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> It's profitable only because the players aren't paid. No. The NFL minimum salary is under $500k and by your own admission these players aren't that good. E

by _edo 7y ago

> It's profitable only because the players aren't paid. No. The NFL minimum salary is under $500k and by your own admission these players aren't that good. Even a generous $200k/yr and a generous 100 player roster only adds up to $20 million, and there are teams with over $50 million in profits.

sverige 7y ago
First, there are not many teams with over $50 million in profits, only the top 13 as of 2018. [0] Second, you're assuming that even the top players would only make the minimum, which you have arbitrarily set at $200k, assuming that they would be paid less than the minimum NFL salary. The more accurate measure would be to pay them some percentage of the average NFL salary, which was $1.9 million in 2018. [1] So assuming the average college player salary would be 40% (to use your arbitrary number), that would be just under $800k per player. Even with a 53-player roster, that puts player salaries at over $40 million annually, which wipes out profits for all but the top 15 or 20 teams. Third, I didn't say these players "aren't that good." The fact that only 2% of them make it to the NFL doesn't mean the other 98% aren't that good, it just means that the market won't bear paying for more players when they're fairly compensated. [0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2018/09/11/college-footballs-most-valuable-teams/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2018/09/11/college-f... [1] https://gazettereview.com/2017/03/average-nfl-player-salary/ https://gazettereview.com/2017/03/average-nfl-player-salary/
- _edo 7y ago
  The average college football player, with their 2% chance of making it to the NFL, is worth the median NFL salary of roughly $800k? This has gone a little too far off track for me. The core issue here is claiming that profits are derived from not paying players. There are plenty of teams not paying players and losing money. The top teams could pay players well and still make profit. There's a small Goldilocks zone where what players should be paid lines up with the team's level of profit. The old "profits come from not paying workers" canard is a story with little to no explanatory power here.

by _edo 7y ago

sverige 7y ago

First, there are not many teams with over $50 million in profits, only the top 13 as of 2018. [0] Second, you're assuming that even the top players would only make the minimum, which you have arbitrarily set at $200k, assuming that they would be paid less than the minimum NFL salary. The more accurate measure would be to pay them some percentage of the average NFL salary, which was $1.9 million in 2018. [1] So assuming the average college player salary would be 40% (to use your arbitrary number), that would be just under $800k per player. Even with a 53-player roster, that puts player salaries at over $40 million annually, which wipes out profits for all but the top 15 or 20 teams. Third, I didn't say these players "aren't that good." The fact that only 2% of them make it to the NFL doesn't mean the other 98% aren't that good, it just means that the market won't bear paying for more players when they're fairly compensated. [0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2018/09/11/college-footballs-most-valuable-teams/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2018/09/11/college-f... [1] https://gazettereview.com/2017/03/average-nfl-player-salary/ https://gazettereview.com/2017/03/average-nfl-player-salary/

_edo 7y ago
The average college football player, with their 2% chance of making it to the NFL, is worth the median NFL salary of roughly $800k? This has gone a little too far off track for me. The core issue here is claiming that profits are derived from not paying players. There are plenty of teams not paying players and losing money. The top teams could pay players well and still make profit. There's a small Goldilocks zone where what players should be paid lines up with the team's level of profit. The old "profits come from not paying workers" canard is a story with little to no explanatory power here.