Bernie Parish Match Baseball

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IN THEIR OWN WORDS

BERNIE PARISH, MATCH BASEBALL

Bernie Parish, his truth on the truth squad

Here are a few ideas .....let me know what you think!

#1 Pass a law to allow retired professional football players a vote in any players union (one man one vote the same as active players). Professional football is a unique industry needing a few unique Federal laws.

#2 Match Baseball’s Retirement Plan, Fixing the NFL retirement plan problem is that simple! Match Baseball’s!

The NFL retired players want the NFL to match baseball’s (MLB’s) retirement plan as was intended from the 1960’s forward. The NFL retirement plan covers only 21% more people/players NFL 9,560 covered vs. MLB’s 7,540, while baseball’s expenses are much higher, travel expenses for the far longer season are drastically higher. In addition MLB average salaries are higher at $2.8 million vs. NFL $1.4 million. MLB average pension benefits are three times higher at $36,700 average vs. the NFL’s $12,165 average benefit. Baseball’s gross income is approximately $4.3 billion (Forbes) while the NFL’s gross is over $7.1 billion. Baseball’s total payroll is 1,200 x $2.8 million = $3 billion NFL’s total payroll is 1,696 x $1.4 million= $2.37 billion therefore MLB’s total payroll is 30% higher than the NFL’s payroll. Baseball also supports a minor league system and youth programs. Baseball continues to prosper on less income and higher expenses. There is no excuse not to have the NFL retirement benefits matching Major League Baseball’s.

Research and essay by Bernie Parrish if you find any errors let me know by return email gridirongreats24@aol.com

BACK UP COMPARISON RETIREMENT PLANS MLB VS NFL FROM LATEST FORM 5500 IRS REPORTS

1) Total Pay out annual benefits MLB $88.9 Mil vs. NFL $43.33 Mil ($53 mil - $10 mil disability)

2) Average annual benefit MLB $36,700 vs. NFL $12,165

3) Monthly benefits paid (nearly) MLB $7 Mil vs. NFL $3.6 Mil *****

4) 10 yr player at 62 gets MLB $175,000 vs. NFL $32,000

5) Percent total salaries of benefits MLB 5.5% vs. NFL 2.2%

6) Participants included (21% diff.) MLB 7,540 vs. NFL 9,560

7) Active players covered MLB 1,200 vs. NFL 1,800

8) Investment income MLB $92.1 Mil vs. NFL $54.7 Mil

9) Assets available for benefits MLB $1.4 Bill vs. NFL $1.2 Bill ***

10) Current liabilities MLB $2.3 Bill vs. NFL $1.04 Bill

11) Ave player salary MLB $2.8 Mil vs. NFL $1.4 Mil (Dec 2006 Forbes)

12) Median salary MLB $1.1 Mil ** vs. NFL $631,675

13) Exec. Director Pay MLB $1 Mil vs. NFL over $6.7 Mil (way over)

14) Plan actuary fee MLB $538,733 vs. NFL $492,951

15) Two year legal fees (2003+2004) MLB $309,726 vs. NFL $5.6 Mil

16) Number monthly benefits checks MLB 2,419 vs. NFL 2,864 or (3,500 Mellon Bank says)

17) Employer contributions MLB $109.6 Mil vs. NFL $67.9 Mil

18) Both Plans meet the minimum funding requirements of ERISA.

19) Both plans are defined benefit plans despite the misinformation given out by the NFLPA. Both Plans mark form 5500 page 2 item 8(a) Characteristics Code, as 1B and 1G exactly the same.

*If the NFL paid out $88.9 Mil as MLB does the average annual benefit would be $25,400 instead of the sub-poverty level benefit of $12,165.

**Florida Marlins median salary $1.1 Mil, Yankees median salary $5.8 Mil.

***Upshaw stated in a May 16, 2006 telephone conference call that the “net assets available for benefits” had grown from the $841,761,127 in the financial statement to over $1.2 billion now.

**** MLB's investment income appears to be more than NFL's.

***** NFL’s $3.6 million a month excludes disability payments of approximately $19 million.

NFL union pays their Exec Director 7 times as much and gets back less than half as much as MLB. Donald Fehr was paid $1,002,064 in 2004 Upshaw was paid over $6.7 million LM2 2006 there are many hidden( secret side letters) and disguised entries that probably also goes to Upshaw.

Total payroll MLB is $3 billion while the NFL’s is only $2.25 billion so baseball’s total is 30% higher.
MLB pays 10 times more than the NFL for travel and they support a minor league system the NFL does not.
Pension plans too numerous to list here (including MLB, GE & Congress) improve their benefits after beneficiaries start drawing benefits for cost of living and other adjustments debunking another NFLPA-NFL pension myth.
MLB goes back and improves their benefits regularly. The NBA improves their plan as well as they recently did for pre 1965 players raising benefits from $200 benefit credits per month per year to $360 benefit credits per month per year, an 80% increase.
The MLB numbers are now from 2004 and the NFL’s from 2005 and 2006 so this comparison is still even worse than it appears here.

By Bernie Parrish author of best seller They Call It A Game, former officer of NFLPA 1960’s, pension plan pioneer, player advocate since 1960, Officer of Retired Players for Justice.