Retired Player's Petitions for Government Intervention, Congressional Hearings, and Labor Law Exemptions

This is a letter to 500+ retired players about our issues with Gene Upshaw and "his" NFLPA.

Guys, please look these listed items over and give me your suggestions, ideas, or corrections. These are going to government agencies and interested national politicians.

I think we should sign petitions to Rep. Henry Hyde, Rep Sheila Jackson-Lee, and to Rep Maxine Waters to urge them to move forward with a congressional investigation and hearings on Upshaws agent manipulations and general underhanded operation of the NFLPA as described below. Also a petition to and Rep. Tom Osborne and Sen. George Allen asking them to sponsor legislation to exempt the NFL's union to represent retired players. The NBA retired players will undoubtedly join our efforts to get such an exemption to the labor laws enacted since they are meeting in Las Vegas shortly to discuss virtually the same retirement plan and other issues we have. Such petitions will carry substantial weight with congress, the media, and the various government agencies now considering actions to take on our behalf.

These petitions could be signed at the Baltimore meeting and moved on from there for more to sign them like Mike Ditka, Jim Brown, Bart Starr, Roger Staubach, Joe Montana, Marcus Allen, Deacon Jones, and other who I believe will gladly add their names to these petition requests for action on our behalf.

A petition expressing the retired players desire to file a class action antitrust suit against the new NFLPA-NFL partnership will help attract a nationally know lawfirm to take on our case several are looking at it now. Jim Brown made #32 famous but his 45 year old Browns slave contract doesn't allow him to utilize it. We weren't allowed to have attorney's represent us in contract negotiations, etc etc. monopoly etc.

These petitions and others could make the Baltimore meeting worthwhile regardless of the "actuarial" bull shit, prevarications and lies that will be told by the "specially" chosen pension experts.

Take another look at the answers I got from the Retirement Plan attorney's Groom Law Group that your Retirement Plan has paid over $5.6 million over the past 2 years to dance you, us around while denying and defeating every possible disability claim any retired player makes along with the help of the retirement board and Upshaw and his gang.
Below are some of our complaints if you can think of others let me know.
Bernie bpp12@yahoo.com , 352-378-6348.


1. Upshaw uses his intimidated Agents as a goon squad to control the votes of active players (masquerading as financial advisors) delivering them for Upshaw is union racketeering at its worst. These sports agents are Upshaw’s primary means of playing the active players against the retired players.

2. Upshaw reports on form 990-PF 2004, 2003, 2002 that he works 20 hrs a week average for PAT, that is half his work week. He gets paid $3 million a year from the active players to work 40 hours a week for them as Exec Director of the NFLPA. I guess that works out to $3 mil a year for part time. I wonder how Upshaw’s agent handled that in his contract.
3. Donavan McNabb at $901,002 for 2005 is the second highest paid NFLPA union official. Why? McNabb’s pay is way out of sync with all other player representatives. Upshaw shenanigans. Beat the salary cap? What?

4. Groom Law is paid $368,000 Upshaw’s LM30 reports when the form 5500’s report Groom Law report Mr. Ell’s firm’s fees are $2,122,750 for 2005 and $3,114,538 in 2004. Is this another discrepancy or accurate report indicating that Groom Law represents Upshaw individually or the NFLPA separately from the Retirement plans and are these reports verification of a conflict of interest. The NFLPA and the Retirement Plan are separate legal entities and often have conflicting legal issues while competition for the same employer contribution funds.

5. Upshaw (NFLPA) approves or disapproves of the agents who represent the active NFL players then deals with them in an intimidating arbitrary and capricious manner, i.e. Carl Poston on La Var Arrington problem.

6. Tom Condon Upshaw’s personal agent is a Retirement Board Member trustee in a conflict of interest that has cost players millions in denied disability claims and perhaps more in other decisions on Retirement Plan issues. Condon knows better than to cross a vindictive underhanded Upshaw.

7. Aon Consulting has to pay $190 million in restitution for corrupt business practices to NY, Conn, and Ill, specifically “cheating customers.” They as plan actuaries have consistently provided Upshaw with excuses (assumptions) to justify hoarding the Retirement Plan Funds. They also have cooked up a stream of cash trapping insurance, investment, and service schemes that divert funds from player benefits that would other wise be going into the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan.

8. Kirk Wright-IMA $185 million ponsi scam was recommendation by NFLPA/Upshaw on the NFLPA Web-site and every other list of approved investment firms that the NFLPA publishes and gives out by telephone.

9. Former player Steve Atwater has filed a $20 million lawsuit against the NFLPA and the NFL for their half-vast background checks and subsequent recommendation of IMA by the NFLPA.

10. NFLPA says that agent Carl Poston did not read La Var Arrington’s contract and advised him to sign it but that is OK because Arrington now says he doesn’t mind and doesn’t want to have anyone/congress/government look into his problem and how the inconsistent way Upshaw and the NFLPA is dealing with agents who do such things. I understand Upshaw’s gang is pressuring Arrington to save the NFLPA/Upshaw embarrassment and to try to get the government off his back. Rep. Henry Hyde and Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee want to know what’s going on in Upshaw’s arbitrary inconsistent treatment of agents?

11. NFLPA approved agent Sean Jones agent lawsuit fine $500,000 for getting another NFL player into a deal where Jones illegally churned his stock trading account to collect commissions. Jones and Upshaw are long time friends has Jones gotten preferential treatment?

12. Tom Condon Retirement Board trustee negotiated Upshaw’s $11.2 million contract thru 2008 with Upshaw for Upshaw.

13. Upshaw is trying to create a 2008 labor crisis telling a Philadelphia newspaper that the owners are unhappy about the new CBA and will lock the players out in 2008. For April, May, June and July Upshaw was a hero for bring future years of continued NFL peace only 2 owners voted against the Tagliabue/Upshaw partnered CBA. Owners praised Upshaw’s partnership with NFL Commissioner Tagliabue. But now since Upshaw wants to raise a “strike fund war chest” and negotiate a new employment contract while he is an indispensable leader of a locked out or striking labor union. The labor peace was only a fairy tale.

14. NFLPA produces and publicizes a constant stream of lies about how great the NFL Retirement Plan compares to MLB’s Plan.

15. NFLPA produces and publicizes a constant stream of known lies about the ability of the plan to pay benefits using lies about ERISA restrictions and myths that laws relating to “under funding of the plan” prevents the NFL plan from increasing the benefits to MLB and higher levels.

16. Upshaw has created a 15+ year retired player representation dilemma, reference in the CBA page 189 “on behalf off” then denied by Upshaw in Charlotte Observer and NY Times and other publications then promised again in the NFLPA’s solicitation of dues for a “Continued Voice In Your Union”. Below the CBA says:
Section 3. Definition: For purposes of this Agreement, the term “Player Benefit Costs,” as also set forth in Article XXIV (Guaranteed League‑wide Salary, Salary Cap & Minimum Team Salary), means the aggregate for a League Year of all sums paid (or to be paid on a proper accrual basis for a League Year) by the NFL and all NFL Clubs for, to or on behalf of present or former NFL players, but only for:
(a) Pension funding, including the Bert Bell NFL Player Retirement Plan (as described in Article XLVII), the Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan (as described in Article XLVII), the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan (as described in Article XLVII), the National Football League Pre‑59er Special Benefit Program, and the Second Career Savings Plan (as described in Article XLVIII); Page 189 CBA 2006

17. The Player Assistance Trust claims to have aided over 650 retired players but my inspection of their Form 990-PF reports have only a few dozen former player’s names that I recognize. There has never been an audit of the PAT as to who the money actually went to as compared to who was eligible to receive it.

18. Aon Consulting insurance schemes divert large percentages of funds that would have gone to the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan now go into in to other cash trapping schemes like the NFL Player Second Career, NFL Player Annuity Program, NFL Player Annuity & Insurance Co., 401k and more than 20 other overblown complex services and other plans “by players for players”.

19. Aon CEO Chicago Bears owner Patrick Ryan an employer participant in Retirement Plan and is also the Retirement Plan’s actuary which is a clear conflict of interest.
20. The only way active players, NFLPA union members, can file an Anti-trust suit is to decertify the NFLPA as a union. However the retired players have no such restriction and are free to file an antitrust action against the NFLPA as well as the NFL for their past and current transgressions.

21. Upshaw controls amount that will go into the Retirement Plan through his intimidation of Agents who “advise” (pressure) their active player clients, the union members to vote or do whatever Upshaw demands.

22. Upshaw is partners with NFL Commissioner Tagliabue in a publicly admitted collusion to the detriment of both active and retired players. See MLB vs. NFL comparison.

23. A conspiracy (RICO?) exists between Upshaw, the NFLPA, his approve agents, Groom Law Group, Aon Consulting, and the Retirement Board trustees to minimize Bert Bell Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan benefits to retired players, and to deny as many retired player disability claims as possible and ultimately to protect the hoarded net assets available for benefits from the Plan beneficiaries and participants. The control and defense of this $1 billion cache by this cabal is cynically justified behind such devious statements as “To provide greater security for your and other players’ retirement benefits, the NFL Management Council and the NFL Players Association have worked together to increase the funding level of the Plan.” In between “increasing the funding level” of the Plan and “increasing benefits” stands Upshaw’s union rackets. He uses racketeering control of the active players (union members) through his 900 intimidated agents. These intimidated agents “advise” the active players to vote for whatever Upshaw tells the agents, to push on them. Uncooperative agents can lose their Upshaw/NFLPA approval and their livelihood. Upshaw is joined in his union racket by advisors Aon Consulting, the Groom Law Group, and is aided by the retirement Board members. As the Groom Law Group demonstrates telling those who question the Board Members that the cabal is making the Plan more “secure.” The definition of Plan “security,” in Grooms legalese is that as the plan credit (actuary) rating increases as benefits to retired players are “minimized” in proportion to it total assets and more cash is trapped in their $1 billion cache. Plan “security,” in Groom Law’s eyes is the Plan’s ability to pay Groom Law Group over $5.6 million and Aon Consulting over $900,000 in fees in two years. Their brand of Plan “security” is increased as benefits paid to beneficiaries are held lower in proportion to Plan value and income.

24. Upshaw has displayed obvious vindictive and hostile elements in his decisions detrimental to the retired players. This answers one of the basic characteristics of illegal violations by a union official in the intentionally harmful actions he takes. 20% increase of benefits is another insult.

25. The PAT fund lost $310,907 in Publicly Traded Securities in 2002 and the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan lost $2,952,420 from the sale of assets in 2005 according to the one page SUMMARY ANNUAL REPORT March 15, 2006. I tried to track the $2,952,420 loss in the Financial Statement but I could not. In any event these two significant losses are not very well explained.

26. Player Reps who were supposed to be participating in the CBA negotiations with the NFL Management Council were not allowed by Upshaw to participate. In other words Upshaw didn’t allow them in the room. Was Upshaw the only one in the negotiating room as he claimed to the Charlotte Observer back in January 2006? Is it legal for Upshaw to circumvent the negotiating process? What contract document gives Upshaw the right or power to negotiate the CBA for the union, alone?