Nfl Disability

The NFL vs. Broken Bodies

Are you ready for some football? Every fall millions of football fans gear up for the highly anticipated NFL season. With their anticipation and support comes a never-ending flow of money and advertisement for the NFL as a corporation. Early this year every football fan sulked as they faced a potential strike of the 2011-2012 season by players. This strike could potentially occur due to NFL players and owners not being able to sign a collective bargaining agreement. The course of negotiations were unknown to fans that were forced to patiently wait while players and owners debated the dollars.
In the background of this struggle sits one small group who while affected by the final terms of the collective bargaining agreement, has no voice in the debate. Who is this group of individuals and do they have no power? The answer is retired NFL players seeking disability aid. For years this group of no more 8,000 men have fought and in most cases lost their battle to receive substantial disability aid. However all such retirees of the NFL are hoping that a new collective bargaining agreement will foster dramatic changes in their health and disability plan.
Every loyal fan, viewer, and supporter of the NFL has a moral obligation to support the cause of these retired players because it was their play and effort that turned the NFL into a multi-billion dollar corporation. Legends like Johnny Unitus, Joe Montana, and Walter Peyton are worshiped like American heroes by millions of fans who have watched football for countless seasons. Once retired though the “Bert Belll/Pete Rozelle NFL Retirement plan” is of little help to those retired players needing aid. The current NFL disability system does not meet the specific needs of players, and several changes can be made to make it a fair system.
But why should we the public take any special interest in this group of individuals while there are plenty of others fighting for some form of fair...