In the wake of the NFL Draft, it’s wise to reevaluate the sports we hang our hearts on. The 48 hour spectacle is nothing more than ‘a modern day slave trade with athletes judged by muscle on the trading block’ according to Kevin Blackistone, Shirley Povich Chair at the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, a guest on 60/20 Sports with James Carville and Luke Russert on Sirius XM Radio. Not only should we rethink how we view the sporting event the NFL Draft has become - with more boos and cheers than a Phillies game - we should reconsider our mental and emotional involvement in the franchises we root for, the system of entertainment that treats living, breathing humans as chattel, these gladiators’ prosperity determined by the turn of a thumb.
Following the draft, each NFL player is owned by a franchise, the logo emblazoned on clothing and occasionally on the actual skin of the young athlete. But how can a young millionaire really be owned by an organization? Isn’t he or she an employee? Isn’t there choice, free will involved? The answer is plain and simple. No.
Former NFL cornerback and author of The Slave Side of Sunday Anthony Prior spoke with the sports editor of The Nation Dave Zirin in January of 2006 about this dynamic:
"Black players have created a billion-dollar market but have no voice in the industry, no power…On plantations slaves were respected for their physical skills but were given no respect as thinking beings. On the football field, we are treated as what appears like gods, but in fact this is just the 'show and tell' of the management for their spectators…We are bought and sold. Traded and drafted, like our ancestors, and the public views this as a sport, ironically the same attitude as people had in the slavery era."
Prior knows from first-hand experience how that glass ceiling limits athletes ability to transcend the work done on a football field to the work done on the sideline and in the front office. Those who see Mike Tomlin and Tony Dungy and are still skeptical of the slave-trade metaphor should follow the money.
The league minimum for an NFL rookie’s salary is $285,000. That of course requires that the player makes the team. After taxes, the agent’s cut, and all the other initial expenses, said rookie is lucky to keep half of that sum. Now $140,000 isn’t half bad for a kid coming off his junior year in college except when juxtaposed with the striking reality that the average NFL career is only three and a half seasons. By the end of that average career, he’ll be making at least double that figure, but now what? Now, the struggle has not ended. It has only just begun.
The pressure of the system pushed the athlete to leave school without a full education. An athlete having been spit out by this system is now left without direction. Worst of all, a prematurely failing physical body is often the result of participation in this meat grinder of a sport usually causing an early death. According to CBC Sports (http://www.cbcsports.ca/), “Studies in the United States show that men who play five or more years in the NFL have a life expectancy of 55, 20 years less than the average in the general public. For linemen, perhaps due to their size, the life expectancy is 52.” Just ask Mike Ditka, Joe Delamielleure, and the Gridiron Greats (www.gridirongreats.org), who are seeking to secure health coverage to aid former NFL players whose bodies are failing, and who have no safety net to support them. How many operations would it take to see the league minimum or even an average contracted player’s salary evaporate? Without the support of NFL Players, Inc. – just like Yale’s Skull & Bones secret fraternity only without the benefit of health insurance for former members or the resonating influence to get a dunce elected President - these former NFL players can find themselves in a world of hurt wondering if they’ll reach the record for the most operations on a left knee.
While the National Football League is the most popular sporting league in the United States by leaps and bounds, it is important to reflect on the event of the draft. It’s relevant to put this sport into context with other sports in the US and across the globe with respect to how its members are treated in all facets; physically, mentally, and financially.
Is it a sport of evolution or a sport of destruction wasting health, wealth, and high ideals?
I believe the answer is clear.
Below are brief synopses of world-wide sports and average financial benefits for participants:
National Basketball Association – Average salary in 2008 was $3.356 million (more than 4 times the average NFL salary).
Major League Baseball – pays their contracted employees the full sum of their contract despite injury or trade. Average salary in 2008 was $3.14 million (roughly 4 times the average NFL salary of $770,000).
National Hockey League – Average salary in 2008 was $1.9 million (2 ½ times the average NFL player’s salary).
English Premier League – Average salary in 2008 was $996,000 plus bonuses for even 1 game played.
National Football League – Average salary in 2008 was $770,000. The NFL pays signing bonuses, but provides no guarantee that the full sum of a contract will be honored. Instead, the ‘guaranteed’ money is what has now become commonplace to be reported adjacent to the full amount of the contract. Player’s contracts can be terminated at any time for any reason. It’s like the Wal-Mart of sport!
PGA Tour - Average earnings in 2008 was $752,000 (including 243 pros who didn't earn a penny). The average earnings for the top 125 pros in 2008 was $1,844,000.
Indian Cricket League - Average salary in 2008 was $250,000
Australian Football League – Average salary in 2008 was $223,000
National Rugby League – Average salary in 2008 was $164,000
English County Cricket – Average salary in 2008 was $60,000
Following the draft, each NFL player is owned by a franchise, the logo emblazoned on clothing and occasionally on the actual skin of the young athlete. But how can a young millionaire really be owned by an organization? Isn’t he or she an employee? Isn’t there choice, free will involved? The answer is plain and simple. No.
Former NFL cornerback and author of The Slave Side of Sunday Anthony Prior spoke with the sports editor of The Nation Dave Zirin in January of 2006 about this dynamic:
"Black players have created a billion-dollar market but have no voice in the industry, no power…On plantations slaves were respected for their physical skills but were given no respect as thinking beings. On the football field, we are treated as what appears like gods, but in fact this is just the 'show and tell' of the management for their spectators…We are bought and sold. Traded and drafted, like our ancestors, and the public views this as a sport, ironically the same attitude as people had in the slavery era."
Prior knows from first-hand experience how that glass ceiling limits athletes ability to transcend the work done on a football field to the work done on the sideline and in the front office. Those who see Mike Tomlin and Tony Dungy and are still skeptical of the slave-trade metaphor should follow the money.
The league minimum for an NFL rookie’s salary is $285,000. That of course requires that the player makes the team. After taxes, the agent’s cut, and all the other initial expenses, said rookie is lucky to keep half of that sum. Now $140,000 isn’t half bad for a kid coming off his junior year in college except when juxtaposed with the striking reality that the average NFL career is only three and a half seasons. By the end of that average career, he’ll be making at least double that figure, but now what? Now, the struggle has not ended. It has only just begun.
The pressure of the system pushed the athlete to leave school without a full education. An athlete having been spit out by this system is now left without direction. Worst of all, a prematurely failing physical body is often the result of participation in this meat grinder of a sport usually causing an early death. According to CBC Sports (http://www.cbcsports.ca/), “Studies in the United States show that men who play five or more years in the NFL have a life expectancy of 55, 20 years less than the average in the general public. For linemen, perhaps due to their size, the life expectancy is 52.” Just ask Mike Ditka, Joe Delamielleure, and the Gridiron Greats (www.gridirongreats.org), who are seeking to secure health coverage to aid former NFL players whose bodies are failing, and who have no safety net to support them. How many operations would it take to see the league minimum or even an average contracted player’s salary evaporate? Without the support of NFL Players, Inc. – just like Yale’s Skull & Bones secret fraternity only without the benefit of health insurance for former members or the resonating influence to get a dunce elected President - these former NFL players can find themselves in a world of hurt wondering if they’ll reach the record for the most operations on a left knee.
While the National Football League is the most popular sporting league in the United States by leaps and bounds, it is important to reflect on the event of the draft. It’s relevant to put this sport into context with other sports in the US and across the globe with respect to how its members are treated in all facets; physically, mentally, and financially.
Is it a sport of evolution or a sport of destruction wasting health, wealth, and high ideals?
I believe the answer is clear.
Below are brief synopses of world-wide sports and average financial benefits for participants:
National Basketball Association – Average salary in 2008 was $3.356 million (more than 4 times the average NFL salary).
Major League Baseball – pays their contracted employees the full sum of their contract despite injury or trade. Average salary in 2008 was $3.14 million (roughly 4 times the average NFL salary of $770,000).
National Hockey League – Average salary in 2008 was $1.9 million (2 ½ times the average NFL player’s salary).
English Premier League – Average salary in 2008 was $996,000 plus bonuses for even 1 game played.
National Football League – Average salary in 2008 was $770,000. The NFL pays signing bonuses, but provides no guarantee that the full sum of a contract will be honored. Instead, the ‘guaranteed’ money is what has now become commonplace to be reported adjacent to the full amount of the contract. Player’s contracts can be terminated at any time for any reason. It’s like the Wal-Mart of sport!
PGA Tour - Average earnings in 2008 was $752,000 (including 243 pros who didn't earn a penny). The average earnings for the top 125 pros in 2008 was $1,844,000.
Indian Cricket League - Average salary in 2008 was $250,000
Australian Football League – Average salary in 2008 was $223,000
National Rugby League – Average salary in 2008 was $164,000
English County Cricket – Average salary in 2008 was $60,000
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