Comparison of MLB vs. NFL Pension Plans without the NFLPA-NFL Propaganda Added

After listening the NFLPA and NFL baloney about how our NFL pension is better than Major League Baseball's I decided to get the form 5500 Tax reports and compare the facts. The following MLB vs. NFL Pension comparison is made because Upshaw his gang and the NFL office will make deliberately false and misleading statements about this comparison to confuse the players both active and retired and the public. One of their favorites now is “We pay out nearly $5 million a month in benefits” and the NFL footmen of the press print it unrelated to anything. Well “MLB pays out nearly $7 million a month in benefits” so now you have an comparison to throw back at the Upshaw gang and the league office’s Mr. Aiello who is also fond of using it. The newest cute saying is NFL Management Council negotiator Harold Henderson’s little gem “we offer the most extensive benefits package in professional sports.” Who is the “we” that Henderson is referring to?

Below is the full MLB vs. NFL Pension comparison again.

Here is some breaking news as they say: MLB’s legal fees totaled $170,571 (2003) while our NFL pension plan paid Groom Law Group over $5,600,000 for legal fees in (2003+ 2004) to mostly beat up and defeat retired player’s disability claims. $170,000 is about average per year for MLB legal fees because they don’t pay lawyers millions to defend their pension plan against its own beneficiaries disability claims.

Another note: Groom Law Group is designing the NFLPA Website, is that not a bit odd? What kind of an operation needs slick high priced lawyers to design their Website?

There is an inverse proportion between legal fees and benefits paid to NFL players:
(MLB is Major League Baseball)

MLB legal fees ave. $170,000 yr and ave. benefits are $34,890 yr

NFL legal fees ave. $2,500,000 yr and ave. benefits are $14,451 yr

MLB’s Donald Fehr makes $1 mil and the NFL active players pay Upshaw $3 mil to produce less than half what Fehr produces for the MLB players. Think about that active players, you pay 3 times as much for less than half the results and your Upshaw works 20 hours a week average for the PAT as reported on IRS form 990-PF 2002, 2003, 2004 while Upshaw is also Chairman of Players, Inc being paid for that as well.

1) Total Pay out annual benefits MLB $80.9 mil* vs. NFL $50.58 mil
2) Average annual benefit MLB $34,890 vs. NFL $14,451
3) Monthly benefits paid (nearly) MLB $7 mil vs. NFL $5 mil
4) 10 yr player at 62 gets MLB $175,000 vs. NFL $32,000
5) Percent total salaries in benefits MLB 5.5% vs. NFL 2.2%
6) Participants included (21% diff.) MLB 7,560 vs. NFL 9,560
7) Active players covered MLB 1,200 vs. NFL 1,800
8) Investment income MLB **** vs. NFL $54.7 mil
9) Assets available for benefits MLB $1.083 Bil vs. NFL $1 Bil ***
10) Current liabilities MLB $2.3 billion vs. NFL $1.04 billion
11) Ave player salary MLB $2.8 mil vs. NFL $1.25 mil
12) Median salary MLB $1.1 mil** vs. NFL $631,675
13) Exec. Director Salary MLB $1 mil vs. NFL $3 mil
14) Plan actuary fee MLB $700,219 vs. NFL $492,951
15) Both plans are defined benefit plans despite the misinformation given out by the NFLPA. Both Plans mark form 5500 page 2 item 8(a) Characteristics Code, as 1B and 1G exactly the same.
16) Number monthly benefits checks MLB 2,319 vs. NFL 3,500
17) Both Plans meet the minimum funding requirements of ERISA.
18) Employer contributions MLB $98 million vs. NFL $64.7 million
19) Legal fees MLB $340,000 vs. NFL $5.6 MILLION (2004+2005)

· *If the NFL paid out $80.9 mil as MLB does the average annual benefit would be $23,114 instead of the current sub-poverty level benefit of $14,451.
· **Florida Marlins median salary $1.1 mil, Yankees median salary $5.8 million.
· ***Upshaw said in a May 16, 2006 telephone conference call that the “net assets available for benefits” had grown from the $841,761,127 in the financial statement to over $1 billion now.
· **** MLB's investment income appears to be more than NFL's.
· NFL pays their Exec Director 3 times as much and gets back less than half as much as MLB.
· Pension plans too numerous to list here improve their benefits after beneficiaries start drawing benefits for cost of living and other adjustments debunking another NFLPA-NFL pension myth.
· MLB goes back and improves their benefits regularly too. As does the Congresses pension as does General Electric's pension and many others.
· The MLB numbers are from 2003 and the NFL’s from 2005 so the comparison is even worse than it appears here.

For questions or interviews call me at 352-378-6348.