765,000,000
Million
Dollars.
Golly gee willickers, doesn't that PROVE how caring and paterno . . . no, wait, that's just wrong. PATERNAL, and did I say Caring? the NFL is about its players.
From the frothing mouth of the Church of Ineffable Stupidity,
Bliss yore soles. This effing deal effing bloody sucks.
Big Effing Thyme.
First, a little math.
$765,000,000
As I said, that's a fucking huge sum. or is it?
Hmm, 4500 victims, so with a little math, that adds up to
$170,000 per person.
Hey, that's still good. Right? Isn't it? Come on, that is big fucks! er, Bucks!
Take away 35% in attorney fees.
$110,500 per person.
Yo, Pastor, Ag, that is still good money, by any account.
Let's add costs. Or rather, subtract the costs of every expert, doctor, therapist, witness, and doctor who was going to testify and was paid for their time.
$100,000 per player.
Isn't that a great deal? They get a cool hundred thousand to pay for . . . . er,
exactly what do they pay for?
At the beginning of this exercise, we assumed that this money would go to pay for the brain damage caused by futbol. To the benefit for each player. If that were only the case.
Point 1. There are anti-concussive helmets out there. But the NFL supplier, Riddell, refuses to use that technology. They have a monopoly with the NFL, and players are barred from using other helmets. (There is a concussion exemption - which tells you a lot)
Point 2. The resulting brain damage is permanent. Forever. Progressive. Never ending, regardless of what therapy and treatment you can offer. Even years later, therapy provides great assistance, but still, the baseline damage is there. It Is Permanent. And it gets worse.
Point 3. Every team in the NFL is worth no less than a Billion dollars. Considering that there are 32 teams, that means that there exists at least $32,000,000,000 in current assets, this deal costs each team $23 million dollars. To forever insulate themselves from damages for the harm they knew was occurring.
Point 4. I am convinced that the asshole reprehensibles who negotiated this deal on behalf of the NFL made sure that a goodly portion of that money will not go to the individual player. Not even for treatment, medical care, rehab, or nursing home care. (which too many of them already require. Google Jim McMahon - the supper bowel winning QB of the Bears)
In a November 6, 2010, interview, McMahon admitted to having memory problems due to injuries suffered on the football field. McMahon was quoted as saying, 'There are a lot of times when I walk into a room and forget why I walked in there.' McMahon, along with six other retired professional football players, filed a class action lawsuit against the NFL in August 2011, citing the league's negligence and misconduct in its handling of concussion-related injuries; the suit followed lawsuits filed shortly before by 75 other NFL retirees making similar claims as well as asserting that the NFL knew about the dangers concussions posed to NFL athletes as far back as the 1920s and actively withheld the information from the affected and the general public until the summer of 2010.
Point 5. Anyone who has had a chronic injury or growing physical problem knows one thing: $100,000 is like pissing into the Atlantic. if a 56 year old like McMahon needs care and treatment for the 20 or so years he expects to live, $100,000 will pay for his aspirin. Barely.
Early on, the NFL effing screwed its players, especially the 4500 older, retired, unemployable, brain damaged, maimed, suffering folks - most of whom played in the trenches, and never, ever came close to making the huge salaries that a dozen stars made per year. Given that the average career is 3.5 years, and the average salary is in the low 100,000s, AND that most players leave because of injuries? Some of them very damaging and permanent?
With this deal, they repeated that sodomy. But without the lube. Or permission.
now that the NFL season starts next week, they really Really REALLY wanted this issue to die. So they settled. But at what cost?
but at what cost. . .