NFL Players Association Counters Critics Of Retirement Coverage
Team owners, not the players’ union, have been the major obstacle against better 
pension benefits for pioneer players from the earliest days of the National 
Football League (NFL). The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) has issued a series 
of documents to set the record straight after a number of news articles 
spotlighted the plight of big name players from the earliest years of the sport.
Brig Owens, a star defensive back with Washington from the mid-60s through the 
70s, says the few player critics don’t understand how collective bargaining 
works.
“The pension and support programs don’t happen overnight. Many of these benefits 
had to be bargained for over the years with the NFL. Some players seem to have 
forgotten that,” Owens said.
He pointed out that the NFLPA’s efforts on behalf of pioneer players includes 
expanded benefits for so-called “pre-59ers” who were not covered when the union 
negotiated its first pension plan in 1962, That initial plan provided $60 per-month for each season since 1960 where a player was on the 
team roster for at least three games in a season.
Today, benefits for pre-59ers have grown substantially. The union has also 
established a strong workers compensation program to provide cash benefits to 
players disabled by injuries.
Retirement benefits were a key issue in the 1982 strike by NFL players and for 
almost a decade after that strike, relations between players and owners were 
brittle, extending to constant turmoil over management of the joint pension 
plan. The union won a milestone collective bargaining agreement in 1993 to 
provide rough parity for the pre-1959 players.
Since that 1993 agreement, the NFLPA pension plan has grown to $1 billion in 
assets.
A history of the union’s pension battles on the NFLPA website also shows that in 
the 2006 season, active players contributed $116 million to fund pension 
benefits — $20 million of that total pays for disability benefits for former 
players. (www.nflpa.org)