NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell recently mentioned that if the NFL were to experience a lockout, that he would take an annual salary of just $1 until it is resolved. He mentioned his top advisor would do the same. Not to be one-upped, the Player's Union head said he'd settle for a few quarters if the potential conflict is resolved by the Super Bowl.
These gentlemen are not the first titans of industry to give up their high income as to appear selfless and company success driven, and they most certainly will not be the last. What annoys me about that, is that it only serves to call more attention to the ridiculous packages these guys have. For example, Goodell makes $10mm, his advisor $5mm. So common $40k a year fan sees his favorite player make $14mm a year, knows the owners are all billionaires and now gets it shoved in his grill that the bosses in the league have so much freaking money that they can just not get a salary for a year and be fine. And let's be real, what does he even spend money on? You know CEOs and the type have ridiculous spending accounts and the NFL assuredly provides him with a car and takes care of most of his travel, lunches and so on.
Though it's been mentioned before in the response to this, how about he ensures that the money goes somewhere where it will be effective. Like helping keep the salespeople employed at each team, or paying the stadium staffers that are out of work because there is no season. The millionaires fighting with billionaires take is cliche, but accurate to some degree. As Gus mentioned yesterday, a lot of guys on NFL rosters (third stringers, scout teamers) are not flush with paper and having to worry about parking the Bentley in front of the Bugatti or the Ferrari next to the Aston. Either way, these guys get to do what they love for a living, which is more than a lot of Americans can say. Heck, I could probably, no definitely, make more doing what I do outside of the sports industry, but to me, I'd rather love what I do than have extra bills to make it rain every week (I only make it rain once a month now).
Though it can be frustrating, the last few days of tweets from reporters complaining about covering the Super Bowl in chilly Dallas eclipses the annoyance of CEOs taking $1 a year. Shut up. you're getting paid to report on football. There are 1000000000s of fans who would trade what they do for what you do without thinking about it. Show some respect to the people reading your tweets, blogs, articles and game recaps and be happy you're there. Taking something for granted is a big no-no in my book whether it's your health, your family, your friends or your job. Be thankful and happy with what you got, because it's more than what others have. Unless you'e that guy. The one guy in the world who has three kinds of AIDS, Ebola, Leprosy, broken bones, no family, job or friends. Sorry bro. No one can tell you that someone has it worse off.
---
Bonus: Here's how the magic first down line you see on TV works.
No comments:
Post a Comment