Ron Snyder, The (Baltimore) Examiner
2007-06-11 07:00:00.0
BALTIMORE -
Enter Congress as the latest group to express concern over the benefits provided to retired NFL players.
The House Judiciary Committee is planning on putting together an �oversight� hearing June 26 so the NFL and the league�s players association can provide the congressional group with information on the process for approving the disability claims of former players.
The Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law will hold the hearing, which will not involve subpoenas and is meant solely as an information session. The hearing comes at a time when there�s growing anecdotal evidence of retired players who can barely walk unable to get a disability claim approved by the six-member NFLPA�s retirement board, which consists of three management and three player representatives.
�The NFL is a billion-dollar industry, and yet the players who built the league are too often left to fend for themselves,� said subcommittee chairwoman Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif, in a statement. �The subcommittee has seen recent reports that the benefit plan offered to retired players may be stacked against players who need serious medical care.�
Last month, the NFL and NFLPA revealed that 284 former players are receiving disability payments totaling $19 million this year, with some receiving as much as $224,000 annually.
However, a number of former and current players, including Ravens kicker and player representative Matt Stover, agree the system is not perfect, and some players do fall through the cracks.
�We�re just not talking about players from the 1950s through the 1980s,� former Baltimore Colt Bruce Laird said. �There are players in need who retired in 1995, 1998 and even 2000 and 2001 who can�t get disability from injuries that occurred from playing.�
NFLPA spokesman Carl Francis said the union is aware of the congressional hearing and wants to cooperate, but could not comment further at this time.
News of the hearing came around the same time that the union is dealing with the fallout of comments from NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw, who when asked by The Philadelphia Daily News about another critic, Hall of Fame guard Joe DeLamielleure said: �A guy like DeLamielleure says the things he said about me; you think I�m going to invite him to dinner? No. I�m going to break his ... damn neck.�
Laird responded: �I�m shocked that in this post-9/11 world when threats of any kind are taken very seriously that the head of a billion-dollar union like Gene Upshaw can make a statement like that without suffering repercussions.�
Francis declined further comment on quote.
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