Comments on: Should professional sports players be subject to labor restrictions and draft regulations? http://kev.inburke.com/kevin/should-professional-sports-players-be-subject-to-labor-restrictions-and-draft-regulations/ The golden age is before us, not behind us Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:03:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: The NFL oligarchy – Kevin Burke http://kev.inburke.com/kevin/should-professional-sports-players-be-subject-to-labor-restrictions-and-draft-regulations/comment-page-1/#comment-149 The NFL oligarchy – Kevin Burke Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:04:40 +0000 http://kev.inburke.com/?p=615#comment-149 [...] is another reason why we should scrap the draft. Dec 1st, 2009 by kburke. ← How can we make students write shit that’s worth [...] [...] is another reason why we should scrap the draft. Dec 1st, 2009 by kburke. ← How can we make students write shit that’s worth [...]

]]> By: D http://kev.inburke.com/kevin/should-professional-sports-players-be-subject-to-labor-restrictions-and-draft-regulations/comment-page-1/#comment-148 D Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:39:47 +0000 http://kev.inburke.com/?p=615#comment-148 I disagree with almost every conclusion that you come to, but don't particularly feel like discussing every point. That said, here are a few things that concern me. College and high school athletes are certainly not a finished product, and they should be paid as a project unless they have truly shown their worth at the next level. Even in the NBA, where talent is most easily scouted and calculated, NBA rookie contracts prevent teams from grossly overpaying untested athletes. Now you could argue that the athletes deserve to be paid as much as possible, but consider the business world scenario. While top level college graduates (Harvard, Yale, etc.) receive higher initial pay than their counterparts at many less respected universities, they never enter their company at the top of the salary food chain. Instead, they are given a contract and then raises as they perform at a certain level, or can leave for a contract of greater worth with a different company. It is understandable that players may receive larger contracts based off of early performance, but in what insane world does JaMarcus Russell deserve a contract larger than any other QB in the league (whoops, lets add Stafford)? If you want a league dominated by the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers than go ahead. If you want to watch college athletics completely fall apart before your eyes, then go ahead and remove the draft and allow teams to take kids into their "universities" instead. My preference is to have and watch sports leagues that are always competitive and value smart drafting decisions, rather than having the highest bidders simply take over our sports. Finally, if you think Europe has a very small top-end competition pool, what do you thin would happen in the US if all sports went with this method? My guess is that the money would go to the most popular sport in the country, and I can tell you right now, it would not be baseball. With all that said, this discussion really comes down to a personal preference rather than a solid conclusion. And for what it is worth, I do believe that Boras and and other power agents throughout sports have a role and I respect them for that, so while I disagree with most of the points that you have concluded at, I do praise Boras for doing his job better than anyone else. Because he is a proven commodity with years and years at the highest level, and his performance has earned his payout. Good writeup! I disagree with almost every conclusion that you come to, but don’t particularly feel like discussing every point. That said, here are a few things that concern me.

College and high school athletes are certainly not a finished product, and they should be paid as a project unless they have truly shown their worth at the next level. Even in the NBA, where talent is most easily scouted and calculated, NBA rookie contracts prevent teams from grossly overpaying untested athletes. Now you could argue that the athletes deserve to be paid as much as possible, but consider the business world scenario. While top level college graduates (Harvard, Yale, etc.) receive higher initial pay than their counterparts at many less respected universities, they never enter their company at the top of the salary food chain. Instead, they are given a contract and then raises as they perform at a certain level, or can leave for a contract of greater worth with a different company.

It is understandable that players may receive larger contracts based off of early performance, but in what insane world does JaMarcus Russell deserve a contract larger than any other QB in the league (whoops, lets add Stafford)?

If you want a league dominated by the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers than go ahead. If you want to watch college athletics completely fall apart before your eyes, then go ahead and remove the draft and allow teams to take kids into their “universities” instead. My preference is to have and watch sports leagues that are always competitive and value smart drafting decisions, rather than having the highest bidders simply take over our sports.

Finally, if you think Europe has a very small top-end competition pool, what do you thin would happen in the US if all sports went with this method? My guess is that the money would go to the most popular sport in the country, and I can tell you right now, it would not be baseball.

With all that said, this discussion really comes down to a personal preference rather than a solid conclusion. And for what it is worth, I do believe that Boras and and other power agents throughout sports have a role and I respect them for that, so while I disagree with most of the points that you have concluded at, I do praise Boras for doing his job better than anyone else. Because he is a proven commodity with years and years at the highest level, and his performance has earned his payout.

Good writeup!

]]>