[ChrisCantSkate]

no fans and media dont make a sport, but they make one such as this thrive into what it is today. if the millions of viewers, ticket holders, and sponsorers didnt think it was a sport, or rather, didnt like the sport, they wouldnt put their money into it.

hate open markets, capitalism, and the demand for NFL products(tickets, clothing, etc). that is what makes this a multi-billion dollar industry. would you rather see these owners who do nothing besides front the money for a team make a billion+ dollars a year or would you rather see a player who is basically a salesman for that franchise get a proportion of what they bring into the business? highschool and college players do play for free, and the respected schools make money off ticket sales from them, but thats because its not their job. this is someones job, now regardless of what you think they deserve to get paid, there is a firm(team) out there who feels that if they can pay this guy top dollar to some to their team, they will make more money off him than what they pay him. he, "the player", is in this job to entertain and make a living doing so. high dollar bands are the exact same thing. do you think someone deserves a million dollars for writing a hit album? maybe, maybe not, they are being paid by someone who thinks they can buy up their talent and turn around and make a profit off it. every business, if its sports or not is like that, at least profit-seeking firms are.

i will say that some "love of the game" is lost through these contracts, but you know what, the good atheletes, the good team mates, the "winners" arnt. you can have all the talent in the world, but if your heart is in the wrong spot, your just not that good. look at terrel owens (TO), he might be the most dominant wide out in the league as far as speed, route running ability, catching(debatable after this season), open field running(breaking tackles and cutting ability) but he's kinda a douche. he's full of himself and thinks at the end of the day his stats are more important than the teams. guess what, he brings down every team he touches, then you have someone like payton manning, brett favre, tiki and ronde barber(who were terrible starting out, but loved the game and stuck with it to be pro-bowlers) or even coaches like tony dungee who love the game and want to have team unity, now granted payton might be the best QB in the league, but he's been on the same team, as with favre, since he was drafted, he dosnt bitch at the end of every year about contracts, teammates, dosnt point fingers, and guess what, they always end up having a decent team, and good relations with the fans/people. this is the exact same for bands, if they love their music, and are actually good and have fans, then they end up having a successful carreer, now if they can reproduce the crap that the owner wants to hear, they moght make a quick dollar, but they wont last. its all the same in the ideals and theory. the beatles, led zeppelin, the rolling stones, they all loved their music, played it, and people loved it and they made a fucking fortune, not by demanding tons of money, but by proving they deserve it through performance.

bottom line is if they were overcharging, over paying, over doing anything then they couldnt keep it up in the long run, but the truth is that in order to reach equilibrum sometimes you have to raise prices, or pay players more. you make X amount more money for the team if you win from the NFL, sponsors etc. so why would you not want to invest say, 300million to make 600million? why have every other team pay the best players 5 mil a year and you pay all your 250k, you get worse players, then you have to pay for upkeep on a staduim, all the other saleries, you wont sell tickets if your a loosing team, so you wont have a large income, then your franchise becomes crap. now if you pay the money for better players, then you have the chance of being a better team, thus making more money.

it is a business, the economics of it are relativly simple and strait forward. why let the farmer charge market price for his crop when he could sell it for less? why should a car dealership sell cars at market price when they could "love selling cars" and never make any commsion? why should i pay $20 to go watch a band perform for 1000 people(they make $20k we'll say) when it only really cost them $1000 for the effort to come out and perform? because we do follow the laws of economics. if your stadium seats 50,000 people and 100,000 people want to see them play and will pay $20, but 50,000 will see them play for $35, then why go below the demand for the product(a ticket to the game) and operate below potential? if the team makes more money, then they can reinvest it back into the team to, hopefully, make them better.

every successful industry follows the laws of economics, its tried and tested. to think its not true, or you can do it another way would be wrong, and bad business. it costs ALOT of money to run a team, the players salaries is not the only cost, and wouldnt really change a whole lot if them made half of what they do now.

its an equilibruim we have reached with their pay, its not only their talent, but they also are now a spotlight person that everyone recognizes, they give up living a normal life and are compensated for it. think its unfair? go train and become a pro-athelete. wait, its not that easy, it takes talent not everyone has? what then there would be a demand for their talent. but why? oh cause people will pay shit tons of money to see them, well then we better jump on this and sign them, ahh damn someone else has this idea too and will pay them more to have the better team, well we better offer them more... see thats how fast it starts. they have a salary cap so teams cant spend billions on payroll, and have to work within a framework to keep competition fair.