Many players and coaching staffs have a mantra they use when facing adversity due to injury, “Next man up!”. It is hard to avoid hearing this motto from players and coaches, as it is a way of life in the sport for “casualties” of the game to occur. The parallels to war are endless in the football world. Many strategists look at the game with a war type approach. In 2012 the New Orleans Saints were handed severe punishments and penalties for what has been coined as “Bountygate”. The Saints were found guilty of offering “bounties” or cash bonuses for injuries inflicted to players on the opposing team. Unfortunately, this is not the only case of “smash for cash” activities in NFL history. Hall of Famer Reggie White said in a 1996 interview that …show more content…
As true as that may be, I tend to think those holding this belief will be surprised at the actual numbers. There are some players in the NFL that make an egregious amount of money annually, on the other hand there are many players simply making a decent living. The NFLPA ( NFL Players Association) reported the average NFL player’s career lasts 3.2 years. According to Businessinsider.com the average NFL player salary is $1.9 million annually, ranking the NFL as the lowest average salary among the 4 major North American sports leagues, 2.5 times less than baseball’s average salary. The NFLPA has come up short in a few areas, another being the fact that all NFL contracts are non-guaranteed, meaning if a player were to sign with a team for x number of years and for x number of dollars, the team has the right to cut this player at any time during the length of the contract. A player can be released for any reason, including injury. When released, a player is no longer entitled to the compensation agreed upon in the contract. This is far behind other major sports, as Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association both virtually always guarantee contracts between player and organization. Based on the numbers, an average professional football player will earn roughly $6 million in their career, many making much less. After 3 years of NFL …show more content…
As these trends rise and more data is examined it is no wonder the youth football turnout is decreasing in pockets on America. Many parents are beginning to prohibit their children from participating in this dangerous game. When speaking to David Remnich of the Washington Post, President Obama said if he had a son, “ I would not let my son play professional football.”, NBA superstar Lebron James told ESPN.com “ It’s a safety thing. As a parent, you protect your kids. I don’t think I am the only one not allowing his kids to play football.” It is not just outsiders to the sport refusing to allow their children to participate either, Hall of Fame Quarterback Terry Bradshaw told Jay Leno in 2012, “If I had a son today, I would not let him play football.” These sentiments are shared among many of the games past heroes including, Troy Aikman, Bart Scott, Antwaan Randle El, and Brett Favre to name a few.
As sports such as soccer, lacrosse, and basketball surge in popularity among our nation’s youth, it should come as no surprise to see the popularity of football decline. When we look back in history to the year of the very first Super Bowl it was 1966, The world was watching Jim Palmer face off against Sandy Koufax in the World Series, baseball was America’s game. I wonder
The NFL is not only a sport that grosses millions of dollars a year in this country, it has blossomed into an industry in and of itself. Due to this large amount of revenue, players are naturally compensated very well however, there are policies in place to regulate this money. This is where the salary cap comes into play. A salary cap is basically an agreement between the league and players that does not allow the league to pay a player more once they reach the maximum. The NFL uses a hard cap which means the cap limit cannot be exceeded no matter the reason.
In the book Crunching Numbers Jason and Vijay go over in detail the ins and outs of contracts. NFL contracts are the heart and soul of a team. This is how the team acquires top-notch talent within the budget of the salary cap. These contracts are complicated and take a dedicated team on both sides to come up with a deal that both parties feel comfortable with. The league has a Salary cap that teams are not allowed to go over in salaries for that year.
The New Orleans Saints bounty scandal was an incident in which affiliates of the New Orleans Saints franchise were suspected of paying out "bounties", for injuring the opposite team. The pool of athletes was suspected to have been in progress from 2009 to 2011. During the offseason in 2010, an unidentified player told NFL execs that the Saints had targeted two players as part of a bounty program. Knockouts were worth $1,500, and cart-offs netted $1,000. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who left the Saints for the Saint Louis Rams in the off-season, coached all four teams (Byrne, 2012).
Many parents would not let their son play football. In the article,” Would I let my son play football?,” by Scott Fujita, former football play, states he begs his parent to play but they were in convinced (Fujita 1). In other words, he saying his parents did not want him to play. Many parents do not want their kids playing because of the negative outcomes of football. I agree with this because who want to see their kid not to succeed.
According to the NCAA, only 3.3 percent of high school athletes will play at the Division 1 level and after college, only .05 percent of athletes make it to the professional level. Parents feel that they have invested so much in their child that they expect a rewarding return. The pressure to encourage their child to be successful can be the reason why parents can be aggressive toward their
Statistically showing, at least 100,000 college football players get hurt yearly. College football player’s should get paid to play because these players put themselves at risk for injury, college football is a job, not p.e, and it will help players adjust to college socially and economically. Colleges and the NCAA can make money selling jerseys and other souvenirs that might include the likeness of players, yet the actual players never receive a cent. Every time a football player steps onto the field, they’re risking themselves for injury.
In “Do Sports Build Character or Damage it?” Mark Edmundson explains the pros and cons of children who grow up playing football. Firstly, he believes the perseverance it takes to show up for hard practices is useful later in life. Especially when they get frustrated with something and don’t notice the little bits of progress they are making.
The era of Football in America is slowly coming to a close. Football has been known as America’s sport next to baseball for many years now. The general physicality of every play isn’t(B3) matched by any other sport on the planet, and that is why football causes more injuries than any other sport on the professional, and youth levels. Parents are pulling their kids from their teams, even in the middle of the season because of the information that has been released over the past decade illuminating a big problem for the game.
College football players should get paid because if they get hurt they can pay to get better. Neck injuries usually cost up to $20,000 Dollars to heal from so if they get paid they can get better faster. If they get paid during football season they can buy better football gear so they don’t get hurt
Football is a very popular sport not only in American high schools and colleges, but also in the entire country of the United States. Is playing high school football worth the risk and harm inflicted to high school football players? This is the main question raised by the author, Raymond Schroth, in the article “Abolish High School Football.” In this article, Schroth talked about the disadvantages and harms of playing high school football to the players. Schroth argued that high school football should be abolished because it had contributed more harmful effects than benefits to football players.
I’m a big football fan, but I have to tell you if I had a son, I’d have think long and hard before I let him play football,” says President Obama (Fox News). The debate of whether or not football should be banned started with this speech given by President Obama. Recently, studies have shown that a large number of hits may cause more brain damage than a handful of concussions. Although people think banning football will decrease the amount of teen deaths and concussions; football should not be banned because it is just as dangerous as any other high school sports, many people would lose their job if it was banned, and football and sports help keep kids off the street. Football should not be banned because it is just as dangerous as any other
Theodore Roosevelt in his letter to his son, The Proper Place For Sports(1919), proposes to his son that football in college is dangerous and he should think before he play. He supports his claim by first bringing up the subject, then telling his son of he should make the decision, then telling his son to not let sports get in the way of school, in closing he states general things going on to change the subject. Roosevelt’s purpose is to beget the problems of football in order to make his son realize the consequences of playing and make him rethink. He adopts a sincere tone for his athletic son.
Yes, NFL athletes are notorious for blowing their million dollar signing bonuses and squandering their seasonal earnings of their minimum earnings of $435 thousand! I was worried Ballers
Professional athletes are extremely overpaid for the “jobs” that they do. They only entertain for a living and get paid millions of dollars per season. Each sport is different in how they pay their athletes, and the difference in salaries from one player to another can be in the tens of millions of dollars. These athletes are paid for jobs that they only do for a certain number of games and do not even play the games over the course of an entire year. In most professional sports, they play in games for only a few months and then have a few months off.
The answer to that question is simple, professional athletes are overpaid. I do not think an athlete that plays a game should be paid any more than a teacher that is raising the next generations. It is a profession, but I do not find it to be as important as most jobs. Emergency medical technicians (EMT) do not even get 15 dollars an hour. They are trying to save people’s lives while a bunch of guys throw around a ball.