A hockey junky gets his fix (The price is not right)
Posted 7:15 PM ET | Comments 2
Thanks to free wireless internet in my hotel, combined with large quantities of caffeine, I get to do something I have not had the pleasure of doing in three weeks, watch a hockey game. After the depressing event of departing my cruise ship early this morning, the beautiful sights of Barcelona, Spain, combined with the opportunity to view a live stream and chat with my friends in the Hockeybuzz chat room have helped to ease that pain. It is a crying shame to see that nobody gives a rat's you-know-what about hockey in this country, especially since it is one with such beauty, history and rich culture. Today I realized just how little culture and history Canada really has, and that hockey is the one claim to fame I myself can truly be proud of, which brings me to my rant.
With free agency looming, I can’t help but be frustrated with the amounts of money these people are getting paid to play the sport they love. They are lucky enough to have the talent and to get the chance to play in front of millions of people and make their family, friends and fans proud, yet they demand millions a year to do so. Do they deserve it? Not really, says I. The max a player should get paid in my opinion is about 3 million a year, which is still more than enough. What is my opinion based on, one might wonder. My big problem with big salaries that it is us, the fans who suffer. We are forced to pay absurdly high ticket prices to accommodate the absurd salaries each organization must pay its players. These players say how much they appreciate the fans, and so they should. We theoretically pay their salaries.
People look up to some of these players and are greatly inspired by them, myself included. But their greed and egos are a less than complimenting character trait, and I greatly applaud the players who knowingly take a lot less money than they deserve. Sadly, professional sports these days are run on greed rather than passion for the game, and i know that it won't change, but that will never stop me (among others) from letting it be heard. I mean, who wants to pay 100$ or more a game so that their favorite team can afford to pay players 7 million dollars a season? Not this fan, and I am sure I do not stand alone.
With free agency looming, I can’t help but be frustrated with the amounts of money these people are getting paid to play the sport they love. They are lucky enough to have the talent and to get the chance to play in front of millions of people and make their family, friends and fans proud, yet they demand millions a year to do so. Do they deserve it? Not really, says I. The max a player should get paid in my opinion is about 3 million a year, which is still more than enough. What is my opinion based on, one might wonder. My big problem with big salaries that it is us, the fans who suffer. We are forced to pay absurdly high ticket prices to accommodate the absurd salaries each organization must pay its players. These players say how much they appreciate the fans, and so they should. We theoretically pay their salaries.
People look up to some of these players and are greatly inspired by them, myself included. But their greed and egos are a less than complimenting character trait, and I greatly applaud the players who knowingly take a lot less money than they deserve. Sadly, professional sports these days are run on greed rather than passion for the game, and i know that it won't change, but that will never stop me (among others) from letting it be heard. I mean, who wants to pay 100$ or more a game so that their favorite team can afford to pay players 7 million dollars a season? Not this fan, and I am sure I do not stand alone.
nice job teddy the main problem is that the market is the major factor the owners continue to shoot themselves in the foot don't see anything changing for a long time.
Good blog, Teddy. I'm afraid, however, that free agency in all sports has greatly changed the economics of pro sports over the past 30 years, and not for the better. Had the owners baseball, football, basketball, and especially hockey not been so greedy and exploitative, and treated their players like chattle, for so many years such a situation may never have come to pass. The economics of sport has turned players in to mercenaries I'm afraid, and the paying customers footing the bill.