When will professional atheletes begin to feel the economic pinch....

[Guest nutz2u]

When their contracts come up for renewal. If attendance, sponsorship, TV money and corporate income all go down then for sure players contracts will go down.

Guys like Datsyuk with their big, long-term contract are OK (Cap penalties for releasing a player with such a contract are brutal in the NHL, and you still have to pay him 2/3 of the value). The ones who will "suffer" are the Franzens of this world who've never made "OMG I never have to work again" money and are due to get their first "big" contract.

In only 3 yrs Franzen has made more than most of us will ever see, 2.275 Million Geez what a pauper!

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

Given the state of the state of the economy, it is a no-brainer that people do not have the disposable income they had ten years ago to spend on such luxuries as attending sporting events. Like other businesses, it is bound to feel the pinch and have to cut costs.

How might the league handle this?

How much longer can player salaries and ticket prices continue to skyrocket when many businesses are cutting costs by laying off workers and/or backing out of sponsorships and season tickets etc.?

Might this result in another era where "Blue Collar" folks can attend without feeling so much as though they have been violated? That would be a positive for sure.

Regarding player salaries. I don't think players in any of the big 4 sports will ever feel an economic crunch like most "regular" folks.

Look at the league minimum required salaries (I think they all have one). They're still more than what most people will ever make per year.

For instance, I think the minimum NFL salary is close to $300,000, I think its close to $500,000 in the NHL, close to $400,000 in MLB and over $400,000 in the NBA.

If you slash the MINIMUM salaries in sports in half that's probably still enough money to put athletes into the top couple percent of earners in the US.

Athletes by and large will likely never suffer economic hardship unless they don't know how to manage the money they make. So maybe a pro athlete will have to sell his 3 million dollar home and buy a 1 million dollar home. That doesn't constitute suffering in my book.

IMO, they're now and likely to always be exempt from facing the economic issues your average Joe faces.

[Guest nutz2u]

At the end of this year you can bet they will piss and moan when they have to give up the 13% going into escrow. That's over a million bucks for some of them.

Edited December 8, 2008 by nutz2u