Professional Sports is it Really Such a Good Thing for Anyone?

Some things start out and grow to become mammoth enterprises.  This can easily be said about professional sports.  I am speaking about the primary 4 sports:  Football, Basketball, Baseball, & Hockey.  For each players will start in high school, move to college playing under the rules of the NCAA.  Then if they are lucky after getting a degree the player will get a contract with the pros.  

Most professional sports have been around prior to the 70's, however, most did not really take off until the late 80's and then suddenly players were getting contracts that were in the 10's of millions for a multi-year deal.  In the same period high school and college sports became much more competitive.  With many schools skirting ethics rules to sign players.  All of this in the name of the sport or is it?   

As years have marched on football players at all 3 levels have seen increases in injuries and pre-college schools have started to introduce football programs to middle and even primary (1-6 grade) school.  However, for all the growth of the sport the gear the players wear hasn't changed much since the 90's.   This results in players often being injured in college before having an opportunity to cash in on their athletic abilities.  Worse, college's immediately cut a players scholarship as soon as they are no longer able to play.  This leaves the ex-player often without means to continue in school and forced to drop out.  The school just gets another player to take their place, no skin off their nose to make the game safer.  The school still has their corporate sponsors, etc.  So a player injured and unable to play again isn't really a huge setback for the athletic program at the school.  

If the player reaches the pro level then they are paid a contract for the games they play often using a multiple year contract.  Such as 4 years 16 million.  this means 4 million a year divided by the number of games in a standard season which results as x dollars per game.  If the player is injured in the 4th game then they get paid for 4 games and if they don't return back that season then the 4 games is all they are paid.  The team can also drop their contract meaning they don't get paid again.   Smart players will have provision of a guarantee of x dollars (no matter how many games are played or if they are dropped from their contract early)  

I mention this because I saw a movie again "The Blind Side" about Michael Oher and getting a college scholarship.  At the end he was picked up by the Baltimore Ravens.  Then he was with the TN Titans, and finally with the Carolina Panthers where he was injured with a concussion after 3 games.  He then failed a physical and was released from his contract. 

Starting his pro career in 2009 by 2017 it was over.  7 years and done. (one year was out injured)  

Now at 32 in 2019 he is trying to reinvent himself writing a book. 

He's lucky that the Tuohy's who kept him working to get his grades up at school so that he would get a degree.  Unfortunately, not all players seem all that worried about having a career to fall back on and put all their eggs in the pro athlete basket.  It's not pretty if things don't play out they want they dreamt they were going to.  

But in the end all of this is about money and corporate greed to build new stadiums, new sponsors, but the focus on player safety or futures are often never a focus.  That is quite sad to say the least and it's why I will never vote for building a new pro arena/stadium/etc because it's not about the sport, or the players, it's about corporate greed.