No offense or judgement meant to anyone if that’s your thing (to each their own). That’s just how I see pretty much all professional sports - the super bowl is just the poster child for it.

  • Phegan@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    The players on the field have more in common than us than the billionaires who own the teams. Don’t confuse them for the actual rich class. Over an average NFL career most players make less money than most people will over their career, and they leave football with severely damaged bodies and minds.

    They are workers just like us, many of them go on to live in poverty, just like us. The players aren’t your enemy, the owners are.

      • Liz@midwest.social
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        8 months ago

        What’s the difference between a million dollars and a billion dollars?

        It’s a billion dollars.

        You’ve still got way more in common with the players than the owners.

      • Snapz@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Average doesn’t work so great here with those QBs at the top making $50m a year, bud

      • Signtist@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        Yeah, at first I thought they were saying it evened out considering most people’s careers are longer than an NFL player’s, but even just 1 year as an NFL player nets more money than I’ll ever earn in my life. Several lose it all, but that’s from spending it on hookers and blow, not because they’re forced to live paycheck to paycheck.

      • Phegan@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        First. You still have more in common with players than owners.

        Second what’s the average career length of an NFL player. Last I checked it was 2.5 years, may have changed. That’s 7 million over a career. Over a 50 year career, which most of us work, that’s about 116. Clearly upper middle class, but not rich.

        Many athletes leave the game and work labor jobs like the rest of us.

        Not saying they didn’t have a front loaded ahead start and also not saying they don’t have an upper middle class average. All I am saying is…the owners are your real enemy. We have more in common with the players than we do with the owners. The players are not your enemy.

      • Anti_Iridium@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Did you read the rest? The median (which means half makes less, and half makes more is 860k.

        That means if they get the crap beaten out of them, and save every single penny and don’t pay takes, they would have 3.4 million.

        As of 2015 80% went bankrupt

        I don’t do odds that bad.

        • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          A lot of them go bankrupt because they’ve never had money before and someone hands them three million dollars. They’re rich and famous overnight, with no financial planning experience, and they party like… well they party like the ballers they are. Football and basketball players waste so much money that the word “baller” is synonymous with someone who throws a lot of money around.

          But make no mistake, if someone handed you or I three million dollars, we could invest it and retire for the rest of our lives. They make a lot of money, and a lot of money all at once is worth a hell of a lot more than a lot of money spread out over a lifetime. But a lot of them make really poor financial choices too, because they’re just kids.

            • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              They get big fat paychecks when they sign their contracts. Lower paid players aren’t getting $3M all at once, but they get tens of thousands of dollars all at once, and it keeps coming every week. Even the lowest paid rookie players who only get the $750,000 rookie base salary get it over 17 weeks. That’s $44,117.64 every week for 17 weeks. That’s a fuck ton of money all at once, especially for a kid who has never had any.

              For reference:

              NFL Veteran Minimum Salary

              The minimum salary for NFL players with one year of experience is $870,000. It increases with each year:

              Rookie: $750,000
              1 Year: $870,000
              2 Years: $940,000
              3 Years: $1.01 million
              4-6 Years: $1.08 million
              7+ Years: $1.65 million