Judge Puts Hold On $765 Million NFL Settlement
January 17, 2014 in Sports News
Even though many writers and commentators have stated flatly that the $765 million settlement offered to former NFL players by the league as compensation for injuries sustained during their tenure playing professional football was going to fall far short of the projected amount necessary to adequately cover all of the players and their families involved, it looked like the NFLPA would have no choice but to accept the offer or be left with no compensation at all until U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody denied preliminary approval of the proposed amount stating the she feared that it would not be sufficient to cover the 20,000 retired players and their medical-financial needs.
Lawyers for the players filed a detailed payout plan only last week and it was obvious that some former players were going to be getting far less than they expected or needed from the settlement.
On Tuesday Judge Brody wrote as part of her 12 page opinion on the case, “I am primarily concerned that not all retired NFL football players who ultimately receive a qualifying diagnosis or their (families) will be paid.”
Even on the surface the settlement seems bogus. The people who drew up the plan claimed that it would cover all former NFL player needs for the next 65 years
The proposed settlement, negotiated over several months, is designed to last at least 65 years. That adds up to under $12,000,000 per year. How far will that go when divided among 20,000 ex NFL players?
Under the current plan, the older you are, the longer you have been retired from the league, the less money you get. A younger player would receive around $5 million if he is unlucky enough to contract Lou Gehrig’s disease and serious dementia cases could get up to $3,000,000. An eighty year old NFL vet would receive a mere $25,000 for his own dementia even though he has been living with it for all these years.
To date more than 4,500 former NFL players have filed suit against the league including Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett and Bears quarterback Jim McMahon.
The National Football League, which consists of the 32 team owners, brings in a whopping $9 Billion (with a B!) per year. They pay Roger Goodell $30,000,000 to manage the league. It looks like they could be doing a good bit more for their former players who put them in the position to be making so much money in the first place. Kudos for Judge Brody!