For NFL, retirees’ health care is tougher battle
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Gwen Knapp, Chronicle Columnist
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Encouraging signs about the NFL lockout keep growing.
The rhetoric between the two sides has mellowed considerably. The owners and players issued a joint statement Friday, saying that a federal court decision in favor of the owners had not changed anyone’s commitment to negotiating a deal. On its face, the comment seemed dry and fairly redundant, but from this cast of characters, it amounted to: “You bring the marshmallows. We’ll pick out the campfire songs.”
But one conflict remains intractable. It will outlive whatever agreement puts the game back in business, haunting the NFL for years, maybe even generations.
A group of former players filed a class-action lawsuit last week, demanding a voice in the bargaining. The merits of the case appear very murky, and the filing may have little effect on any deal making. But even if the courts can’t side with the old-timers, the league’s interest in public relations will keep conceding yardage to them.
From the start of negotiations, an enhanced legacy fund has reportedly been on the table. But the issue has never been defined as what it really is – a giraffe and an 800-pound gorilla circling the perimeter of the room.
The eventual collective-bargaining agreement will be about hard numbers. The legitimate needs of retired football players defy quantification. What seems like responsible care today will, if history holds course, seem inadequate in as little as three years.
The death of 69-year-old John Mackey last week served as a reminder of the negligence that once ruled treatment of former pro football players, by both their former employers and the union allegedly representing their interests. The prototype for the modern tight end and the first Players Association president after the AFL-NFL merger, Mackey led the way to better pay and benefits.
But Mackey couldn’t foresee the dementia that took hold of him in his 50s, reducing him to such a childlike state that his wife, Sylvia, had to stop taking him on trips to the grocery store. He would sneak candy bars into his pockets near the register, she’d explain later. His care nearly bankrupted them, and Sylvia returned to work as a flight attendant at age 56 to pay the growing bills.
Five years ago, persuaded by Mackey supporters, the NFL and the Players Association agreed to pay $88,000 for nursing-home residence or $50,000 for home health care for retirees suffering from dementia, regardless of football’s role in the deterioration. Called the 88 Plan, in honor of Mackey’s jersey number, the fund was expanded to cover former players with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 2010.
Just a year after the 88 Plan arrived, Congress felt compelled to hold hearings on the plight of other NFL retirees. Now, as medical research reveals deeper connections between contact sports and brain trauma, the potential liabilities appear to be expanding further.
The disability fund, co-administered by the league and the union, has become the biggest point of contention. Ex-Saints tackle Kyle Turley became so enraged in a TV appearance with Robert Smith, a member of the panel that decides disability claims, that he dropped an “F-you” on the former Viking.
