Brady'sButtBoy

that there needs to be an auction to help former players (from the 60's and 70's) and that said auction is called a success while raising only $125,00? Where are the present day players on this issue? Busy counting their millions I guess. It's a hideous thought that today's players wouldn't get together and pony up just one half of one percent of their pay for just a year in tribute to the men who helped bring the NFL to prominence via the Super Bowl era.

The cap's above the $100mil mark meaning 53 players are averaging $2mil or better per year - a figure that exceeds the lifetime earnings of many, many of the guys from the 60's and 70's for their entire careers - even if they had a long one.

One half of one percent of the 32 team's players salaries/bonuses for one year would be around $32mil - an amount probably far greater than Kramer's organization has dreams to ever collect. Heck, how about just .25% for one year - that would be more than 100 times the amount raised by this recent auction. Even for the bottom barrel guys making $750K, 1/4 percent would only be $1700! Not much to pay back the dudes who built the foundation for an extremely wealthy group of modern day players.

I'll lose a lot respect for our Patriots players if they don't see this effort and do more than whatever already's being done.

http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/9997538

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PatsFanSince74

Disagreeing with your point is a little like dissing motherhood, but I'm going to offer a slightly different perspective, while acknowledging that my gut empathizes strongly with what you are saying when it comes to the top quartile earnings-wise of the players in the league.

I think that the burden here rests not on the failure of today's players either to respond more favorably to the auction you described or to behave otherwise more generously on an individual basis (when these same players also confront a two-fold daily reality of potential career-ending injuries as well as of non-guaranteed contracts that can be yanked with little notice). Rather, I think that the burden rests on the NFL Players Association that has failed to stand up for the rights of retired players who are in financial or physical distress as well as of contemporary players who feel, rightly or wrongly, that they must risk their health and well-being to hold onto their jobs.

I'll admit that there is a bit of a chicken-and-egg dynamic here, in that the NFLPA is, presumably, only responding to the instructions/votes of its members. However, it's also the responsibility of that association to contually illuminate its membership on issues of equity in relation to retired players and otherwise injured players.

I do strongly agree with you on one point, though. Both players and owners are going to have to dig deeper into their pockets in the future, as this is becoming a scandal. I just think that the place to resolve this is at the collective bargaining table and not in a well-intentioned charity auction or in other ad hoc forums. If the NFLPA doesn't "get it," then it should be the beneficiary of new leadership.

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PatsWickedPissah

I was happy to see that the topic here was not envious *****ing over current player salaries but the sad utter neglect of the guys who BUILT the NFL. The NFLPA reflects its membership. Neither the owners, players nor their elected leaders have shown much interest in these old timers. It would be a pittance to establish a fund that would really help some of the old geezers. If you're gonna have a union, have one that takes care of the players.

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PatsFanSince74

Amen, brother.

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Crowpointer

Greed is good

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DaBruinz

The NFL players have shown time and again that, as a whole, they are quite stingy with their money.

Look at how much they actually gave to Katrina charities?

Now, some players like Peyton Manning, did go out of their way, but, on the whole, they failed miserably in my eyes.

Now, regarding the NFLPA, when did they come into existence? I personally don't know. But if they came into existence after some of these players retired, I wouldn't expect the union to help them. However, if they were members of the union, the union should damn well be doing whatever it can to support them.

Unfortunately, the current Union boss doesn't believe that and has turned a blind eye to many a plight. And that speaks volumes about Upshaw and why he should have been removed as the president of the Union.

solman

I don't see why the players and owners should feel obligated to donate money to people who haven't been involved in the NFL for many decades. There are many people and causes that are worthy of money. Both the players and owners are forced to donate almost half of their earnings to causes selected by the government. Both groups voluntarily give money to many other organizations.

If I had several billion dollars and owned an NFL team, I'd like to think that I could find better causes to donate to than former players with no ongoing involvement in the game. Today I choose to distribute my money based on what people will do with it, not based on what people have done in the past. I'm not sure why being super rich should change this.

TomBrady'sGoat

the head of the player's association offers no apologies when he says that his job is to look out for active players, not retired ones. until this changes i don't see the current situation changing.

with how much money is out there you could probably take a quarter of a percent of player salaries and take care of every vet. the union just doesn't see any need to.

Krugman

If the top ten or so players who get decent endorsement contracts would donate some of what they make from a single endorsement,they could raise millions.....and yes,I include TB in that group,not just Peyton.Think of the money they could make for those guys.....

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Brady'sButtBoy

I'm sure many players donate largely to their respective college programs under the premise that the school's football system helped get them into the NFL. It's very much the same sentiment to fund a retirement system for needy players in the Super Bowl era who had profound contributions to setting in motion the forces that led to the present player's extreme wealth.

Given the fact that probably every single player in the NFL gets some kind of endorsement money how could they possibly argue against the one quarter percent of their football salaries for one year idea? The bottom rung guys would only put in $1700 (about .25% of the min. salary) and the very high end guys would have to cough up around $30,000 but make fifty to 100 times that much, or more, in endrosements in just one year.

Considering it would take so little of their present income to rectify the problem of needy older players, for today's players to stand by and allow Kramer's organization to scrape and scratch for $125,00 (most of that the result of donations by FORMER players) is simply a shameful display of self-centered greed by some of most highly paid athletes this country has ever known.

I have to admit it takes a bit of the shine off my enthusiasm for our team.

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