Players' secret lockout insurance could have sparked talks

[listopencil]

From the moment he was elected executive director of the NFL Players Association in March 2009, DeMaurice Smith always took the long view when it came to negotiations with the owners on a new collective bargaining agreement. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

It's one of the reasons that slightly more than a year ago he received approval from the executive committee to secure insurance that would pay each player roughly $200,000 if there were no football in 2011.

Smith disclosed the fund to only a handful of people outside of the executive committee. However with negotiations seemingly at a standstill late Wednesday night, the decision was made to play one of their aces in the hole. So in the relative quiet of the sides' New York City bargaining room the next morning, Baltimore Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth informed the owners of the previously secret lockout fund.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/jim_trotter/07/15/secret-lockout-fund/index.html

Posted: Friday July 15, 2011 11:11AM ; Updated: Friday July 15, 2011 11:33AM
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Jim Trotter>INSIDE THE NFL

[listopencil]

Ha ha.

[Reaper16]

Epic slow roll from the player's association. Hahaha.

[Brock]

Oh, I'm sure these captains of industry weren't surprised at all, these are men, REAL men who pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and have never made stupid decisions /vailpass

[ShowtimeSBMVP]

R

[Brock]

R

No.

[ShowtimeSBMVP]

No.

Go look in the espn and rookie thread

[Brock]

Go look in the espn and rookie thread

I don't think you understand what a repost is.

[Dave Lane]

Oh, I'm sure these captains of industry weren't surprised at all, these are men, REAL men who pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and have never made stupid decisions /vailpass

Salt of the earth they are...

[listopencil]

Go look in the espn and rookie thread

I stopped going into that thread when it became more Chiefs-oriented and less about the lockout in general. And it deserves its own thread.

[Marcellus]

$200K wouldn't cover the jewelry and car payments for the month let alone a year. I don't see that being a huge bargaining chip. Sorry.

[vailpass]

Oh, I'm sure these captains of industry weren't surprised at all, these are men, REAL men who pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and have never made stupid decisions /vailpass

Do I have another fan?

Like I said in the other thread that mentioned this:

LMAO at $200k
As if that means jack squat to the players let alone forces the owners to change their tactics. Think about it.

[bevischief]

e

[kstater]

I wonder how much the non unionized union payed in premiums on a 400M insurance policy.

[vailpass]

I wonder how much the non unionized union payed in premiums on a 400M insurance policy.

You read my mind but said it better than I would have.

[listopencil]

$200K wouldn't cover the jewelry and car payments for the month let alone a year. I don't see that being a huge bargaining chip. Sorry.

That's 200k for each player.

I don't know how accurate these numbers are:

Yearly household income:
NFL: $1,000,000 Game check: $62,500--after taxes: $35,000
USA: $43,500 Weekly check: $836.54--after taxes: $500

http://www.gamesover.org/finances

I haven't found a creditable source that pins down the actual average game check. But 200k / 62.5k comes out to 3.2, so if those numbers are correct then that represents a three week period that the NFLPA could use as a cushion.

[Marcellus]

That's 200k for each player.

I don't know how accurate these numbers are:

Yearly household income:
NFL: $1,000,000 Game check: $62,500--after taxes: $35,000
USA: $43,500 Weekly check: $836.54--after taxes: $500

http://www.gamesover.org/finances

I haven't found a creditable source that pins down the actual average game check. But 200k / 62.5k comes out to 3.2, so if those numbers are correct then that represents a three week period that the NFLPA could use as a cushion.

Like I said, it wouldn't cover a month. :D

[alnorth]

I wonder how much the non unionized union payed in premiums on a 400M insurance policy.

Its just an insurance policy, probably underwritten by Lloyd's of London or some other company who takes on crazy unusual risks. (e.g. the "contestant died on our reality TV show" liability policy)

The insurance policy probably covers the players individually. It can be paid for by an entity that no longer exists, and the beneficiaries don't need to know until it pays out.

[alnorth]

Like I said, it wouldn't cover a month. :D

The players wont be able to go to Vegas every month and buy their 4th car. It'll make ends meet in a lesser, but still decent lifestyle. The point isn't to replace game checks, it is to prevent the players from breaking, and 200k ought to do it. No one cares if a couple players go broke and flake out.

[vailpass]

The players wont be able to go to Vegas every month and buy their 4th car. It'll make ends meet in a lesser, but still decent lifestyle. The point isn't to replace game checks, it is to prevent the players from breaking, and 200k ought to do it. No one cares if a couple players go broke and flake out.

LMAO You don't have any idea what you are talking about. The players that stand to lose mulitple millions, or a million, or hundreds of thousands of dollars are going to break and run. They are not going to stand in solidarity with their league minimum brothers and give up a years worth of income in career that only spans a few years.

And no that won't make ends meet for high rollers, not even close.

[alnorth]

LMAO You don't have any idea what you are talking about. The players that stand to lose mulitple millions, or a million, or hundreds of thousands of dollars are going to break and run.

Who gives a rat's ass about a few stars. Those players are not enough. For the rank and file minimum salary guys, 200k is plenty, and the NFL wont win if a few superstars flake.

A lot of these superstars have money in the bank anyway. YOU are the one who doesn't know what the hell he's talking about, and the evidence is that the NFL owners were "shaken" to a point that monumental progress was made. If the lockout insurance didn't matter, then it wouldn't matter. Obviously it appears that it does matter, so you are wrong.

[listopencil]

Like I said, it wouldn't cover a month. :D


That's assuming we are talking about players that live by game checks alone, which means you just threw out all those "high rollers" you are talking about. So, yes it's 3 weeks instead of 4 weeks but you just eliminated the only point you had.

[vailpass]

Who gives a rat's ass about a few stars. Those players are not enough. For the rank and file minimum salary guys, 200k is plenty, and the NFL wont win if a few superstars flake.

A lot of these superstars have money in the bank anyway. YOU are the one who doesn't know what the hell he's talking about, and the evidence is that the NFL owners were "shaken" to a point that monumental progress was made. If the lockout insurance didn't matter, then it wouldn't matter. Obviously it appears that it does matter, WTF??
so you are wrong.

LMAO obama suporter and all around delusional is no way to go through life. But you have fun with that.

[listopencil]

LMAO obama suporter and all around delusional is no way to go through life. But you have fun with that.

You didn't understand what he was saying there?

[Skyy God]

De Smith, master of the Jap play.

[listopencil]

Anybody think De Smith was lying?

[Okie_Apparition]

The owners had their lockout insurance...for a while anyway

[listopencil]

I was on a Bronco board in a duplicate of this thread just a bit ago. A guy in that thread was saying that Insurance and Risk Management happens to be his business and he thinks De Smith and the NFLPA are full of crap basically. He doesn't think a carrier would agree to this policy. I disagree. I admit that it's certainly possible but I disagree with him.

[kstater]

I was on a Bronco board in a duplicate of this thread just a bit ago. A guy in that thread was saying that Insurance and Risk Management happens to be his business and he thinks De Smith and the NFLPA are full of crap basically. He doesn't think a carrier would agree to this policy. I disagree. I admit that it's certainly possible but I disagree with him.

I can see where he's coming from. It's roughly 400M with a chance of payout that had to be astronomically high(50/50 even?). The premium if true had to be somewhere north of 50M.

[milkman]

Assuming, for the sake of argument, that this did have an affect on the negotiations, what I would want to know is why the hell they waited so long to disclose this?

Could they not have trotted out this information a couple of weeks earlier and gotten the desired effect?

[SAUTO]

Assuming, for the sake of argument, that this did have an affect on the negotiations, what I would want to know is why the hell they waited so long to disclose this?

Could they not have trotted out this information a couple of weeks earlier and gotten the desired effect?


I would think so...

I also think smith is trying to make himself look like the savior here.
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