Great Player, great player rep. A sad day for the entire NFL.


http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=090...o&confirm=true

This was shocking

wow, that is stunning news to wake up to. few bigger names in football than that one.

....pancreatic cancer :(


It is no exaggeration to say that Upshaw had as much of an impact on the shape and success of the modern NFL as any owner or group of owners. His influence on the game and his advocacy for and on behalf of players (past and present) was a major factor in making football such a popular sport. R.I.P.
-OTB, Dodd

wow. wasnt he at the rookie simposium this summer? i didnt know he was not doing well healthwise

Cancer can bite you quickly, and many times it is kept quiet until the person is in the late stages.

WOW...rest in peace. It will be hard to replace him.

Now what? The labour agreement is going to expire in a few years. Who are they going to replace him with and is something going to be done. I would hate to see an uncapped year and the sport gets ruined. Please don't find a moron who is just greedy and looking to up the players' dollars. Pleeeeeease.

Yeah we were talking here that this pretty much ensures that we'll see some sort of rookie salary cap/tiering in the future now.

This most likely was going to be Upshaws last year anyway as some were very unhappy with him. He was a very classy guy and that is very hard to find from those 70's and 80's Raider teams.

It will be interesting to see who takes over the reigns of the NFLPA and how they handle going up against the giant that is the NFL Owners.

I don't want to see someone that is going to cater to the owners, nor do I want to see someone that is as headstrong as Goodell as that will surely end up in a long and ugly strike.

I would like to see someone that is somewhat like Upshaw in terms of standing up for player salaries, but also a guy that uses some common sense and backs off on the drug testing stipulations and also puts a little more emphasis on the players that built the NFL (the guys that played for the love of the game and played it for much less money and no representation from a players union)

This is so sad I hear he just found out Sunday he was sick.

Wow this is very sad.

The NFL is the richest sports league in the world, with the average team worth some $957 million. And the Dallas Cowboys, the most valuable team in the NFL, are now the single most valuable sports franchise on the planet, worth $1.5 billion. Pro football is also the most profitable sport on the planet (mean operating income in 2006 was $17.8 million on $204 million in revenue).

Look at how the owners have treated those guys who played for the love of the game...it's a shame. The NFL will rake in $8 billion dollars, 60% of which goes to the players. Local communities buy the stadiums these days through their tax dollars. 32 team owners get to split 40% of $8 billion dollars, treat all their friends to luxury boxes, and still take home $17 million while the men on the field scramble their brains and destroy their joints for the love of the game.

Unions are only people with common interests joining together. Currently, the owners want the players to take a 7.5% cut and the players want a .5% increase. The owners say it's fair because the pot of money is bigger.

Players acting in union to protect their rights against the owners' teams of lawyers and selfish interests is not greedy...it's just smart. Individuals getting together and speaking with a common voice is not the problem, greed is. All you have to do is look at big oil taking in $12 billion/quarter to see the problem isn't with the individuals joining together to fight corporate greed....it's the solution.