NFL for National Future Security
No, I’m not about to bore you with some crazy idea about NFL players forming some elite security network for the United States. Although the idea of an elite security force made up of athletes is intriguing. And it would make for a good movie to compete with the ever popular comic book heroes.
I’d like to take a quick look at how much money flows through the NFL into players hands. There are 32 teams in the NFL. The present salary cap per team is $177,200,000. That means $5,670,400,000 can be paid to the players every year. Each team has 53 players plus a practice squad of 10 players for a total of 2016 players. In plain numbers that would put the annual player salary at $2,812,698 per player if the money was evenly divided. Almost $3,000,000 doesn’t sound like much these days, but that is pay per year.
Lets look at this from an investment aspect. If the US has 2000 people investing over $2,000,000 per year into new businesses, what effect would that have on the economy over a number of years? Bear with me here. Back in the 1960’s NFL players were paid a lot less money. The average salary was around $25,000 per year. Not enough to retire on. Those players were known for investing the money they had into small businesses. Popular investments back in those days were restaurants, taverns, sport shops, some invested in publications, and a variety of other businesses.
Today many players earn more than enough money to retire on without every having to worry about a future income. What do they invest in? Some the stock market, some still invest in small companies. What about the rest? I don’t know.
I remember the NFL players strike in 1987 when teams played with replacement players. I didn’t notice that much of a drop off in quality. The excitement of the game was at the same level. The announcers actually paid more attention to the game then trying to fascinate the TV audience with snappy cliches. It was still a game.
Not everyone will agree with that, but let’s take a look at an idea. Most players today are college graduates with business, engineering, communication, computer science, and other degrees. Many are equipped to form and run their own business. Think of what it may do for the economy it the NFL was putting out well educated and motivated players into society with enough money to start new companies in a vast array of fields.
To do this there would have to be a few rule changes. Today there are a few star players taking the lions share of the pot. I’m sure all of you are surprised to hear some of the numbers being tossed around today. What if the NFL adopted a policy to spread the money around to thousands of more players?
Imagine a league where players were paid between $2,000,000 and $3,000,000 a year and restricted to 3 years of play. That would give each player more than enough money to either retire on, or invest in a new or existing business. This would open the door to see new talent enter the field of play every year. To make dreams come true for thousands of young college graduates to play for a pro team and become famous for a spell. Most players are on scholarships. So they don’t owe huge college bills like us average Americans. That leaves the field open to start new businesses. How many? That all depends on individual planning, skills, and determination. But every new business helps the economy grow. New businesses create jobs, require new or remodeled buildings, support food stores, material suppliers, and other local businesses. Of course colleges would have to learn to take advantage of the new economy and offer specialized course to prepare young people for all those new opportunities. Think of the new and innovated ideas and designs those young people could experiment on and introduce. This industrial age would see a spike like never before.
This is only an idea. I doubt if anyone in the NFL will ever read this. Or this idea would ever get anywhere. But couldn’t we use a game like the NFL to create a sort of perpetual motion economy? Does anyone out there have a better idea? What would you do if you had $6,000,000, your whole life in front of you, the education, know how, and confidence to succeed?