We have seen strikes, labor disputes and lock outs before in professional athletics. The issues sometimes differ but the main motivation behind these issues has always been the same, money. Because of this the general public has and still does normally view both sides as just being wealthy babies that need to get their acts together.
If you were in their shoes though would you so willingly take less money? Doubt it. If it is a hundred more dollars a week, a thousand, or ten thousand you would always be willing to put some more effort into getting your way. Same goes for the NBA and NFL owners and players. This time though, they picked they picked the worst possible time to be fighting over their multi-billion dollar industry and this is why.
According to the 2010 census the average American household income was barely above $50,000 a year. And as we all know this recession has forced many people to fight for their jobs, houses, or even to afford to keep their families together. It has been the worst recession period since the Great Depression and we are still waiting to see the sun rise.
For the majority of Americans, including myself, it is hard to imagine the lowest amount of money you could make in a year would be anywhere from $295,000 to just under $500,000. The first is the minimum salary of a NFL player and the second a NBA player. Let me make this clear, those numbers are not the average salaries but the bare minimum of what these players make a year. Yeah that guy who rides the bench all nine years and plays less minutes in his career then a starter in one year is making at least a quarter of a million dollars a year. The Federal minimum wage per hour is only $7.25, at that rate you would rake in a total of $290 a week BEFORE taxes, the minimum per week for a NFL player is $5673.
The highest paid athletes I will not even dive into, the average paid football and basketball players I will however, if the minimum salaries did not surprise you the averages will. The average NBA salary this past year was $4.79 million according to sportingintelligence.com. Just shy of five million, shy in this case means four years of the average Americans income!
It was already well known that NBA and NFL players made millions of dollars; these numbers are not including endorsement deals either. However, when families across the country are fighting to keep their car or choose to start taking public transportation while players and owners want to buy a Ferrari instead of a Corvette, or when families try to cling on to their homes while players and owners are having thoughts of purchasing their second third or fourth homes. We say enough is enough, meet in the middle and make an agreement, because no one feels sorry for any of the players or owners.
Sports epitomize the evil that is unions. It takes something lucrative, a sporting career, and turns it into something that is completely over the top. What could hurt the sport for years would be eliminating unions (more specifically if owners said enough is enough and only hire non-union players). The leagues would suffer for a while but this would in the long run have great prospects.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree, I have no sympathy for the players...great article Nick