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Former football player wants $300,000 a year just for being in NFL Hall of Fame
Sep 24, 2018, 6:05 AM
In this Aug. 2, 2014, file photo, enshrinee Eric Dickerson is introduced during the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony, in Canton, Ohio. A group of Pro Football Hall of Famers is demanding health insurance coverage and a share of NFL revenues or else those former players will boycott the induction ceremonies. Among the signees were Eric Dickerson. (AP Photo/David Richard, File)
(AP Photo/David Richard, File)
Dori Monson was outraged to read, in a text from his longtime friend, fellow Seahawks pre- and postgame show co-host and former Seahawks safety Paul Moyer, that NFL Hall of Fame member Eric Dickerson wants Hall of Famers to get an annual salary of $300,000 for just being part of the hall — and is threatening to boycott next year’s induction ceremony if his demands are not met.
“I just thought it was so out-of-touch, and it drove me crazy,” Moyer said, calling Dickerson’s attitude one of “entitlement.”
He pointed out that a self-serving action like this is especially ironic because in football, unlike in baseball or basketball, you cannot possibly attain NFL Hall of Fame membership without being a team player.
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“Football is the ultimate team game,” Moyer said. “You cannot become a Hall of Famer without your teammates.”
Dickerson’s argument is that the Hall of Famers “built this league,” Moyer explained, bringing in $14 million in revenue. However, regardless of what profits the Hall of Famers have brought the NFL, Moyer said, the members themselves have also received plenty in return.
“If you’re a Hall of Famer, every time you sign an autograph … you make money off that,” Moyer said.
Moyer suggested the former players earn money by holding events where they represent the Hall of Fame and earn a fee for appearing.
“There’s a million things that they could do for Hall of Famers — they already get special privileges,” Moyer said.
When there are former NFL players who actually are struggling with expenses like health care — particularly people who retired before 1993, Moyer said, back when the retirement packages were not nearly as lucrative — Dickerson’s ask is a “horrible message,” Moyer said. He supports increasing the benefits for these former players, but hopes that the NFL Hall of Fame will not give in to Dickerson’s demands.
“It’s, ‘Give us something that my other teammates can’t have’ — that’s what drives me crazy,” Moyer said.
