[lbo-talk] exploitation of pro-athletes was Re: Hamid Dabashi on Iran

Left-Wing Wacko leftwingwacko at gmail.com
Sun Jun 21 15:37:08 PDT 2009


On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 6:47 AM, Eric Beck <ersatzdog at gmail.com> wrote:


> > The "most exploited"? Now that is a stretch that I can't believe you
> take
> > seriously.
>
> Do you follow sports, or have you ever been to a sporting event? The
> number of people who profit from athletes' product is enormous: the
> owners first, of course, but then stadium owners and managers,
> vendors, transpo and parking providers; then people that sell all that
> apparel, plus broadcasters and the other media that follow the event.
> Everybody's got a hand on what pro athletes produce.
>

Eric, No, I don't presently follow sports, yes I have been to a sporting event, and I am aware that it is big business making big money.

I was not being generally dismissive of the idea of pro-athletes being exploited, only taking issue with Carol's designation that they are maybe the "most exploited".

I also acknowledge that not all pro-athletes are super rich, and even the wealthiest of them are small fish compared to the owners. Still, even for what the average pro-athlete makes, it is still a relatively privileged life.

I imagine playing the game beats selling beer and hot dogs in the stands, or cleaning the toilets in the stadium after thousands of fans have pissed and shat in them all day.

I also think Bill Bartlett makes the excellent point that this wealth in question is socially produced.

Thanks for your response and others as well. Cheers, Sheldon


> Speaking of professional basketball, which is the sport I know best,
> an elite athlete makes about $20 million a year, but they only do that
> for probably six or seven years at most. The rest of the time they are
> working off three or four years of rookie contracts at one or two
> million a year. So an elite athlete--and we are talking 10 percent of
> the league, 30 or 40 people--makes probably $150 million over his
> career. After taxes buying houses and cars and supporting your
> extended family, there might be $50 million left. Maybe. A nice pile
> of change, maybe enough to buy a car dealership or a few restaurants,
> but hardly enough to become a big capitalist. Even Michael Jordan, by
> far the wealthiest athlete ever, could not afford to by a sports
> franchise by himself.
>
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>

-- http://left-wingwacko.blogspot.com/



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list