NFL coaches pension plan

[Yvette]

The owners voted in March to make the pension, the 401K, and the current supplemental retirement plan non-mandatory for the clubs.

and

According to Kennan nine teams - Arizona, Atlanta, Buffalo, Dallas, Houston, Jacksonville, New England, New Orleans, and San Francisco - have opted out of the program. Others may do so over the next few years.

and

There has been speculation the league opted to change the pension plan requirements as an offshoot of the owners opting out of the collective bargaining agreement with the players. Several coaches believe it is part of the league's overall strategy for negotiating a new CBA.

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/sports/nfl-98117-coaches-titans.html
Hope the coaches have been better money managers than the players!

[PBV]

I can't wait for a new CBA agreement to be reached. The road ahead looks ugly. While it's good to know the Colts might be weaker this season because of their coaching losses, the reasons why really blow. These guys no doubt get paid like doctors, lawyers, or better, but they have zero job security and a limited amount of job opportunities. I feel they deserve a sense of security for their efforts, and finiancial risks they take to support this league. I think college and highschool coaches recieve retirement benifits right?

[NcTitans_fan]

the only thing i hate is how much rookies get paid...............in 5 years the number one overall pick will make 100 million garunteed

[TitansGiantsBears]

This is what happens when you put a "business first" guy in charge as commissioner. Taking care of its employees was once a mandatory requirement for NFL clubs, now it's optional. I fear Goodell will be the death of the NFL as a competitive league. It will devolve into a league of haves and have-nots like MLB.

Previous commissioners fiercely guarded the integrity of the league, made sure it remained competitive, and protected its image. Goodell is there to make sure a small handful of owners get richer. Period. Some clubs will offer pensions (in all likelihood those with more money) while others won't. Which one will the better coaches gravitate toward for openings? Clubs without pensions will settle for those looking to break into the league or those with special circumstances. If those coaches prove themselves they'll quickly jump to teams that offer the pensions. Put the pensions together with no salary cap and you can see where this mess is headed. A Kraft-Jones Super Bowl every year or so.

[ZachLV27]

This is what happens when you put a "business first" guy in charge as commissioner. Taking care of its employees was once a mandatory requirement for NFL clubs, now it's optional. I fear Goodell will be the death of the NFL as a competitive league. It will devolve into a league of haves and have-nots like MLB.

Previous commissioners fiercely guarded the integrity of the league, made sure it remained competitive, and protected its image. Goodell is there to make sure a small handful of owners get richer. Period. Some clubs will offer pensions (in all likelihood those with more money) while others won't. Which one will the better coaches gravitate toward for openings? Clubs without pensions will settle for those looking to break into the league or those with special circumstances. If those coaches prove themselves they'll quickly jump to teams that offer the pensions. Put the pensions together with no salary cap and you can see where this mess is headed. A Kraft-Jones Super Bowl every year or so.

:crazy What!?!?

Are you thinking of the same NFL I am?

The old school players had absolutely no pension plan and have been flat out ignored by every single commissioner before Goodell. These are the same players who put their bodies on the line for this league and built it to what it is today.

Previous commissioners protected the integrity of the league? At one time steroids ran rampant through the NFL and was ignored by the owners and the commissioner.

Previous commissioners protected the image of the league? Tagliabue let the players run amok. Players were getting arrested left and right and absolutely no punishment was handed out for it. Players could just keep on screwing up and getting arrested.

As for this current topic. How can you be blaming Goodell for this? He isn't an owner. He didn't vote this in. No matter who is commissioner of this league the owners still run it and the owners still make all the major decisions.

The coaches are still making more money than most people on this board (head coaches especially). If they want, which would actually be the smart thing to do, they can invest their own money into a retirement plan instead of leaving it in the hands of someone else.

[ZachLV27]

One last thing on your conspiracy theory of Goodell trying to make this league into a "Kraft-Jones Super Bowl every year". Did Goodell drug all the other owners into voting this rule in? Do all these other owners hate money and hate losing so much that they are trying to hand it over to those two?

There are quite a few things that people can rightfully get upset at Goodell for. The problem is that most people attack him for stuff that he had little to nothing to do with.

[TitansFan23]

I don't feel sorry for anyone making the $$$ coaches do in the NFL.

They can invest their money just like anyone else.

Those guys make more money in a few years than most people make in a lifetime.

[TitansGiantsBears]

:crazy What!?!?

Are you thinking of the same NFL I am?

The old school players had absolutely no pension plan and have been flat out ignored by every single commissioner before Goodell. These are the same players who put their bodies on the line for this league and built it to what it is today.

Previous commissioners protected the integrity of the league? At one time steroids ran rampant through the NFL and was ignored by the owners and the commissioner.

Previous commissioners protected the image of the league? Tagliabue let the players run amok. Players were getting arrested left and right and absolutely no punishment was handed out for it. Players could just keep on screwing up and getting arrested.

As for this current topic. How can you be blaming Goodell for this? He isn't an owner. He didn't vote this in. No matter who is commissioner of this league the owners still run it and the owners still make all the major decisions.

The coaches are still making more money than most people on this board (head coaches especially). If they want, which would actually be the smart thing to do, they can invest their own money into a retirement plan instead of leaving it in the hands of someone else.

Were there problems in the past in the NFL? Absolutely. Chief among them was the lack of pension for older players. That said, it was the work of vets like Joe Delamielleure and others who pushed the oversight to the forefront. Goodell happened to be the guy on watch when it happened. It isn't like he picked up the ball and ran with it.

When I say, "protect the integrity of the league", I am referring mainly to the competitiveness of the league. Rozelle and Tags (especially Rozelle) were parity mad. Their idea season would be for everyone to finish 8-8 and let the math whizzes sort out the rest.

Moves like this one allowing teams to opt out of the league-mandated pension plan will assuredly lead to a lack of competitive balance. I don't care if these assistants are paid well or not. If you have a choice of coaching for a team that offers a pension plan or one that doesn't, you'll go to the one that does. The only execptions being those who are looking to break into the league or who coach under extenuating circumstances. Exploring the possibility of playing uncapped years will lead to a less-than-level playing field for all teams. One thing you could count on Tags and Rozelle to do was to put the weight of their office behind keeping the league on even footing. The NFL is more of an owner's league than ever now.

Steroids were a problem in the NFL throughout the 1970's and are still a part of the landscape. The problem is that the substance abuse policy cannot keep up with the science of cheating through drug use. There are new products that come out every day and to their credit the NFL bans them as they discover them. The problem is that the players switch to something else and stay a step ahead. In 1986, the year the NFL began testing for steroids the New York Giants won the Super Bowl without a single player who weighed 300 lbs or more. Last year's Steelers team had 12 with two more listed at 298pounds. The Titans had 8 players of such girth. The average team has 11 players over 300 lbs.

It's naive to think or argue that nutrition and hard work lead to the increased mass. In 1986 William Perry made news because he was a 300 pounder. Today, he would be just another guy. These players are simply juggling various types of HGH to stay a step ahead of testing. As the late Lyle Alzado said, "There are freaks of nature, but not enough to fill an entire roster."

As for player misconduct, I don't see that it has changed drastically. The NFL just makes more noise about it these days. You assemble close to 1800 men, many from disadvantaged backgrounds, and pay them a king's ransom to play a child's game and there will be some among them who have problems with the law. And the policy as it stands now is a joke anyway. A second year corner on a small market team with a losing record is ACCUSED of a crime and he's suspended. A high-profile QB like Vick is indicted by a federal grand jury and Goodell takes a "wait and see" approach before making a decision.

Are you thinking of the same NFL I am?