Driving to work this morning I was listening to Mike &
Mike, as I always do, and they asked a tough question. “Would you trade places
with Alex Rodriguez right now? Would you take $400 million (what A-Rod is
estimated to have made) to have your name tarnished with steroids, lying and
cheating scandals?” That got me thinking;
“What is the real reason for all these controversies in professional sports?
Why do players take steroids? Why do football players jump right back up and
play after a concussion? Why do these (NOT ALL) professional athletes lie,
cheat, steal and throw every ounce of dignity into their professional sport? To
quote my friend Puff Daddy, “It’s all about the Benjamin’s”.
That’s right, look at the pay scales in major league sports
right now and how much money is being paid to these athletes. Here is what a rookie would make:
In 2013, in the MLB, if you played the whole year the
minimum salary was $490,000.
In 2013, in the NFL, if you played every game the minimum
salary was $405,000.
In 2012, in the NBA, the minimum salary was $490,180.
This is the bare minimum professional athletes are making,
so put that in prospective with these top athletes that are under the
microscope. The Yankees thought Alex Rodriguez was worth $29 million dollars a
year to perform. If he does not perform, he’s a failure. Do not misconstrue this as me defending A-Rod!! Curt Schilling was
quoted on Mike & Mike saying, “If you look back on the night of the ‘Bloody
Sock in Boston’, and a trainer says he could give you a gummy bear to make all
his pain go away but it’s illegal….would you take it?” Think about how much
money is being thrown at them to perform, what would you do? Talk about a moral-check, a little
soul-searching there, huh?
Okay, let’s get away from steroids. The NFL is under some
heat for players getting hurt, i.e. concussions. Players are putting everything on the line
every Sunday, Monday and even Thursdays now.
Major lawsuits are being settled because brain-damaged veterans of the
league are feeling the effects of not taking safety precautions. Players are hitting harder, and higher
(causing head injuries), and lower (causing leg injuries) and just now the
media and us, the audience, are realizing it’s a problem? Players are getting bigger and stronger, why?
Because the bigger and stronger and the harder they run and hit, the more
dolla-dolla bills they’re getting. Used to be, a player catches a pass through
the middle and gets rocked in the head, they’ll be wobbling on the field for
the rest of the game, because they need to make the money. The NFL is just now
starting to implement a concussion precaution. But, they want to make more
money too, as if they don’t have enough. Let’s make teams play on Thursday, let’s
consider making them play two more regular season games, etc. Look at it from
another perspective other than a fan.
The fan wins in these situations with more football. The NFL is making millions and millions. The
players get paid right? Not necessarily. If you don’t play the game that day, you don’t
get paid my friend.
Here is what a salary looked like in the 80’s:
In 1980, in the MLB, the minimum salary was $30,000.
In 1980, in the NFL, the average salary for playing every
game was $78,657.
In 1985, in the NBA, the minimum salary was $70,000.
My point in this blog is that professional sports is
generating more money now than they’ve ever done before. Ticket sales, retail
sales, concession sales, etc. are at an all-time high, but so are ticket
prices, retail prices and concession prices.
The athletes are being paid more money than ever, putting more pressure
on them to perform. The rich keep
getting richer and they’re doing everything they can to become the richest. What would you do in that situation?
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