> I think NFL is the shortest average career length for North American sports at something like 2-3 years...Athletes also have to worry about physical injury th

> I think NFL is the shortest average career length for North American sports at something like 2-3 years...Athletes also have to worry about physical injury that don't exist in white collar environments, which has led, for example, to changing touchback rules in football and adding a 26th man to the roster in baseball this season. You're burying the lede there: the careers, particularly in sports like football, are short because sports actively break people. Athletes can tear their ACLs and alter their ability to walk or run for years, or end up with traumatic brain injuries that permanently alter their personality. After 5 years they're used up and cast aside -- and who in the public remembers a 2nd string Linebacker? Given the immense amount of training, suffering, and injury... I'd come to the same conclusion re: bargaining.