There are three landmark sporting events that are going on right now: Wimbledon, the Euro soccer tournament, and NBA free agency. The latter being the one that is drawing the most buzz amongst athletes and fans.
Only two days into NBA free agency and money is both metaphorically and literally flying out the doors of every front office in the league. This has forced players in the other major sports and fans to collectively react like an old man trying to send back soup at a deli.
The reason for the massive contracts that constantly flash on the ESPN ticker is because the NBA recently reached a new TV deal, which in turn has skyrocketed the salary cap for each team.
This coupled with the league mandate that each team is required to spend 90 percent of their salary, leaves teams like the Lakers and Clippers giving big money to role Timofey Mozgoff and Austin Rivers.
The two L.A. teams are not alone though, each team has been dishing out tons of money to both starters and bench players alike. In the first day, teams spent a total of $1.71 billion dollars on new talent.
Take Mike Conley, Bradley Beal, Andre Drummond and Demar DeRozan’s new deals. Yes, all four are good and deserve big money, but do they deserve the equivalent of Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, Andrew Luck, Tony Romo, Cam Newton, Russel Wilson, Jared Goeff, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Kirk Cousins and Sam Bradford combined?
That’s right, four NBA athletes guaranteed money is equal to that of 11 starting NFL quarterbacks.
For that reason it makes sense why NFL players have been throwing shade against their NBA counterparts.
Now these guys are just taking advantage of the golden situation they are in, but you have to admit that some of these contracts are a little silly. I mean honestly, who are Solomon Hill, Mirza Teletovic and Etwaun Moore, because each now make more than $ 30 million over the next three years.
Which is ridiculous, some deserve a big pay day – and I’m sure we are all going to be wowed by the contract that Kevin Durant will get in the next couple of days – but there needs to be an adjustment in the way all sports pay their athletes.
If you look at the most lucrative sports in America the NFL sits at the top of the list, yet their players are making small potatoes.
You add all the brain and knee injuries that happen every year and a scam comes to mind.
If the past three days have shed some light anything it is how much of a scandal the NFL is.
Being the most dangerous sport means that you are expendable, and with the ever-so-full pool of people willing to take the risk, the swindle just gets bigger.
If NFL competitors want to be earning more then maybe they need to resort to extreme measures. Like a strike.
I am willing to bet that if all held out there would be a new collective bargaining agreement within a month.
Just look at what happened earlier this year in Missouri. No more than a week of players and coaches going on strike, the University President stepped down.
So players do have power in the situation, they just need to have the cajones to do something about it. In the meantime though, they have no room to bad lip the money that is floating around the NBA.
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