How Professional Sports and Big Money have not only Destroyed the Games, they Destroy Lives

 

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart                

The largest salary ever received by the man I consider the greatest pitcher in baseball history, Sandy Koufax, was $130,000 per year. The highest salary earned by the greatest hitter of all time, Hank Aaron, was $240,000 per year. Adjusted for inflation, that would be $1.35 million today. The most successful basketball player in history, Bill Russell, was rewarded with $125,000 per year: $1,164,000 today. Johnny Unitas, the greatest NFL player in history, was paid $250,000 in his final contract. The best players in professional sports receive as much as 50 million dollars each year.

The average pay for a starting MLB player in 2024 is about $4.5 million in 2024. For NBA players, the average is $9,512,000 per year. NFL players make a minimum of $750,000 per year. The average veteran makes nearly two million dollars per year.

PASSING COSTS TO THE FANS

In 1970, the highest price of a ticket for NBA games was about six dollars. Today the “cheap seats” are about $95.00. Major League Baseball tickets cost $3.50 in 1970 and $57.00 today. The NFL will cost you a minimum of $110.00. In 1970, ticket prices averaged $15.00. I won’t insult you and offer prices for playoff, World Series, the NBA Championship, or the Super Bowl in 2024. You can’t afford them.

I grew up in Los Angeles. I enjoyed watching the Dodgers play baseball and occasionally the Lakers. I was never able to attend a Rams’ game, but they weren’t much of a team in those days.

When I moved to North County, San Diego, I was able to take my two children, along with my girlfriend and her two boys, to Padres games frequently. Seats, two levels up, were $4.50 each, and concession prices were reasonable. I would watch the Clippers on occasion, and paid $7.00 for each ticket.

I could not afford to attend a single professional game today. I survive on a fixed income.

I live in Reno, Nevada. We have an AAA team called the “Aces” downtown. However, ticket prices are prohibitive and this is a minor league team.

NOT THE WORST CAUSE AND EFFECT FROM PROFESSIONAL SPORTS

There are two America’s today. When I was a young man, I hoped that would end before I reached old age. My hope never became a reality.

In the 1990’s our government began allowing the manufacturing industry to move their businesses to foreign nations. The sole reason: cheap labor. This moronic action removed tens of thousands of good paying jobs from our major cities.

Black Americans suffered from this situation to a higher degree than anyone else in our country. The only jobs available for most of these men and women were in fast-food joints. This is how income inequality began to be one of our nation’s biggest problems.

Young Black men and women have always looked to sports as an escape from poverty. Some achieve their goals, but the percentage is very small.

Now that the cost of college tuition has become prohibitive for most Americans, a career in athletics has become increasingly attractive. Millions of younger Black Americans idolize Bla      ck Baseball, Basketball and Football players. They spend every dollar they can find on jerseys, hats, jackets,and shoes sponsored by our country’s most famous Black athletes.

These young men and women dream of the possibility that someday, somehow, they can live in the same manner as their heroes.

HOPES AND DREAMS CAN ONLY COME TRUE WHEN OPPORTUNITES EXIST

For all younger Americans, but especially for minorities, the path to a better life has narrowed. Meanwhile the owners of athletic franchises and their top players exist in a world most Americans can only dream of.

Our nation’s wealthiest people believe that “greed is good.” None of them have concerns about the increase in grocery prices, rent, or the cost of single family homes. They can afford anything they want, including season tickets to sporting events which cost as much as a new care 20 years ago.

A PERSONAL NOTE

I grew up watching and playing sports. I was a pitcher on a baseball team, a point guard in basketball, and occasionally played quarterback on football teams. (I was too skinny and too slow to play high school football.)

I never missed a game which was televised on broadcast networks. I even watched, and learned to enjoy the NHL. When VCR’s became a reality, I recorded my favorite teams whenever I was unable to be home and watch them.

However, I stopped watching MLB years ago when free agency became a reality. Money became more important than teams and even the game they claimed to love. I lost what I enjoyed most: to follow a team. That concept disappeared.

The NBA soon followed baseball and so did my interest. I continue to watch the NFL. Losing players to free agency has begun, and affects the ability of some teams to reach the playoffs and definitely the Super Bowl. The end of the team concept, combined with the worst officiating in professional sports made my interest in the game fade.

I cancelled my NFL Sunday Ticket when the cost became unrealistic. Because the San Francisco 49ers and the Las Vegas Raiders are considered Reno’s “home teams” by the networks, I have little interest on many Sudays, as well as Monday and Thursday nights.

Prior to free agency, the league had become increasingly competitive. In 2023, some of the games were boring, and I turned off the television, and changed the channel to reruns of Saturday Night Live, or something more entertaining.

America is a “great country,” but only if you are a member of five percent of all Americans who control 95 percent of the money in our nation. The United States has become a business, and less of a country.

Our nation’s motto is “profit before people.”

Op-ed by James Turnage

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