Troy Vincent vs. the NFL Players Association
Troy Vincent and Gene Upshaw in happier days
“Based upon the foregoing and applicable legal authorities, the Court hereby denies the Management Council's motion to confirm the Award and grants the Players Association's motion to vacate the Award, thereby vacating the four-game suspension of Tom Brady, effective immediately.” - Judge Richard Berman
With those words, the Court has effectively put this case where it should have been in the first place – in the trash bin of history. Unfortunately, the NFL has decided to appeal Judge Berman’s decision, so the story will continue to be in the headlines the entire NFL season - and that’s sad, because it puts a little more tarnish on the Lombardy Trophy and the 50th anniversary of the Super Bowl.
We all know the details of “deflategate” so I won't bore anyone with the back story, but if you would like to see what the court actually said about the case, you can read the Judges entire ruling at this link: NFL Brady Decision. Once you've read the court document, you will clearly see why the Judge ruled the way he did.
This is a big win for the NFL Players Association and on top of their victories in the Bountygate case and the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson cases, it has propelled DeMaurice Smith to the head of the law class. Although the NFLPA put out a very tame press release, behind the scenes you can hear the champagne bottles at the NFLPA being popped all the way up here in Buffalo, and it really has to sting the former President of the Union – Troy Vincent, who was assigned the task of being Roger Goodell’s “Turk” in this unprecedented power play that has backfired and seriously wounded the NFL Commissioner. The owners are reportedly planning to discuss changes to the league's disciplinary process. Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank said that "change may be appropriate" to fix the process. He believes working with the NFLPA to find a resolution is the way to go.
Wow, they actually admitted that they need to work with the NFLPA!
The NFL spent over 3 million dollars investigating this incident. That money could have helped a lot of former players that are “deflated” over the lack of concern about our pensions. The Commissioner still has not responded to the letter that the wives of former Hall of Fame players sent him back on March 23, 2015.
That……..my fellow alumni, is a bigger scandal than deflategate!
Now I hope the NFL Players Association doesn't get too drunk on the Dom Perignon, because they also need to step up to the plate on the issue of pension parity.
When I first began my personal quest to inform our alumni brotherhood about the vast amounts of money that were being diverted from the pension plan in favor of other retirement type plans that only benefited the more recent retirees, my arrows were squarely fixed on Troy Vincent who was the President of the Players Union. Please take a moment to read my letter to Troy Vincent and the NFLPA Executive Committee that was sent back in 2006: Letter to Troy Vincent and the NFLPA Executive Committee
Here is an excerpt from my letter:
“One way to enhance the democratic involvement of retired players is to amend the NFLPA by-laws to allow at least one retired player to sit as a non-voting member of the NFLPA Executive Committee. The truth is, having one retired player is more symbolic than anything else, but at least we would have someone at the table speaking up for the issues that specifically concern us…….and will someday concern you. I am not saying this to demean or minimize the hard work and dedication of the NFLPA Retired Players Department staff. But the fact is, they are employed by Gene Upshaw and can be fired by him, therefore they are not able to speak as freely as we would like them to.
Ed Garvey was the Executive Director of the NFLPA before Gene Upshaw took control, and Gene likes to quote him from time to time saying "He always told us, One day, you will not be in this room making decisions. Someone else will be in this room making decisions and don't ever forget to go back."
Troy, as the President of the NFLPA you said something last year that made me feel like you understood the issue of Retired Player Pensions and Retired Player representation. You said "It was important that we prepare now rather than waiting until the last hour to prepare for a fight. We have to think about the men who have come before us, who have allowed us to be at the table today." [June 2005 issue of The Audible]
You and the Executive Committee are now at the "Dinner Table"….and 20 years from now will you be asking the same question that Tom Matte, former President of the NFLPA recently posed, when he said "We built this game for you guys. Why can't you throw us a few crumbs?"
Five years from now, most of you will no longer be eating at the NFL table, but with the current average player salary being $1,400,000 and the average annual starter salary being $2,259,000, none of you will be going hungry any time soon.
Don't misunderstand me, I think it’s fantastic that players are getting what they are worth, and I think many of the retired players feel this way too….. but it took a long, long time to get to this point, and the current players need to understand that the road was paved with a lot of blood, sweat and tears.
When you are among the ranks of the retired players, and you look back at your time as representatives of the NFL players, what will your legacy be? Will you be able to say that you truly helped Past, Present and Future Players? I don't think there will be any doubts regarding the later two, but will there still be doubts about how the current NFL Players Reps helped the retired players who shaped the history of the NFL? You and the Executive Committee have the power to change the future……… and in doing so, help the past.
The retired players are putting our faith in you to do the right thing.
Remember where you came from….how you got to the table……and don't ever forget to go back!
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I think that many of the things I said in that letter are still relevant to this day. And for the record, Troy Vincent never responded to my letter - and he can't say he didn't get it, because I personally handed it to him at the 2006 NFL Former Players Convention.
As you know, we did not get any former player representatives on the Executive Committee while Troy Vincent was the President of the NFLPA. It wasn’t until DeMaurice Smith became the Executive Director that we finally got a seat at the table. Kevin Mawai - the President of the NFLPA at that time, was also instrumental in making sure this happened.
Troy was once considered the heir to the Gene Upshaw throne, but he never really understood that "The Hand" of the King usually gets beheaded. Especially if they start lobbying for the position while the King is still alive. After his failed coup attempt, Troy left the NFLPA to became the Hand of the NFL's King - Roger Goodell. Troy works hard and he does his best to be the enforcer of the Commissioner's commands. He recently criticized the NFLPA for spending too much money on lawyers. I'm sure that deep down he despises the fact that he has been relegated to the role of badmouthing the NFL players union.
During the Deflategate case, Tom Brady argued that Commissioner Goodell was "evidently partial" contending, among other things, that a central ground of [his] appeal was the issue of Goodell improperly delegating to Vincent his exclusive authority to discipline players for conduct detrimental to the NFL.
Troy better be careful or someday he may have to fall on his own sword, or become the "fall guy" that Chris Carter talked about, and maybe even lose his head when the "Turk" comes a callin'.
Former players now need to focus on a persuasive argument as to why we deserve another increase in our Pensions - and it should start with the NFLPA player reps and their President, Eric Winston. Eric doesn't have a lot of years left in the NFL. I wonder what he would like his Legacy to look like when he retires? I know at least 80 Hall of Fame players that would like him to throw more than a bone to the former players. We need to make him and the other player reps understand how we have made the game more lucrative and safer for them. Those are our biggest coins on the table. They have all the power they need to help us. I suppose you might consider them the "Small Counsel" - but they can make DeMaurice Smith do almost anything they want. At the end of the day, I put a lot of the responsibility on what former players receive (in the way of better benefits and increases in pensions) squarely on the active player's shoulders.
I have been somewhat critical of Mr. Smith and the union over the issue of pensions, but I do give him and the players reps some credit for establishing the Legacy Benefit and for fighting hard to protect and represent active players. DeMaurice Smith was a lawyer before he came to the NFLPA and as much as former players bitch about lawyers, when you need a good one to represent you in court, they can sometimes be worth their weight in gold. In fact, lawyers are the main reason we finally broke the yoke of the owners. Whether we like to admit it or not, it wasn't until we sued the NFL over anti-trust violations that the owners wallets were finally forced open.
Although we fought for even bigger increases in our pensions in the last CBA, I do applaud what former players were able to achieve. Through our advocacy, we were able to get the NFL and NFLPA to agree to a salary scale for rookie players and that is how they were able to fund the Legacy Benefit.
It wasn't any easy battle.
When DeMaurice Smith was first elected to head up the Union, he wasn't keen on the idea of a rookie salary scale - essentially echoing the same things that Gene Upshaw used to say. As Mike Florio of Pro Football Weekly pointed out in an article about DeMaurice Smith's stance on this issue: "It’s not just about eliminating the windfall for unproven rookies, but also about redirecting that money to rookies who outperform their salaries and finding ways to funnel money that is wasted on busts like JaMarcus Russell to the retired players who made the game what it is. "
DeMaurice Smith didn't really change his tune on the rookie salary scale until 80 Hall of Fame players signed a letter asking the active players to institute it and use the savings it would generate to increase the pre 1993 player pensions and the salaries of veteran players that had proven themselves.
When the NFLPA decertified in March of 2011 and was no longer collectively bargaining, there was also group of retired players, including Hall of Famers Carl Eller, Marcus Allen and Franco Harris, who filed a lawsuit alleging that the NFL and NFL Players Association "have conspired to set low retiree benefit and pension payments." They said the disbanded players' union didn't have the right to negotiate for us and they were pressing to have a seat at the table. I remember when Carl Eller asked me and about 10 other former player advocates to come to Minnesota to get our consensus on the lawsuit.
Jeff Nixon, Tony Davis, Robert Lee and Carl Eller discuss the complaint and other issues at the law offices of Michael Hausfeld in Minnesotta.
Initially the lawsuit was against the NFL, but later on it was amended to include the NFLPA. I don't remember if I ever properly thanked Carl for his role in pressing for increases in former player pensions, but I guess it's never too late......
Thank you Carl!
Me and Carl Eller at Andre Reed's Celebrity Golf Tournament
Now we need a sequel to the Legacy Benefit. Let’s call it “Legacy II – Return of the Kings”
Kings, Ambassadors, Advocates …..we’re all the same, and together we can – and will – make a our voices heard loud and clear. The pre '93 players were shorted 88 million - annually - in potential pension increases during the last CBA.
It's time to go back and get it!
