There are so many times where you here that sports have been ruined. I have to admit, I still enjoy sports. But not as much as I used to and definitely not as much as when I was a kid. As a kid, I do not remember ever hearing about contract disputes, hold outs, restructuring of contracts, extent ions, or any financial issues. Was it because I was a kid and had no idea? Maybe. Was it because money wasn't the main focus? I want to believe the latter. When I went to Suns games with my Dad, ticket prices were not an issue. Today, ticket prices are outrageous! I would love to take my family to a Diamondbacks game, but its not going to happen. Now, I know there are exceptions and there are ways to get cheaper tickets, but in general, tickets cost too much. Don't even get me started on the cost once you get in. So why are the costs associated with watching your favorite team so high? Because the cost of signing the players just to play the game is extreme. The athletes are multi-millionaires. And we pay the price. And its not just the star players, it is across the board. The average salary for a player in the NFL was $770,000. Professional basketball players are the highest paid athletes in the world with an average salary for the 2007-2008 year at $5.356 million. Baseball’s average salary rose 4.6 percent last year to a record $2.82 million. : For the 2007-08 season, the average NHL salary was just over $1.9 million. And nobody watched hockey! Here are some staggering numbers concerning the most expensive contracts:
Baseball, $275,000,000, Alex Rodriguez
Football, $167,000,000, Michael Vick
Basketball, $136,400,000, Kobe Bryant.
So, how much is enough? Anquan Boldin is unhappy because the millions he is getting paid is not enough. You hear about players all the time who do not feel they are getting what they deserve and actually hold out to get more.
OK, here is the reason for this rant. I read an article that the commissioner of the NFL is volunteering to take a 20% pay cut. 20%! Pretty nice of him. He states that because of the tough economic times, and because he cares about his league and wants to help it financially, he is going to take less money! Seems like a great gesture to me. Until you hear what he gets paid. Are you ready? $11,000,000 per year. That's right, the commissioner, makes 11 MILLION PER YEAR! Want to know why players get paid what they do? It starts at the top with the commissioners:
MLB Bud Selig $18.35 million
NFL Roger Goodell $11.2 million
NBA David Stern $10 million
NHL Gary Bettman $5.59 million
PGA Tim Fenchem $4.8 million
Why would the commissioners get payed so much? If I made $11 million, a 20% cut wouldn't hurt. No wonder the players get paid so much! Money has ruined the purity of the game. It has changed the culture of the sporting world. It is now big business. The average sports fan can not afford to see their favorite athletes in person. Families no longer can attend these events together. So, the next time you watch professional sports, remember the famous Jerry McQuire quote: "Show me the money!"
2 comments:
But none of us need to go to the games anymore, we all have televisions. Maybe mass media has ruined sports. Maybe it was electricity and night games. There's nothing better than going to a baseball game in the middle of the day during the week, but who takes the time to do that? Someone without a job I suppose. I think that maybe, I'm not sure how, society has sucked the life and the fun out of sporting events and that is too bad.
I'm certainly not disagreeing with you on the outrageous salaries though, that definitely ruins everything surrounding sports for me.
I hate sports just because of this reason. MONEY! I hate that each player gets paid more than anyone else even though the "work" less than anyone else. I think they should all get no pay and have to get other jobs that would make sports "just sports" again.
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