How to save for your pensions
- September 9, 2021
The NFL and the National Basketball Association will pay for their own retiree health care, but the NFL and MLB will continue to pay for the retirement of players and their families.
The two leagues have agreed on a new health care agreement, but details of the plan have yet to be made public.
The NFL will pay $7 billion over a 10-year period to provide health care benefits to retirees at the highest levels of the game, including those with medical issues such as chronic pain and concussion.
The deal calls for the league to pay the same amount annually for players and employees who were retired in 2016, which would include retired players, coaches and other personnel.
In the same way, the two leagues will pay the NFL $7.4 billion over 10 years to pay benefits to retired players at the lowest levels of baseball.
The agreement calls for a $500 million health insurance fund for the players and players’ families that will cover retirees.
The parties also have agreed to make a $3.4 million contribution to help the league pay for additional benefits for its players and teams.
The league said that its pension fund would have $1.3 billion in cash on hand and $300 million in assets in the first year of the agreement.
The $1 billion fund would cover benefits for retired players and owners who were in the league at the end of 2016, the league said.
The pact also calls for an additional $2.5 billion to pay a new, separate health care plan for players who are eligible for the supplemental plan.
The deal also calls on the league and MLB to jointly fund $3 billion for retiree benefits.
The money is expected to come from the players’ own retirement funds.
The new health insurance plan will cost about $50 million annually to cover retired players who were not in the NFL or MLB at the time they retired, the deal said.
Retiree health costs have been rising in recent years.
In 2017, the NFL spent $5 billion on health care and pensions, while MLB spent $1,000 million.
Both leagues spent roughly $30 billion on their retirement health care plans in 2016.
The NBA and MLB were in negotiations to keep players in the two sports, but those talks stalled, with both sides saying they did not want to raise costs by cutting the cost of player health care.
The current health care deal calls on both parties to keep playing games until 2021, and both leagues have committed to staying in their current agreement until 2024.