Growing Sympathy

I used to have little sympathy for NFL players or any athlete or movie star asking for more money when they were already getting paid an enormous (by any regular standard).

But now, I have a growing sympathy for them. A star athlete takes tremendous physical risks by choosing their career. They also take on a financial risk because success in a professional sport is quite a rare achievement, yet they dedicate a lot of time and energy to that pursuit. Same goes for movie stars. Plus, their shelf life of value is relatively short. Unlike a businessman, lawyer, or many other professions, athletes and movie stars risk only being relevant for a short period of time. The average NFL career is something like 4 years. Not only is that a short career, the NFL doesn't exactly prepare you for another job...save coaching. My point is, these folks get very little opportunity to "cash in," both in terms of making a bunch of money and in terms of winning a risky bet by getting to a position where they are able to demand more money. The downside is coming across as greedy...but long after the crowd forgets your name and consequently, whether you were greedy or not, if you've pocketed away a good chunk of change at least your family will be taken care of.

By sacrificing one year or a couple years of lower pay during their prime, an athlete runs a huge risk of getting hurt, lowered performance (after all, you're competing against the best), and consequently devaluing oneself. Not only that, they do not benefit from sticking it out with the firm over the long term because the firm rewards loyalty. Bullshit. If a better player comes along, they are gone...just like that. And then we ask them to be loyal to us, as consumers as teammates, etc.