Article: Ditka hangs up on Duerson

[THUMPER]

Not to dispute your numbers, because I wouldn't dare try to calculate them. But maybe if you take into account the one year wonders and the amount of roster turnover a team can have. It's not about the actual numbers a team can have per year. It's about how many players come through the team facilities in any given year. 150k may be an exaggeration, but I can't see that it's too far out there.

I took that into account with the 3.5 year average career. There are a lot of players who played 8, 9 12, or 14+ years which offsets the 1-year wonders. I also added in a generous bonus for each era I calculated. I also went with the maximum number of teams instead of the average so if anything my numbers are too high, not too low.

As I said, 150,000 is an impossible number and the actual number is more likely closer to 30,000.

I'm sure AdamJT13 has the actual number of former players and I am waiting for him to post it...

 

[Chocolate Lab]

You're right, Thumper... I wonder if he said 15,000 and I just added a zero. :

I searched around some and found this in a CNN interview transcript:


ROMANS: Jerry, these are really unsung heroes, these are guys in the '60s and '70s you say, who now, now they are looking at the NFL as this huge phenomenon where some of these guys are multimillionaires when they come in now, but the guys who built this league, some of them really suffering, you say. What kind of numbers we talking about?

(Jerry)KRAMER: You know it's hard to find out a precise number. I know there are about 350 guys who are getting between $120 a month and $350 a month. You can figure maybe a third of them are having trouble. We got 9,000 ex-players. The medical costs are what's really eating most people up.

 

[burmafrd]

9000. I wonder how he defines ex players?

 

[burmafrd]

If the teams add 100 players who have never played before each year that would only add up to 4000 in the last 40 years. Go to 200 per year and you have 8000.

 

[THUMPER]

You're right, Thumper... I wonder if he said 15,000 and I just added a zero. :

I searched around some and found this in a CNN interview transcript:


ROMANS: Jerry, these are really unsung heroes, these are guys in the '60s and '70s you say, who now, now they are looking at the NFL as this huge phenomenon where some of these guys are multimillionaires when they come in now, but the guys who built this league, some of them really suffering, you say. What kind of numbers we talking about?

(Jerry)KRAMER: You know it's hard to find out a precise number. I know there are about 350 guys who are getting between $120 a month and $350 a month. You can figure maybe a third of them are having trouble. We got 9,000 ex-players. The medical costs are what's really eating most people up.

That actually makes more sense. I didn't factor in that most of the players from the 20s, 30s, & 40s are dead now so that would certainly lower the number significantly. Also, as the life expectancy of an NFL player is lower than the average there are probably a lot from the 50s who are no longer with us as well meaning most of the players eligible for benefits are from the 60s-90s so 9000 is probably a good number.

 

[AbeBeta]

You only help out players whose medical problems were caused by playing football. Its a hard line to hold to but that is the way it should be. MOST former players will not have need for it. Odds are that only a small percentage of players will NEED it. Guys who only played a couple of years are not going to get messed up badly-usually. Looking at all the extreme examples- they are almost all players who started and played extensively for years. with $60 million- you could probably get high risk medical insurance from a national HMO for maybe $20,000 a year per player. That would cover 3000 players. Probably way more then will need it. THAT is the point- this coverage should only go to players that NEED it.

How do you specify that a medical problem was caused by playing football? Say a guy who is 45 needs back surgery. Is that from football? Or like many people, he's just got a bad back.

I think the $20k estimate for high risk might be low since regular insurance averages around $7k for most group plans. Especially when you take into account that a single orthopedic surgery -- even for something simple like a herniated disk - costs a minimum of 50k. The more messed up guys are going to need artificial knees, hips, etc. That can run well over 100k. 20k a year is never going to buy a high risk policy like that.

 

[CrazyCowboy]

This is going to get worse, before it get's better.