Which Hummer Should I Take to Work Today? (Pro Football Salaries Suck)

Michael Vick just signed an eight year extension with the Atlanta Falcons which will pay him approximately $120,000,000 over the next ten years. $37,000,000 of that amount is guaranteed money no mater if Mr. Vick plays or doesn’t pay.

$120,000,000! How is it that Mr. Vick has positioned himself to make more money that most people could make in ten lifetimes? In fact, a person making $100,000 per year would have to work for 1200 years to make the same money. So, a person earning $100,000 per year would have had to start working in 805 AD and would, in 2005, finally have made what Mr. Vick will make in the next ten years. If a person earned $30,000 per year, he or she would have had to start working 4000 years ago! Their first job could have been as a pyramid contractor with the Pharaohs of Egypt back in 2000 BC!

Let me put it in another perspective. Let’s assume that Mr. Vick will make $12,000,000 per year. He played 15 regular season games in 2004. That comes to $800,000 per game. Assuming he plays about half the game (30 minutes) because he only plays offense, he is paid $1,600,000 per hour, which comes to $26,667 per minute. That comes to $444.44 per second!

We can look at it another way. In 2004 Mr. Vick made $37,383 (321) per pass attempt; $66,292 per completion (181); $857,142 per touchdown thrown (14); $4,000,000 per touchdown run (3); $5188 per yard thrown for completion (2313); and $13,303 per yard rushed (902).

What’s my point? There is something wrong when I have to work well over 1200 years to make as much as Michael Vick will in the next 10 years. He’s playing a game. He works maybe eight months per year. What causes us as a society to value Michael Vick so highly? And it’s not just Michael Vick. Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpepper, Drew Bledsoe, and Brett Farve are making the same kind of jack.

What’s my point? The United States has pledged $350,000,000 to help the countries devastated by the recent Tsunami, countries that have lost tens and hundreds of thousands of people and have been utterly ravaged by the tidal wave. The Atlanta Falcons have pledged $120,000,000 to have Michael Vick run around a field and throw a football. In fact, The amount of money pledged to Michael Vick ($120,000,000 over 10 years), Donovan McNabb ($115,000,000 over 12 years), Daunte Culpepper ($102,000,000 over 10 years, and Brett Farve ($100,000,000 over 10 years)exceeds the amount of money the US Government has pledged for aid to Tsunami victims and their countries! What have we created with sports in our society?


Blawgerman