4 ms·

You are mistaken in the fact that the majority of players have million dollar contracts. The actual truth is that the majority of football players don't make a

You are mistaken in the fact that the majority of players have million dollar contracts. The actual truth is that the majority of football players don't make a million dollars gross in their short careers.

kaliblack 14y ago
78% of players are bankrupt or financially stressed 2 years after they retire according to Sports Illustrated.
mattmaroon 14y ago
League minimum is $390k (which can only be paid to rookies, it then goes up every year) and the average career is about 6 years, so really the vast majority are doing more than a million gross (and net) in their career. Also the average salary is about $2m so you're looking at $12m gross. There's certainly a power law there, but still, an average salary of $12m careerwise is substantial.
- jessaustin 14y ago
  You should use medians rather than averages for this analysis. The median salary for those who play an entire season before getting cut is around $800,000. The median career length is not reported anywhere I can find. Since all sources besides the NFL claim the average career is 3.5 years, I'll overestimate the median to be 3 years. So, rather than $12M, we should be talking about $2.4M for a median career, and that's just those who play an entire year before getting cut. Since the NFLPA is toothless most NFL "contracts" allow a player to be cut at any time for any reason and then he doesn't get any more money.
  - twoodfin 14y ago
    Since the NFLPA is toothless most NFL "contracts" allow a player to be cut at any time for any reason and then he doesn't get any more money. I don't think this is because the NFLPA is toothless. I think it's because the marginal value of the 53rd man on the roster over the first guy on the practice squad is not high, and it doesn't increase much as you move up. Because the NFL is such a team game, with a few major exceptions players are largely replaceable. That's why you hear so often about guys who were sitting on the couch watching football one Sunday and playing the next. This effectively doesn't happen in, say, baseball, where the supply of guys who can hit major league pitching above the Mendoza line is quite limited. Even with a huge farm system, teams rarely have more than a few major league-caliber players who aren't actually on the roster.
vonmoltke 14y ago
GP did not say anything about million dollar contracts. The statement "millions of dollars for 8 - 10 years" is correct for any and all NFL players who remain on a team roster that long, since per the 2014 minimum salary table[1] such a player will make no less than $5.175m. Using the conservative estimate for an average player's career given by the earlier link (3.5 years), the average player going forward will make approximately $1.8m. Thus, the majority of NFL players will gross over $1m in their careers. Edit: beat to it while I was typing. [1] http://www.steelersdepot.com/2011/07/2011-2014-nfl-minimum-base-salaries/ http://www.steelersdepot.com/2011/07/2011-2014-nfl-minimum-b...
kjackson2012 14y ago
Where did I say that the majority of players have million dollar contracts?

kaliblack 14y ago

78% of players are bankrupt or financially stressed 2 years after they retire according to Sports Illustrated.

mattmaroon 14y ago

League minimum is $390k (which can only be paid to rookies, it then goes up every year) and the average career is about 6 years, so really the vast majority are doing more than a million gross (and net) in their career. Also the average salary is about $2m so you're looking at $12m gross. There's certainly a power law there, but still, an average salary of $12m careerwise is substantial.

jessaustin 14y ago
You should use medians rather than averages for this analysis. The median salary for those who play an entire season before getting cut is around $800,000. The median career length is not reported anywhere I can find. Since all sources besides the NFL claim the average career is 3.5 years, I'll overestimate the median to be 3 years. So, rather than $12M, we should be talking about $2.4M for a median career, and that's just those who play an entire year before getting cut. Since the NFLPA is toothless most NFL "contracts" allow a player to be cut at any time for any reason and then he doesn't get any more money.
- twoodfin 14y ago
  Since the NFLPA is toothless most NFL "contracts" allow a player to be cut at any time for any reason and then he doesn't get any more money. I don't think this is because the NFLPA is toothless. I think it's because the marginal value of the 53rd man on the roster over the first guy on the practice squad is not high, and it doesn't increase much as you move up. Because the NFL is such a team game, with a few major exceptions players are largely replaceable. That's why you hear so often about guys who were sitting on the couch watching football one Sunday and playing the next. This effectively doesn't happen in, say, baseball, where the supply of guys who can hit major league pitching above the Mendoza line is quite limited. Even with a huge farm system, teams rarely have more than a few major league-caliber players who aren't actually on the roster.

vonmoltke 14y ago

GP did not say anything about million dollar contracts. The statement "millions of dollars for 8 - 10 years" is correct for any and all NFL players who remain on a team roster that long, since per the 2014 minimum salary table[1] such a player will make no less than $5.175m. Using the conservative estimate for an average player's career given by the earlier link (3.5 years), the average player going forward will make approximately $1.8m. Thus, the majority of NFL players will gross over $1m in their careers. Edit: beat to it while I was typing. [1] http://www.steelersdepot.com/2011/07/2011-2014-nfl-minimum-base-salaries/ http://www.steelersdepot.com/2011/07/2011-2014-nfl-minimum-b...

kjackson2012 14y ago

Where did I say that the majority of players have million dollar contracts?