You can listen to an interview with me and Mark Littlewood of the IEA on the subject of footballers' wages on the Adrian Goldberg Show on BBC Radio WM here. (item starts at 1hr 39mins)
While here, you can hear an interview with me and the former England player Michael Gray on the Tony Livesey Show on BBC Radio Five Live, in which we discuss Platini's plans for the 2020 Euros. (Item starts at 49 mins)
3 comments:
I don't know how it works in the Premier league, but why shouldn't the players get paid for the money they are generating for their teams and owners?
In the US, football players are paid very well compared to the general public, but in comparison to the toll on their bodies (NFL players have very short life spans) and revenue they generate, they are underpaid.
Most players come from lower class upbringings and end up spending most of the money they make, thus essentially redistributing wealth.
I would much rather have a player get paid well than an owner who probably inherited his money and team keep the revenue for himself.
Hi Vladamir
You make some very good points- but trouble is that these v.high wages (Rooney gets paid in one day what average person gets in one year), mean higher ticket prices and for a lot of working-class people and the unemployed, football is simply too expensive nowadays. I remember going to Anfield in 1989 and paying around £2.50 for a standing ticket.
Players were well paid then, but now its just gone through the roof.
I suppose the difference between the NFL and premier league is that by far most of the NFL revenue is from tv, not ticket sales. As such, the $9 billion revenue the NFL makes every year has to go somewhere. I think it should go the players who are producing the product the public wants to see. The owners contribute absolutely nothing other than being lucky.
The only exception I know of is the Green Bay Packers, who are owned by the public at large and their profits go to charity. That is why even though I live in AZ, I am Packers fan. If all pro teams were owned by the public and all profits generated were donated to charity like the Packers, I would support a salary cap then.
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