NFLPA Leader Gene Upshaw’s Compensation at Least $6.7M

from Daniel Kaplan at Sports Business Journal

NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw earned at least $6.7 million in compensation in the year ended Feb. 28, 2007, according to the union’s annual report filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. That amount was more than double the prior year’s pay for Upshaw, who ranks consistently as sports’ highest-paid union chief.

NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw The increased compensation came as the union negotiated a player-friendly labor deal with team owners. At the same time, however, the union and the executive director personally have been undertremendous public fire from retired players on issues ranging from pensions and disability benefits to licensing income.

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The timing of this story could not be worse for Gene Upshaw and the NFLPA, which is the target of a class-action lawsuit for failing to pay benefits to retired players. According to Forbes, only 317 out of more than 10,000 eligible players are getting disability payments out of their own fund. (Read my two previous posts on this lawsuit.)

But the NFLPA apparently has the funds to pay their employees. According to the Sports Business Journal, Upshaw is the highest-paid union chief in sports. Billy Hunter, the National Basketball Players Association executive director, earned $2.1 million in the 12 months ended June 30, 2006. MLBPA boss Donald Fehr takes in $1 million salary.

Furthermore, in a recent amendment to their lawsuit, the retired NFL players allege that, “Players Inc. has ... diverted millions of dollars from Players Inc. to the NFLPA in order to support the overhead, substantial salaries and perquisites of NFLPA management and employees.”

Richard Berthelsen, the NFLPA’s general counsel, had this to say about Upshaw's salary, “If anything, he is underpaid."

Once the Dirtiest Player in the NFL, Conrad Dobler is Now Fighting for the Guys He Tried to Dismember

from Michael Weinreb of espn.com

"I always tried to play it fair," he says

He knows perfectly well how any mention of fairness or honor might sound, coming from someone who made his reputation as the maestro of a nasty little karate kick technique called the leg whip, coming from a man best known for using his helmet, his feet, his knees, his fingers, a plaster cast, and — perhaps most famously — his teeth as lethal weapons. This is, after all, the same Conrad Dobler whom Sports Illustrated anointed on its cover in 1977 as "Pro Football's Dirtiest Player," the same Conrad Dobler who titled his own autobiography "They Call Me Dirty." This is the Conrad Dobler who gouged eyes and twisted facemasks and worked hard to irritate everyone from Pete Rozelle to John Madden to a mild-mannered Mormon defensive lineman named Merlin Olsen

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Last week I commented on a story that told of retired NFL players seeking Congress' help in repairing their pension and disability system. Officials claim that only 317 of more than 10,000 eligible players are getting payments out of the NFLPA disability fund. Today, this story was plastered on the front page of ESPN.com. Conrad Dobler, who once actually made an opponent cry on the football field, is part of a class-action suit filed to help retired players to get their fair share of the profits from the league they helped build.

Congress: NFL Should Improve Benefits

from Jesse J. Holland of the Associated Press

Aging NFL retirees told Congress Tuesday that playing professional football left them with broken bodies, brain damage and empty bank accounts. Lawmakers said they may get involved if a better pension and disability system isn't created.

Former NFL players told a sympathetic House Judiciary subcommittee tales of multiple surgeries, dementia and homelessness, all while trying to fight through the red tape of the National Football League and the NFL Players Association's disability system.

The league and the players association said pensions are improving and there's no need for Congress to step in.

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The NFL Players Association should be embarrased. Football players suffer more injuries, and have shorter life expectancies than those in any other major sport. Yet the NFLPA is not taking care of players once they retire. Its bad enough that the NFL doesn't have guaranteed contracts, but when hall of fame players are literally dying homeless, something has to be done. The stars of the NFL have to take accountability and get this fixed.