played the game.  Many of those now-retired NFL players suffer from severe physical limitations, pain, and disabilities as a result of the sacrifices they made – sacrifices the NFL now uses to promote itself.  Through their suit, the retired NFL players seek a fair share of the revenues the NFL has earned, and will earn, by using the images of former players who helped build the NFL brand into what it is today.

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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

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This just in: It’s now getting out that Congressman Jim Moran (D – Va) was the person responsible for outing Troy Vincent as the source that kicked off that recent Congressional inquiry into the Executive Director search process.

“According to Liz Mullen and Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal, Vincent spoke with at least two of the four Congressmen who sent a letter to former U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.

Vincent was outed by Jim Moran (D-Va.), a member of the House of Representatives.”

Check out the rest of Mike Florio’s coverage on ProFootballTalk (PFT) by clicking HERE. (And check out some of the comments about Moran.)

And THIS just in now from the International Herald Tribune as well. Looks like they want to pin everything on Troy Vincent. Which means he just might be the best real candidate for the job! Read the Herald Tribune‘s story by clicking HERE.

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More than a few of us took offense to departed Gene Upshaw’s dog food comment used in reference to the NFLPA’s marketing efforts for retired players. Even Judge Alsup managed to include them in his final ruling earlier this month (click HERE to read about it).

I ran across this very insightful piece by Mike Florio over at ProFootballTalk that discusses some of the incorrect opinions that are already starting to show up in the mainstream media. Here’s a clip for PFT:

“The problem is that the story creates the erroneous impression that the case is over and that the union has no chance of reversing any portion of the verdict. (As we’ve noted, the award of so-called “compensatory damages” might be in jeopardy because the retired players introduced no evidence of specific lost opportunities arising from the union’s failure to properly market the rights.)

Frankly, it’s hard not to think that someone intentionally fed Bloomberg incomplete or embellished info, given that the current NFLPA leadership is scheduled to conduct a press conference in Tampa later today, at which time there might be a few questions asked about the verdict.”

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