Last week I spent some time speaking with NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith on a wide variety of issues ranging from labor talks with the NFL to his reflections after one year in office.
NFL Alumni President George Martin Responds To NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith
One of the topics discussed was retired players and specifically George Martin, president of the NFL Alumni Association. Martin has taken issue with Smith’s words writing on the NFL Alumni Association website that Smith has “continued his practice of spreading rumor, falsehoods and innuendo concerning the issues facing retired NFL players.”
It is also very apparent that Mr. Smith views the issues facing alumni as nothing but a political poker chip for him to shuffle across the table as he sees fit. The issues facing retired NFL players and their families are real and affect real people and are much more important than beltway politics and lawyer games.
In our story, we wrote that Smith sent a letter to Martin requesting support for his idea of a legacy fund for retired players. “I’ve said every team should make a contribution of at least a million dollars a year for a total of $32 million a year for what I would call the legacy fund,” Smith said. “That legacy fund should go to all the players pensions who played prior to 1993 and that would increase all their pensions by, get this, $1,000 per month.”
Smith told me that he hadn’t had any communication with Martin specifically regarding that letter.
Martin’s response to that claim:
On a personal note, I find it preposterous that Mr. Smith would mention he has had no communications with me without telling the whole story. Since October 2009, I have constantly called, emailed, sent letters and text messages to Mr. Smith requesting a meeting. To this day, Mr. Smith ignores my requests.
Meanwhile, Martin also claims that NFL owners recently gave the players an offer regarding pensions, which Smith ultimately did not accept.
Earlier this year, NFL owners responded with an offer to the union that would have immediately placed $100 million in the pension fund. Unfortunately, Mr. Smith’s words on retired player issues did not align with his actions when the union countered the owners’ proposal with an offer that tied the increase in pensions to an extension of the current CBA.
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