Retired Players Department: FAQs
How are retired players represented/their voices heard by the NFLPA?
In 1984, the NFLPA established the Retired Players Association to provide an active voice within the organization for all former professional football players. Goals were set, local chapters were formed, and an agenda fitting the needs of former players was put into place. As a retired player, you have an entire department at the Players Association dedicated to your needs. Your voice and active participation is emphasized in the NFLPA mission statement:
"We, the National Football League Players Association, pay homage to our predecessors for their courage, sacrifice and vision; pledge to preserve and enhance the democratic involvement of our members; and confirm our willingness to do whatever is necessary for the betterment of our membership - to preserve our gains and achieve those goals not yet attained."
The Retired Players Department’s vision is of an organization that: acts to meet players’ needs with the right services; continuously communicates and involves players of all ages to create an exclusive fraternity; works collaboratively with other NFLPA departments and Players Inc to give outstanding value to its members; provides leadership, administration, coordination and implementation to serve the needs of retired players and retired player chapters.
When you become a member of the Retired Players Association, the nearest NFLPA retired players chapter to you is notified that they have a new member. Each member decides how active he wants to be in the chapter. Elections for officers are held every odd year in February. Local members vote on the local chapter offices of president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary.
The chapter president has additional duties that require him to attend an annual Chapter Officers meeting in the fall, as well as a meeting of the officers at the Retired Players Convention. As part of chapter business you will be visited by the Retired Players Director and other NFLPA staff. Individual members attend the annual Retired Players Convention, where issues are discussed and new priorities are established.
The election for Retired Players Steering Committee, the only elected national body representing retired players, takes place at the convention during the general session. Players are nominated, campaign, make campaign speeches, and those members attending the convention cast a vote. You must be present to vote.
This year’s Retired Players Convention witnessed change. Brig Owens served out his term as president and stepped down to welcome Jean Fugett to his first term as steering committee president. Fugett thanked NFLPA President Troy Vincent for attending the event, taking questions and for extending his leadership to the Retired Players. Fugett expressed confidence in Vincent and hoped for an open line of communication, stating that the Steering Committee was available as a resource for whatever Vincent needed to be done. During the meeting’s general session Troy Vincent, in his second term as NFLPA president, said that he “heard the Retired Players’ concerns.” Vincent talked about the history of the NFLPA and his full confidence in his Executive Committee and Gene Upshaw to do what is best for retired players in Collective Bargaining. A Convention Committee of retired players was formed in 2004 to advise on convention issues, speakers, and convention activities.
Gene Upshaw also addressed the convention and described in detail the agreement in principle between the NFL and NFLPA to extend the Collective Bargaining Agreement and what he projected the increase in pension benefits would be under the new agreement.
Every year a contingent of retired players travels to the active players’ Board of Player Reps Meeting in March. There they spend eight days with the player reps and have the opportunity to discuss retired players’ issues with the active players attending the general session and break-outs. Retired players were well represented at this past meeting. A nine member delegation of retirees that included newly elected Steering Committee member Nolan Harrison, New England Chapter President Butch Byrd and Steering Committee Member and Pension Board Trustee Len Teeuws (deceased) were present in March 2006. Retired players in attendance were privy to all printed material and participated in the breakout sessions, general sessions, and open forum discussion.
Retired Players Director Andre Collins gave a report on retired players’ matters and what challenges the department faces in the upcoming year. Collins’ presentation discussed the Charlotte Observer article, pension improvements, career transition, continuing education, and the retired players’ Super Bowl event, Smocks and Jocks. Starting in 2007, the Steering Committee will select, with the Executive Director’s approval, the steering committee members that will travel to the 2007 Board of Player Reps’ meeting. Moreover, NFLPA President Troy Vincent has appointed a member of the Executive Committee of active players to be a liaison to retired player issues. That person reports back to the NFLPA president with his findings and recommendations.
Below are examples of the process at work. The resolutions below specifically dealt with retired players issues and were submitted by active players and adopted at the Players’ Board of Reps Meeting in March, 2006.
INCREASED BENEFIT CREDIT AMOUNTS
WHEREAS, each time the NFLPA has successfully extended the CBA, it has gone back to increase the pension of retired NFL players;
BE IT RESOLVED, that the NFLPA shall use its best efforts in bargaining with the NFL to increase the benefit credit amounts for retired players.
Submitted by Kyle Brady
RETIRED PLAYERS REUNION
WHEREAS, the NFLPA Board of Player Representatives desires to continue to effectively represent the interest of Retired NFL Players; and
WHEREAS, the Annual NFLPA Retired Players Reunion provides an excellent opportunity to hear the voice of Retired NFL Players on issues affecting them;
BE IT RESOLVED, that at least one (1) member of the Executive Committee attend the NFLPA Retired Players Reunion each year and thereafter report back to the Board of Player Representatives on his findings on matters relating to Retired NFL Players.
Submitted by Tyoka Jackson
AMENDMENTS TO THE NFLPA CONSTITUTION REGARDING RETIRED PLAYERS
BE IT RESOLVED, that the NFLPA Constitution and Bylaws be amended to provide that:
1. The NFLPA Retired Players Steering Committee, elected at the national convention of retired players chapters, shall, in its sole discretion, have the authority to remove any Chapter Officer from his position upon a determination that the officer has:
A. Caused or failed to prevent a Chapter from violating the NFLPA Retired Players Chapters Local Bylaws or any other binding contract to which the Chapter is a party;
B. Engaged in conduct detrimental to the Chapter; or
C. Engaged in conduct prohibited under applicable law or regulations.
A determination by the Steering Committee shall not be subject to appeal and shall be final and binding on the Chapter and its members. Any Officer removed shall be barred from being elected as an officer for two (2) years from the date of his removal.
2. Upon official retirement and/or collection of Severance Pay, each retiring NFL player shall receive membership in the NFLPA Retired Players Organization for two (2) years without annual dues;
3. Retired Player members otherwise shall be charged annual dues with the option of paying multi-year or lifetime dues memberships. The amounts of such dues shall be established to cover all reasonable administrative costs.
4. Except as specifically authorized through collective bargaining, neither the NFLPA nor any Chapter shall offer, sponsor, endorse or recommend for retired members any health or life insurance program or any retirement or other benefit plan or program of any kind, and the NFLPA and the Chapters shall assume no liability whatsoever for any claim, benefit or amount owing under any plan or program in which chapter members participate.
5. Modifications or amendments necessary to conform the new provisions of Section 2.11 to the NFLPA Constitution and Bylaws.
Submitted by John Kasay
To finish out the year it is important to work through the Chapter System and Steering Committee to be most effective. The strength of who we are as an organization is the work done at the chapter level, getting involved in your communities, having compassion for fellow members, and taking advantage of the opportunities that the NFLPA facilitates.
We as an organization have a responsibility to the truth and will continue to answer your questions and deal with your concerns. The NFLPA and the Retired Players Department are poised to help you better understand your union, the collective bargaining process, and NFLPA Constitution.
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Is the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Pension Plan “over-funded”? That is, does it have surplus assets that can be used to increase the pensions of retired players?
No. Even without the CBA increase, the liabilities of the Pension Plan for benefits already earned by retired and current players exceed the assets of the Plan. There is no surplus. As of April 1, 2006, the actuarial liability of the Pension Plan was $1.034 billion, which was $71 million, or about 7%, more than the market value of its assets. A pension plan with assets to cover 93% of its obligations is healthy and well within the range of funding required by recently enacted federal pension legislation, but this shortfall will grow considerably when the burden of new benefits for retired players (recently negotiated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement extension) is added. The increased benefits, and a new 88 Plan for retired players with dementia, will be funded by about $250 million of owner contributions over the next six years.
The NFL Player Pension Fund is sometimes compared to the pension fund for Major League Baseball players, often without all of the facts being presented. A future FAQ will deal with this comparison in more detail, but the NFL Player Pension is much better funded (that is more of its obligations are covered by its assets). The baseball players’ pension plan was under-funded as of April, 2004 (the latest public filing) by $904 million, and its assets were only 60.7% of its obligations on that date.
Inadequate funding creates a risk that retirees may have their benefits reduced. This is a major problem in the steel, airline, and automobile industries. The NFLPA is committed to full funding of the Pension Plan as soon as possible; so that decades from now retired NFL players will be assured of receiving the pension benefits they have been promised.
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How does collective bargaining in the NFL work?
Collective bargaining in the NFL is the process by which the representatives of the players and the representatives of the owners/clubs negotiate a legally-binding agreement (called the Collective Bargaining Agreement or CBA) which governs the employment relationship between players, on the one hand, and the clubs and league, on the other, and covers compensation, working conditions, and benefits. Under federal labor law, the NFL Players Association is the exclusive bargaining representative for players. The lead negotiator for the NFLPA is its Executive Director, Gene Upshaw. The NFL owners and clubs are represented for bargaining purposes by the NFL Management Council, whose chairman is Harold Henderson. Henderson is appointed by the NFL Commissioner.
Labor law requires the NFLPA and NFL Management Council to bargain in good faith over working conditions, benefits, and compensation affecting the bargaining unit of players. The bargaining unit is composed of professional football players employed, or who are seeking to be employed, by a member club of the NFL. Retired players are not part of the bargaining unit and, therefore, the NFL Management Council is not legally obligated to bargain in good faith over any improvements in already-earned player pension benefits.
Despite this fact, in every negotiation during the past 25 years, active players have spent their leverage at the bargaining table to insist that benefits be increased for players retired from football. The chart below illustrates this commitment by present players to past players throughout the era of Gene Upshaw’s leadership of the NFLPA.
Please click on the document link below to view the Benefit Amounts By Credited Season.
Benefit Amounts By Credited Season
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What are The Professional Athletes Foundation and Player Assistance Trust?
In 1987 the Professional Athletes Foundation was created by the NFLPA to provide vocational, educational, recreational and athletic opportunities for people of all races, religions and nationalities, male and female, wherever they may live, including but not limited to needy, former, amateur and professional athletes and young people who might not have the fullest opportunity to develop their vocational and educational capabilities.
The Professional Athletes Foundation is a 501(c) 3 private foundation under the Internal Revenue Code.
To address the needs of former players, the Professional Athletes Foundation established the Player Assistance Trust (PAT) in 1992 as a fund of the Professional Athletes Foundation to provide financial assistance to former professional and amateur football players and their families in times of financial crisis, among other exempt purposes.
The PAT is governed by the Board of Directors for the Professional Athletes Foundation, which oversees all aspects of the funding process. The board is made up of nine members, five of whom are former players. Board members include Ron Actis, Andre Collins, Irv Cross, Terri Lee Freeman, Brig Owens, Dr. Beverley Pitts, Charles Swisher, Len Teeuws (deceased/vacant), Gene Upshaw, Frank Woschitz and Marvin Zimmerman. Dee Becker is secretary, a non-voting officer. Tom DePaso serves as legal counsel. The Grant Review Committee is a smaller committee made up of voting board members who determine eligibility based on the delegated authority of the board.
In 1997, to make sure that the Professional Athletes Foundation met IRS requirements regarding minimum distributions each year, on advice of Legal Counsel, the Foundation expanded the recipients of Foundation grants to include charitable organizations with like-minded goals and purposes (not enough players applied for and received PAT grants to meet the minimum percentage of distributions by the Foundation). Even with these additional Foundation grant recipients, no former player has been denied a grant due to the lack of assets in the Foundation.
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How Is The PAT Funded?
The PAT is funded by several sources including donations from the NFLPA, NFL Charities, a percentage of the fine money levied on the active players each year, and individual contributions. To date, individual contributions from retired players have represented 1.5% of total contributions. In some cases, fines levied on NFL agents by the NFLPA are also designated to the PAT Fund. Contributions from the NFL and from the player fine money are guaranteed by the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NFL and the NFLPA.
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How Many Players Have Been Helped?
Since the fund was established in late 1990, 780 players have been helped with funds totaling more than $4.6 million (as of June 30, 2006).
