The Replacements
This movie is entertaining, but it's basically one giant straw man argument glorifying the team owners position concerning player's salaries. The professional players are all greedy jerks while the owners are in it for the "love of the game". Here's the reality:
--Forbes estimates that a team purchased for $180 million would be worth $2.4 billion 20 years later (based upon Jeff Laurie's purchase of the Eagles in 1996), and that is not counting income generated over those 20 years, just purchase and sale price. That translates to about a 13 percent annual capital growth.
-- On average, Forbes calculates that NFL teams earn $89 million in annual operating income before debt service and taxes.
-- The average NFL player income is $1.9 million/year, but this is highly misleading because a relatively small number of players make larger incomes while most make a lot less for a much shorter time. According to Business Insider, 70 percent of players in the NFL are between 22 and 27, and their average salary is closer to $1.4 million/year.
-- The average career length in the NFL is about 6 years according to the NFL and 3.3 years according to the player's association. Less than 10 percent play past 30.
-- 96 percent of former player's brains studied post mortem showed evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy; basically, severe brain damage that leads to horrific conditions later in life. This doesn't mean 96 percent of players have this, but it does mean these guys are putting themselves at serious risk for their careers.
-- According to the book "League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth", the league (i.e. the owners and administrators) probably knew about the long-term health complications of playing NFL football for years and worked hard to keep it out of the news and undercut studies about it.
Yes, NFL players still make a lot more than most of us ever will, but I have trouble thinking the owners are the good guys and the players are all greedy tools. Whenever I see this movie I can't help thinking about all of this, entertaining or not.
-
-
-