NFL Alumni Association To Be Advocate For Retired Players
NFL Alumni, a non-profit group representing retired players, “will restructure and shift focus toward becoming the top advocacy group for ex-players with medical and financial problems,” according to Alex Marvez of FOXSPORTS.com. The changes were “approved last month by a vote of the NFL Alumni’s [BOD]” and were expected to be unveiled this past weekend at a summit of retired players in Las Vegas. The moves “stem from a recently announced partnership between NFL Alumni and the Fourth-and-Goal advocacy group.” Among the new NFL Alumni Association’s goals is to “insure more financial assistance is given to former players in need.” The NFL Alumni Association “already is in discussion about financial contributions from the NFL and potential partnerships with the league and individual clubs.” Under the NFL Alumni restructuring, a CEO “will be named to head” the NFL Alumni Association. The NFL Alumni BOD “has been expanded from nine to 15 members that will now include retired players.” Also, a retired player’s committee will be “established to meet regularly with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.” The NFL Alumni’s five-year business contract with the NFL “expired in April but an extension was granted until September as both sides try to negotiate a new working relationship.” It is “unknown whether the [NFLPA] will support the NFL Alumni Association's efforts” (FOXSPORTS.com, 5/29).
PROGRESS REPORT: Fourth and Goal President Bruce Laird and Pro Football HOFer Harry Carson addressed NFL team owners at their spring meeting in Ft. Lauderdale last month, and Laird said, “I couldn’t be more pleased with the reception we had. Many owners came up to both Harry Carson and I and thanked us very much for the presentations.” Laird said Patriots Owner Robert Kraft “told me that he realized the alumni were very vital, to not only his franchise, but also the league.” Laird: “We’re headed in the right direction. This allows retired players, as a separate entity, to talk about our needs.” Laird added, “Goodell plans to meet with retired players four times a year, and the CBA committee of the owners will meet with us” (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/31).
UNION DUES: USA TODAY reports an informal group of former NFLers “lashed out Sunday at comments made” by NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith, who Saturday said that if there is a lockout by owners in ’11, retired player benefits “would be reduced by 80% while it lasts.” Smith at a meeting of the NFLPA Retired Players Organization in Palm Springs, California, said that he “represents all NFL players, active and retired.” But former NFLer Marvin Cobb said that Smith “must work through problems with retired players before they will support him and the union” (USA TODAY, 6/1).
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