October15/09
Matthew Stafford (NFL) $78 million over six years ($41 million guaranteed), Stephen Strasburg (MLB) $15.75 million over four years plus a $7.5 million signing bonus, Blake Griffin (NBA) $16 million over three years and John Tavares (NHL) $900,000 a season for three years? All of these athletes have something in common, they were all selected first overall in their respective entry drafts. However, one of them appears to have a lighter wallet.
I would like to commend the NHL for putting forth such a strict and economically functional limit on the salaries of draftees. Giving out massive entry level salaries seems comparable to giving a five year old a $1000 a week allowance. The NBA has a similar situation to the NHL, which sees the CBA dictate how much each draft position will earn, the amount of money gets lower with the draft position. However, the dollar amounts are much higher in the NBA than NHL, for example the 24th overall pick in this years NBA draft is making the same amount as the first overall pick in the NHL draft.
Paying a player $13 million a season before they have played a game professionally is ludicrous, I hope for the sake of Lions fans that Matt Stafford has a great career. The way that baseball and football have set up their drafts does not seem all that attractive to me. The teams that will be paying out the biggest contracts would be drafting early, also meaning they are one of the worst teams in the league, a title that is synonymous with poor attendance and having no money. The bad teams will never get better if they are forced to keep giving away their money for unproven players.
An early draft pick is something that could boost ticket sales and TV ratings short term, what if the player doesn’t pan out and turns into the next Tim Couch or Matt Bush? The team and player are both in very uncomfortable positions, the team will face an uproar from the fans and either let the players massive contract play-out, or get rid of them at a cost and the player will feel like a dejected failure………albeit a very wealthy dejected failure.
Not only does this format put to much power in the hands of the players, it puts unreasonable expectations on them. One MLB owner spoke to Sports Illustrated about Washington Nationals draft pick Stephen Strasburg “If they don’t take Strasburg and sign him, they may as well give up,” “You’d have to wonder why they’re in business. He’s got them by the gonads.”
I could not imagine the pressure that a 21 year old pitcher like Strasburg will be feeling the first time he steps to the mound. Strasburg is described as a can’t miss prospect but his manager has represented ex-phenoms Ben McDonald (1st overall), Todd Van Popel (14th), and Brien Taylor (1st overall), none of whom won more than 80 games in the majors.
For the first time I feel that the NHL has paved the way for future labour disputes between players and owners in other leagues. Teams need to have more assurance that when they draft a player they will not be handing over the keys to the stadium. In the NHL the small entry level salaries do not force a team to put a player who is not ready in the line-up, possibly stunting their development. Quite often all a player might need is a little more confidence in their skills. The ability to have a player spend more time in the minors or at college is a luxury of the NHL draft system that allows players who would have been thrown into the fire prematurely, to grow into their potential instead of wasting it.
Dan Malta
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