All Entries Tagged With: "NFL Commissioner"

NFL Taking a Stance on Fundamental Problem

Just imagine if you were a 23-year old college grad who just signed a multi-million dollar deal, you would think you could build off that wealth to last yourself a lifetime. Well that’s not the case for the current NFL players who are spending money as fast as the government is handing out bailouts. It’s this youthful movement that is destroying many young NFL players’ lives with no basic common sense of economics or savings. To them, if you have money in your pocket you spend it. Everyone wants the lifestyles of the rich and the famous and they actually employ without realizing the long-term consequences. They are never asked the question if they would you rather have a solid income for a lifetime or a fun, free-spending year living that lifestyle. Unfortunately most NFL players are not making the wise decision choosing to waste there million dollar contracts on lavish cars, thousand dollar night in the clubs, and stupid of investments. Michael Vick was a perfect example several years ago when he was advised by friends of his to invest millions into a failing wine business in which he knew nothing about. Result was millions in dollars of losses, money he could very much use today. Well, in a commitment to stop this behavior, newly appointed NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith’s has a goal to make every player learn the true meaning of economics. Its bad enough that these guys void college degrees for millions of dollars but you would think that if invested sensibly they would never have to work again. Unfortunately, not the case, yet time will tell if Smith’s plan will ratify the behavior of young NFL superstars The fact is these kids know nothing about the league in which they play in. Smith exploited this weakness in a recent rookie camp where he asked asks how many players saw the news about the league’s new deal with DirecTV, which guarantees teams an additional $4 billion through 2014. No one raised their hand. Smith goes on asking how many thinks that new NFL Stadium’s are paid by tax dollars? Again these men are clueless as Smith tells them virtually all stadium upgrades or expansions are paid by tax dollars. Smith gets to a point where he is so frustrated with the state of these players that he leaves the room. Is it inconceivable to believe that these pheneoms talk about themselves as brands and the next great player yet can’t even balance a checkbook or pass a 6th grade economics test. Well no longer will this be accepted in the NFL as Smith recently met with the league’s player’s representatives to initiate the largest, most intense labor standoff in the NFL’s history. The new approach of the NFL Players Association is to educate players on how this league they play in operates, what generates income, and how they can succeed within it. Well the big reason Mr. Smith is raising such uproar after just being assigned to the job is to save his players millions they are about to lose. With the league set to go under new contract negotiations in 2010, owners are pushing for players to get less money than they already earn. The thing is the average player has no clue that this initiative is taking place and by the time they find out it will already be cut out of their paycheck. Personally, it’s a shame we don’t see more successful players become investors within NFL teams or sports franchise. The problem is though even the ones who make millions on millions throughout there career’s have such bad spending habits that they have no cash to spare come retirement. Only three months after being placed in his role, Smith is mobilizing around 2,000 NFL football players for a fight against some of the most powerful businessmen in America, like Jerry Jones, Bob Craft, and Al Davis. The goal of the owners is to slow the growth of the NFL salary cap, which has been going up from $5 million to $12 million per team annually. If no deal goes through then who knows where the ceiling for salaries could go. As part of his effort to make the players conversant in the issues, Mr. Smith is stressing their value to their industry. Considering no one in the world can do their jobs as well as they can, that value is fairly high. So despite the blank stairs and stuttered answers he receives in the locker rooms, Smith is engaging players into the fundamentals of business and teaching them basic economics. Smith helps explain how NFL teams lure cities into throwing millions in tax dollars into renovations of stadiums and how much of an impact they have in an $8 billion dollar industry. Who knows what will become of the NFL or of these guys? Though after constant preaching maybe, maybe one day time will all click and they will consider whether or not they want to be the guy managing the money or owing it come retirement. The decision you make will decide on which route you take. Personally, I love the route Smith is taking; I believe economics should be instilled on everyone not to a point where you feel confident they can survive in the real world. To add to this, what about taking the NFL public? I would say, allow players to invest their money wisely within the teams and have a solid amount of investments to retire with and live a full-filled lifestyle after football with no financial worries. Or instead of giving them ridiculous rookie salaries in which they go out and spend we give them stock options of the team they play for. Well a long shot thought but a great one at that. I guess though the first step is education and its good to see Mr. Smith taking a leadership stance on that field.