What of the private/public funding for sports venues as a factor increasing the capital invested in pro sports? Consider this. The well-heeled owners of the Sacramento Kings are angling via "the executive committee" for tax dollars to build a new arena <http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14278700p-15087496c.html>.
Seth Sandronsky Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2006 18:13:42 -0400 From: Michael Hoover <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: inequality
Michael Perelman writes: > Here is my question: Looking at sports or entertainment figures you > find a similar expansion of inequality. I doubt that the ratio of > incomes of superstars of yesterday to that of the also rans was as as > extreme as today. Has anybody looked at this?
<<<<<>>>>> My father scouted college players for the Baltimore Colts when I was a kid in the early 1960s (later for the Los Angeles Rams when I was a bit older). I recall him saying that all professional football players at that time worked real jobs in the off-season. For example, future Hall-of-Famer Green Bay Packers QB Bart Starr sold cars at a local dealership (he would own a Chevy dealership following his retirement, the result of an apparent deal similar to that of the Busch family granting a Budweiser distributorship to Roger Maris - in Gainesville, Florida no less - after he left baseball). Several things changed this situation over the course of three decades: 1) Joe Namath signed a 3 year $475,000 contract with the New York Jets of the rival AFL in 1965 2) The NFL player's association - established in the late 1950s but invariably weak - managed to negotiate the right of players to be represented by an agent (My father told me a story about how prior to this happening all-pro Green Bay lineman Forrest Gregg had taken an agent with him to talk to Vince Lombardi about his new contract, Lombardi excused himself, came back a few minutes later and said that Gregg and his rep should go talk to the Philadelphia Eagles because Gregg had just been traded to that team). 3) The aftermath of a rival league in the mid-1970s called the WFL that had several teams "raid" the NFL for star players. The best example was Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Paul Warfield of the Miami Dolphins signing contracts worth several hundred thousand dollars. The WFL folded almost as quickly as it appeared. 4) a rival league in the mid-1980s called the USFL produced a significant increase in salaries even though that league went bust after several seasons. Principal factor was the USFL signing several big-time college stars such as Georgia running back Herschel Walker to large contracts. 5) Astonomical increases in TV revenue which through revenue sharing ensures that every NFL team owner makes a profit regardless of wins and losses and stadium attendance. As one-time Cleveland Brown owner Art Model - later Baltimore Ravens owner - said about his fellow owners in regards to television money: "We're 28 capitalists who vote socialist". The players association has been able to negotiate away some portion of that money for player salaries over the years. 6) 1993 bargaining agreement in which players agreed to salary cap and owners agreed to actual free agency. "Free agency had existed in principle for decades, however, few players benefitted because the team that signed a free agent had to compensate the player's previous team with a player of "comparable value." Free agency has resulted in a situation whereby some star players have signed contracts in excess of $10M per year. Today, minimum first year salaries are between $250,000-$300,000. The average is a couple of million (pushed that high by the comparatively small number of contracts between $10M and $20M per year). The median salary for starters is about $3M. One last thing: I recall my father telling me that the Washington QB Sammy Baugh was the highest paid player of his time in the late 1930s and early 1940s, making about $10,000 per season. Most players apparently made several hundred dollars game, or between $3000-$5000 per season. Michael Hoover
