The question of where an injured employee can file a claim has been the subject of worker-employer skirmishing for as long as the workers’ comp system has existed. Courts have generally held that a person who travels for a living, whether a flight attendant or a salesman or a football player, has the choice to file a claim in more than one jurisdiction if the worker had reasonable contact with those states.
Virtually every NFL team is involved in similar disputes, the volume of which has provoked the NFLPA to accuse the league of systematically opposing workers’ comp across the board. League management denies this; teams are simply trying to enforce contracts and control costs, according to Dennis Curran, the league vice president for labor litigation. “Like any employer, when you employ people, you anticipate that the benefits in the state are what you will be on the hook for,” he said.
Such efforts frustrate players and their attorneys, who say owners profit from the violence of the game to the tune of $9.5 billion in annual revenues, yet try to evade financial responsibility for the injuries that come with it. If the California legislation passes, they contend, generations of aging players, who made far less than today’s players, will be shut out of the system and thus be forced to turn to Social Security disability or Medicare.
“It’s cost shifting,” said Owens, the former player turned attorney who represents hundreds of ex-athletes. “It’s shifted to the U.S. government and Social Security. If the teams will not pay, or the insurance companies won’t pay for work-related injuries, where do the guys go?”
The cost will fall on taxpayers, according to a 2008 congressional research report on NFL disability. There are approximately 18,000 NFL alumni, and when they can’t pay for their health care it has an impact on “society as a whole,” the report said.
R U SRSLY COMPRING PLAYERS TO SOLJERS???????" bs. 
