S. HRG. 110–1177 OVERSIGHT OF THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE (NFL) RETIREMENT SYSTEM HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION SEPTEMBER 18, 2007 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 76–327 PDF WASHINGTON : 2012 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:26 Oct 23, 2012 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\DOCS\76327.TXT JACKIE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii, Chairman JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia TED STEVENS, Alaska, Vice Chairman JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota TRENT LOTT, Mississippi BARBARA BOXER, California KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas BILL NELSON, Florida OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine MARIA CANTWELL, Washington GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada MARK PRYOR, Arkansas JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware JIM DEMINT, South Carolina CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri DAVID VITTER, Louisiana AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota JOHN THUNE, South Dakota MARGARET L. CUMMISKY, Democratic Staff Director and Chief Counsel LILA HARPER HELMS, Democratic Deputy Staff Director and Policy Director CHRISTINE D. KURTH, Republican Staff Director and General Counsel PAUL NAGLE, Republican Chief Counsel (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:26 Oct 23, 2012 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\76327.TXT JACKIE C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on September 18, 2007 ..................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Dorgan ................................................................................. 1 Statement of Senator Hutchison ............................................................................ 2 Statement of Senator Kerry .................................................................................... 39 Statement of Senator Klobuchar ............................................................................ 37 Statement of Senator McCaskill ............................................................................. 39 Statement of Senator Nelson .................................................................................. 82 Statement of Senator Thune ................................................................................... 40 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 40 WITNESSES Bain, Bill, Former NFL Player, Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, New York Jets .......................................... 17 Boyd, Brent, Former NFL Player, Minnesota Vikings ......................................... 23 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 28 Ditka, Mike, Member, NFL Hall of Fame; Former NFL Player, Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys; and Former Head Coach, Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints ................................................................................. 68 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 69 Duerson, Dave R., Trustee, Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan; and Former NFL Player, Chicago Bears, New York Giants, and Phoenix Cardinals ................................................................................................ 12 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 15 Goodell, Roger, Commissioner, National Football League ................................... 62 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 64 Johnston, Daryl, Sports Broadcaster, FOX; and Former NFL Player, Dallas Cowboys ................................................................................................................ 6 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 8 Sayers, Gale Eugene, Member, NFL Hall of Fame; and Former NFL Player, Chicago Bears ....................................................................................................... 71 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 72 Upshaw, Gene, Executive Director, National Football League Players Associa- tion ........................................................................................................................ 42 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 45 Waters, Hon. Maxine, U.S. Representative from California ................................ 3 Webster, Garrett, Son of Mike Webster, Former NFL Player, Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs ........................................................................ 19 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 21 APPENDIX Joint response to written questions submitted by Hon. John D. Rockefeller IV to the National Football League (NFL) and the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) .............................................................................. 89 Supplementary information provided by Eugene ‘‘Mercury’’ Morris, Former NFL Player, Miami Dolphins and San Diego Chargers .................................... 85 Combined response to written questions submitted by Hon. Trent Lott and Hon. David Vitter to Roger Goodell .................................................................... 95 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:26 Oct 23, 2012 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\76327.TXT JACKIE VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:26 Oct 23, 2012 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\76327.TXT JACKIE OVERSIGHT OF THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE (NFL) RETIREMENT SYSTEM TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2007 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m. in room SR–253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Byron L. Dorgan, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BYRON L. DORGAN, U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA Senator DORGAN. I call the hearing to order. This is a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee, a full committee hearing. I am chairman of the Subcommittee dealing with interstate commerce, trade, tourism, and sports. We will be joined by other colleagues, but I want to start on time, because we have a series of votes that begin shortly after 12 o’clock today, and I do want to begin on time. I should say, at the start, that I am a football fan. I watched Monday Night Football last evening. Football is an unbelievably popular sport, very interesting and wonderful sport in many ways. It is also big business. I call it ‘‘sport,’’ it is also big business, with mostly wealthy owners and players that are paid a great deal of money. There are, I believe, 32 teams. They are able to work with and speak with each other because of an antitrust exemption. Those 32 teams, of course, do not include teams from North Dakota or Wyoming or states similar to that. We reserve these national pastimes for the large population centers, and many states do not participate personally in them by having professional sports teams, and that’s certainly the case with my state. It is a sport, the sport of football, that causes, and can cause, substantial physical injury to many athletes. We have about 8,000 former players of this sport. There is, and has been, controversy about disability issues, how former players have been treated. Those who have formerly played this professional sport believe that about 3 or 4 percent of the living retirees qualify for some type of disability benefit. The National Football League owners and the Players Association say that is much higher than the 3 or 4 per- cent. It seems to me that the Players Association represents active players, and the Commissioner represents the owners. We have many who will testify here who are former players in this sport, and I don’t quite know who represents them, if anyone. In many cases, they are great athletes who ended their careers with real (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:26 Oct 23, 2012 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\DOCS\76327.TXT JACKIE 2 damage to their bodies. Some live in pain. And the question is, what happens to them? Who represents them? What role do they have with respect to this growing industry and the resources that this growing industry provides? It’s a very large and a very profit- able industry, and, it seems to me, an industry that ought to be able to take care of the needs of those who helped build this won- derful sport. When we called this hearing, I did not know what to expect, in terms of communications. I must tell you, I have received, as Chairman of the Subcommittee—and I’m chairing the full com- mittee at the request of Senator Inouye—I must tell you, I have re- ceived a lot of mail, a lot of letters from former football players, and was surprised by that, and surprised