A former NFL player's wife who was shut out of a meeting this week involving commissioner Roger Goodell says limiting the entitlement discussion to former players only clouds the picture of what life is like for many who stand to benefit.

Eleanor Perfetto, the wife of Ralph Wenzel, a backup guard with the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Diego Chargers from 1966 to 1973, told The New York Times she arrived to a Bethesda, Md., hotel Thursday to plead her case with the commissioner despite being told in an e-mail from the NFL that the meeting was for former players only.

"We wives are the voice of players with dementia, because they can't speak for themselves," Perfetto told The Times. "They are only allowing players healthy enough to attend. That means they're getting a very slanted view of what it's like out there."