Sports Fans Coalition: NFL Must Reconsider Player Disability Claims That Were ‘Swept Aside’

The previous post updates Dave Duerson developments. Trust me when I say the scandal of the late Duerson’s work on the NFL Retirement Plan board is not going away.

So I welcome the statement issued today by Brian Frederick, executive director of the Sports Fans Coalition (http://sportsfans.org):

“The NFL is slowly beginning to admit that its former players paid too deep a price to play. But even as we learn more about the chronic and serious injuries these players have suffered, we now know that the cases of too many former players were swept aside by the league. It is imperative that the NFL reconsider the claims of these players immediately. Ignoring their suffering is a great disservice to them, the fans and to the game of football.”

On August 26, I praised another fans’ lobby, Ralph Nader’s League of Fans, for joining the fray on the concussion issue. See https://concussioninc.net/?p=4472. But the Frederick group has now leapfrogged over the Nader group in seriousness by directing attention to the accountability of the $10-billion-a-year National Football League for failing to take care of the long-term health bills of the athletes who make possible the exciting spectacles so many of us enjoy.

Irv Muchnick