The NFL Players Association continued its public campaign to curb a bill in the Illinois state senate, arguing again Friday that the legislation, if passed, would severely reduce potential workman’s compensation benefits for pro athletes in the state.
At the conclusion of a 35-minute conference call with reporters, George Atallah, the NFLPA’s assistant executive director of external affairs, made his desires known.
“Let me put a fine point on it,” Atallah said. “We want one of two outcomes: for the NFL to call the Chicago Bears and tell them to stop this; or for the state senator (Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno) to pull this bill on behalf of the Bears and the other professional sports teams (in Chicago) who essentially wrote it for her.”
Within Senate Bill 12 is a detailed proposal for workman’s compensation reform in the state, including a provision that would eliminate the ability of pro athletes to collect wage-differential benefits until age 67. Those benefits, under the proposed bill, would be capped for pro athletes at age 35 or five years after the injury occurred.
The bill’s impact attracted significant attention last week after NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith proclaimed emphatically in a radio interview that he would steer free agents away from signing with the Bears if the bill passed.
But Smith’s proclamation failed to note how the proposed Illinois bill compared with laws in other states, with only 13 states offering any form of wage differential benefits in workman’s compensation cases and none offering those benefits until the age of 67 as Illinois currently does.
Three other states (Missouri, Texas and Florida) that are home to six NFL teams don’t offer any form of workman’s compensation benefits for pro athletes.
Check back soon for additional details on the NFLPA’s stance, the bill’s timeline and the reaction of the Bears to the players union’s latest statements.
The deadline to declare for the draft has passed. The Senior Bowl is in the books. The NFL scouting combine is a scant three weeks away. Draft season is fully engaged and the many prospects are already well along the proverbial road to the podium.
Which players will get that invite to the 2017 NFL draft in Philadelphia? Plenty of those among my Top 50 will get that coveted invitation to Philadelphia, so let’s take a look at my Big Board heading into the combine at the end of the month.
— John Harris, Special To The Washington Post
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