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Court Orders NFLPA to Pay $28.1 Million to Retired Players

The men who made the NFL what it is today, that is those who toiled in the 1950s and 1960s in the era before the giant contracts, seem to have been forgotten by those who have enjoyed the spoils of their labors. Oh sure, the late Gene Upshaw, the former head of the NFL Players Association used to speak warmly of the past generation of players and did make some changes to the retirees disability plan that has had beneficial effects. However, for the most part, Upshaw and the rest of the NFLPA staff had little use for the retired players and did not feel as if they were responsible in any way for the well being. It's as if those players were never in the league or members of the NFLPA. In fact, the retired players had taken their fight to Congress.

As can be seen from the handling of class action suit filed by retired players against the NFLPA involving licensing fees for the use of their identities without compensation, the NFLPA held the retired players in complete disdain. The Court however felt differently and ordered the union to pay $7.1 in compensatory damages and $21 million in punitive damages. While the case only involved licensing fees, it will almost surely change the dynamics of the relationship between the retired players and the NFLPA, although that was hard to tell from the reactions of the union's attorney,

The NFLPA attorney, Jeffrey Kessler said: ?Even my grandmother, if she were here today, would be shocked at the vindictive attack of deceit, name calling, requests for punitive damages, that came out of this effort to try to help these retired players.?

The union has said it will appeal if its post trial motions are denied. Nevertheless, I think that no matter how any appeal is decided, this decision will force the NFLPA to take the retired players interest into account in how it operates in the future. As it selects Upshaw's successor the opportunity to forge a new and more cooperative relationship is there and should be seized upon for the good of the players and the game. The collective bargaining agreement will be coming up for negotiation in the next year in a dramatically different economic environment and it will be much better for the players if the active and retired players are unified as they enter into negotiations with owners under a new Executive Director.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on November 13, 2008 (boomark / email).