- Joined
- Feb 9, 2014
- Messages
- 20,922
- Name
- Peter
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/05/18/odell-beckham-nfl-players-should-get-paid-more/
Odell Beckham: NFL players should get paid more
Posted by Michael David Smith on May 18, 2015
Getty Images
Giants receiver Odell Beckham thinks the $10.4 million he’s guaranteed over the first four years of his rookie contract is not enough.
“I think that we should make more money, personally,” Beckham told The Huffington Post when asked what he’d change about the NFL.
Beckham says NFL players should get paid more than baseball or basketball players because football is a more dangerous game.
“I understand that basketball plays 80-something games, baseball plays this many games, soccer plays that many games, but this is a sport where there’s more injuries. There’s more collisions. It’s not even a full-contact sport, I would call it a full-collision sport. You have people running who can run 20 miles per hour and they’re running downhill to hit you, and you’re running 18 miles per hour. That’s a car wreck. It’s just the career is shorter. There’s injuries that you have after you leave the game, brain injuries, whatever it is, nerve injuries.”
The truth, however, is that the danger inherent to a profession has little to do with the pay within that profession. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, logging is America’s most dangerous profession. If people were paid according to the risks associated with their jobs, lumberjacks would make more than NFL players. But that’s not how it works.
In reality, NFL players make less money than baseball and basketball players primarily because baseball and basketball have smaller rosters. The players’ percentage of the league’s revenue is similar in all three sports, but in the NFL that money is divided among a much larger pool of players — more than twice as many players as in Major League Baseball and more than four times as many players as in the National Basketball Association.
As a result, it’s unlikely that NFL players will ever make as much, on average, as MLB or NBA players. No matter how much Beckham thinks they should.
------------
Odell,
Nobody is forcing you to play. If you don’t feel that the amount of money offered by your employer is adequate, you have every right to say no and walk away and work elsewhere. If you feel that the risks are not appropriately accounted for in your compensation package, you also have every right to walk away from the game. Once again, nobody is forcing you to play. But you did sign that contract.
If you feel that the percentage of revenue shared with the players is not adequate, you have a players’ union that negotiates the CBA on a periodic basis, so you can let your voice be heard there.
Thank you,
A fan who is much less entitled than you.
----------
The Madden curse has already infected his brain.
----------
That’s one way to look at it.
How about the college players?? I’m sure all 127 D-1 football programs and the NCAA as a whole generate of a lot more money than the NFL.
Those kids are being robbed. One year in the league and you are on the madden cover kid. Which they probably paid you handsomely for.
Shut up.
---------
Careful what you wish for………more regular season games.
----------
He’s right……
Look at MLB, NBA & NHL contracts.
Sports that are no where near the popularity of the NFL.
They get guaranteed contracts, and the salaries look even higher.
Then factor in the danger of each sport and player career longevity.
Then factor in revenues created by TV contracts.
NFL Players have been getting hosed for years. Makes me wonder if DeMaurice Smith doesn’t have some kind of under the table arrangement with the owners. I mean outside looking in it’s either that or the guy is the worst negotiating lawyer of all time.
-----------
No, actually soldiers, EMT’s, firemen, police officers, nurses and teachers should get paid more. These people risk their lives and try to help others. All athletes do is play a game and get paid more in a year than most people will see in a lifetime.
----------
I guess in comparison to MLB and NBA players he has a point. But when you look at the fact he’s saying an athlete deserves more money to play a game…. well thats just silly.
---------
Ticket prices for all professional sports have greatly outpaced the ability of average fans to afford them. Clearly players in all three of these sports are overpaid.
---------
Relax. He was giving an honest answer when asked “what” he would change about the NFL. Wondering what answer all of you would give if you were asked the same question by your boss and you were not too intimidated to answer the question honestly. I bet I can figure that out real quick…
---------
I don’t begrudge athletes what they earn. They put in a lot of hard work, and basically the market decides the pool of money that is available to pay player salaries. Plus, if any of us had the athletic ability we wouldn’t walk away from the money.
The NFL is worth billions, so of course the players deserve some of that.
While I see Beckam’s point, voicing this kind of thing makes him look like an entitled, out of touch idiot.
--------
1. Comparing a professional athlete to an average worker is an apples and oranges comparison. Totally different rules, totally different labor market.
2. Even if you tried to make that comparison your logic doesn’t hold. The difference in pay between industries is typically determined by supply, demand, and revenue generated. Hence the reason NFL players are paid more than lumberjacks.
However, this formulation does not preclude factoring in health risks. If anything that would probably be one of the considerations that determine the supply part of the equation. If you think health risks and earning potential don’t affect young athletes when they’re deciding which sports to pursue I have a bridge to sell you
-----------
Roger Goodell makes 44 million per year.
And has done a poor job.
Something is wrong
----------
He doesn’t even have a point in comparison to the other leagues ….. yes an NBA player can make more, but since each team has only 12 players 1 players impact can be much greater. Same in baseball… outside of one position, football players are almost all replaceable and thus not as important..
Now i think that rule number one for people who are millionaires should be never to publicly say you should make more money…. No matter what, right or wrong, you never look good. In a country where the median salary is in 40’s of thousands its not a good idea to complain about making 1.8 million a year….
----------
Shut your mouth, keep playing well market yourself, and get on Campbell’s Soup commercials and get that endorsement money. Just ask Richard Sherman, the Mannings and countless others on how to maximize your profits. Stop hanging out with successful NBA players and trying to keep up with their lifestyle take care of yours first bro.
---------
I understand the economics of football salaries relative to the other leagues and accept it for what it is. I also understand Beckham’s statement, and would love to see a better pay system for more of the players (although I am pretty sure he was talking about the elite big money contracts). I actually hated to see the players agree to getting a lower percentage of the profits that happened with the last CBA, but I know the owners were entrenched on that point.
What should change? First off, anyone that makes the 53 man roster should make the same minimum pay, say 1 to 1.5 million. At present, the pay differential between those on rookie contracts and the vet minimum has rendered many 4 to 5 year vets unemployable, as the clubs seek to save money for the big contracts the quarterbacks get. The premium paid to veterans they negotiated with this contract has actually worked against the vet. I believe it has shortened many mid level careers. If everyone on the 53 man roster makes the same (but with a higher base), the best players win jobs, not the cheapest.
Secondly, just as there is a salary cap for the league, there should be a salary cap for the amount you can pay any single player. Say something like no single player can take up more than 12% (random # here) of the cap. This would help limit the damage an elite QB contract does to the team as a whole and would free up money to bring the minimum pay level of all the players up (as suggested in my first point). It has always galled me that the guy who takes the least physical pounding on the field makes the most money.
I know this will never happen, but if the NFLPA is there to represent “all” the players, and not just the elite few, they would strongly consider something like this.
Odell Beckham: NFL players should get paid more
Posted by Michael David Smith on May 18, 2015
Giants receiver Odell Beckham thinks the $10.4 million he’s guaranteed over the first four years of his rookie contract is not enough.
“I think that we should make more money, personally,” Beckham told The Huffington Post when asked what he’d change about the NFL.
Beckham says NFL players should get paid more than baseball or basketball players because football is a more dangerous game.
“I understand that basketball plays 80-something games, baseball plays this many games, soccer plays that many games, but this is a sport where there’s more injuries. There’s more collisions. It’s not even a full-contact sport, I would call it a full-collision sport. You have people running who can run 20 miles per hour and they’re running downhill to hit you, and you’re running 18 miles per hour. That’s a car wreck. It’s just the career is shorter. There’s injuries that you have after you leave the game, brain injuries, whatever it is, nerve injuries.”
The truth, however, is that the danger inherent to a profession has little to do with the pay within that profession. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, logging is America’s most dangerous profession. If people were paid according to the risks associated with their jobs, lumberjacks would make more than NFL players. But that’s not how it works.
In reality, NFL players make less money than baseball and basketball players primarily because baseball and basketball have smaller rosters. The players’ percentage of the league’s revenue is similar in all three sports, but in the NFL that money is divided among a much larger pool of players — more than twice as many players as in Major League Baseball and more than four times as many players as in the National Basketball Association.
As a result, it’s unlikely that NFL players will ever make as much, on average, as MLB or NBA players. No matter how much Beckham thinks they should.
------------
Odell,
Nobody is forcing you to play. If you don’t feel that the amount of money offered by your employer is adequate, you have every right to say no and walk away and work elsewhere. If you feel that the risks are not appropriately accounted for in your compensation package, you also have every right to walk away from the game. Once again, nobody is forcing you to play. But you did sign that contract.
If you feel that the percentage of revenue shared with the players is not adequate, you have a players’ union that negotiates the CBA on a periodic basis, so you can let your voice be heard there.
Thank you,
A fan who is much less entitled than you.
----------
The Madden curse has already infected his brain.
----------
That’s one way to look at it.
How about the college players?? I’m sure all 127 D-1 football programs and the NCAA as a whole generate of a lot more money than the NFL.
Those kids are being robbed. One year in the league and you are on the madden cover kid. Which they probably paid you handsomely for.
Shut up.
---------
Careful what you wish for………more regular season games.
----------
He’s right……
Look at MLB, NBA & NHL contracts.
Sports that are no where near the popularity of the NFL.
They get guaranteed contracts, and the salaries look even higher.
Then factor in the danger of each sport and player career longevity.
Then factor in revenues created by TV contracts.
NFL Players have been getting hosed for years. Makes me wonder if DeMaurice Smith doesn’t have some kind of under the table arrangement with the owners. I mean outside looking in it’s either that or the guy is the worst negotiating lawyer of all time.
-----------
No, actually soldiers, EMT’s, firemen, police officers, nurses and teachers should get paid more. These people risk their lives and try to help others. All athletes do is play a game and get paid more in a year than most people will see in a lifetime.
----------
I guess in comparison to MLB and NBA players he has a point. But when you look at the fact he’s saying an athlete deserves more money to play a game…. well thats just silly.
---------
Ticket prices for all professional sports have greatly outpaced the ability of average fans to afford them. Clearly players in all three of these sports are overpaid.
---------
Relax. He was giving an honest answer when asked “what” he would change about the NFL. Wondering what answer all of you would give if you were asked the same question by your boss and you were not too intimidated to answer the question honestly. I bet I can figure that out real quick…
---------
I don’t begrudge athletes what they earn. They put in a lot of hard work, and basically the market decides the pool of money that is available to pay player salaries. Plus, if any of us had the athletic ability we wouldn’t walk away from the money.
The NFL is worth billions, so of course the players deserve some of that.
While I see Beckam’s point, voicing this kind of thing makes him look like an entitled, out of touch idiot.
--------
1. Comparing a professional athlete to an average worker is an apples and oranges comparison. Totally different rules, totally different labor market.
2. Even if you tried to make that comparison your logic doesn’t hold. The difference in pay between industries is typically determined by supply, demand, and revenue generated. Hence the reason NFL players are paid more than lumberjacks.
However, this formulation does not preclude factoring in health risks. If anything that would probably be one of the considerations that determine the supply part of the equation. If you think health risks and earning potential don’t affect young athletes when they’re deciding which sports to pursue I have a bridge to sell you
-----------
Roger Goodell makes 44 million per year.
And has done a poor job.
Something is wrong
----------
He doesn’t even have a point in comparison to the other leagues ….. yes an NBA player can make more, but since each team has only 12 players 1 players impact can be much greater. Same in baseball… outside of one position, football players are almost all replaceable and thus not as important..
Now i think that rule number one for people who are millionaires should be never to publicly say you should make more money…. No matter what, right or wrong, you never look good. In a country where the median salary is in 40’s of thousands its not a good idea to complain about making 1.8 million a year….
----------
Shut your mouth, keep playing well market yourself, and get on Campbell’s Soup commercials and get that endorsement money. Just ask Richard Sherman, the Mannings and countless others on how to maximize your profits. Stop hanging out with successful NBA players and trying to keep up with their lifestyle take care of yours first bro.
---------
I understand the economics of football salaries relative to the other leagues and accept it for what it is. I also understand Beckham’s statement, and would love to see a better pay system for more of the players (although I am pretty sure he was talking about the elite big money contracts). I actually hated to see the players agree to getting a lower percentage of the profits that happened with the last CBA, but I know the owners were entrenched on that point.
What should change? First off, anyone that makes the 53 man roster should make the same minimum pay, say 1 to 1.5 million. At present, the pay differential between those on rookie contracts and the vet minimum has rendered many 4 to 5 year vets unemployable, as the clubs seek to save money for the big contracts the quarterbacks get. The premium paid to veterans they negotiated with this contract has actually worked against the vet. I believe it has shortened many mid level careers. If everyone on the 53 man roster makes the same (but with a higher base), the best players win jobs, not the cheapest.
Secondly, just as there is a salary cap for the league, there should be a salary cap for the amount you can pay any single player. Say something like no single player can take up more than 12% (random # here) of the cap. This would help limit the damage an elite QB contract does to the team as a whole and would free up money to bring the minimum pay level of all the players up (as suggested in my first point). It has always galled me that the guy who takes the least physical pounding on the field makes the most money.
I know this will never happen, but if the NFLPA is there to represent “all” the players, and not just the elite few, they would strongly consider something like this.
