Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson wants $300,000 per year for every Hall of Famer, plus health insurance for all former players. Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana supports the effort, with a caveat.
“They are on the right path,” Montana told Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Daily. “It should be inclusive of all players. I mean, when you look at our pension plan in general -- not just for the Hall of Famers, but in general for the NFL -- it is terrible compared to all the other sports. We are not even close and yet we are the most at risk.”
The problem for former players is that the pension rights are determined by current players, and current players don’t often think of themselves as future former players.
Dickerson and others hope to leverage payment for Hall of Famers by threatening not to show up for the annual Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony. Montana, as explained by Kaplan, doesn’t usually attend anyway.
“I understand where they are going, but it should be more,” Montana said. “I just think it should be more than the HOF. I understand what they are doing, they think if they can get the HOF guys moving than that will help everyone in the long run.”
There’s still nothing that can be done, other than hope that threats to not attend the enshrinement ceremony will spark action -- or that P.R. will mount in favor of the former players.