Are Pro Sports Recession Proof?
How’s this from today’s headlines? The New York Yankees declined arbitration on all its free agents, and is hoping to re-set all these ungodly salaries that franchise helped produce.
Bobby Abreau is no longer worth $8 million a year, and may have to settle for $7 million a year elsewhere. Same with Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi.
How soon do we see these guys eating Chef Boyardee? Will they be shopping at Walmart on Black Friday, or driving Hyundai Accents any time soon? Like the rest of us?
I can see Abreau crying the blues because he has to play in Kansas City for a mere $4 million. Pettitte giving up baseball to be Roger Clemens’ only friend. Giambi doing gratis ads for a brand-name mustache trimmer to keep out of the chow line.
Yeah, these guys are going to have it real rough.
But you also have to applaud the Yankees for being somewhat money-conscious during a recession. How are the average fans making $30,000 a year going to relate to pitchers who make that kind of cash per outing? Pro sports are further distancing themselves from the everyman.
Heck, NASCAR says it will suffer because of the automotive industry. And Golf, too, as sponsors pull back a bit. Prize money, it seems, is slipping a bit. Maybe this recession is more about Tiger Woods’ bum knee than job losses and a lack of industrial growth?
Switching to football, as a New York Giants fan, I’m glad to see they put a clause in Plaxico Burress’s contract, one that would keep the team from paying him if he does something dumb like (allegedly) bringing an unregistered handgun into a bar and (allegedly) accidentally shooting himself in the thigh.
If teams are going to go nuts and pay these guys ridiculous sums of money, no matter the sport, make the accountable. And if they don’t earn their millions, make them work for less.
