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sbturner said:

No doubt this is the fault of all those pro athletes that demand those high contracts that they don't deserve. Please thank them all you can, that is why I don't watch pro sports. They say they love the fans but they don't care if their little extra that means nothing to them costs you your job. The same thing can be said about college coaches' salaries.

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HanoverPretzel said:

I don't for an instant blame the players. I don't say that because I think they are as a group less greedy than the owners or anything like that. I simply say it because basic economics dictate that if the owners can charge a fortune for tickets, merchandise, and television rights and sell them all, they will, regardless of underlying costs. So, in the realm of TV, if the players didn't get paid a dime, I fully believe that the NFL would ask for the same rights fees from television networks and get them, and that television networks would ask for the same rights fees from television providers and get them. The only difference would be that the money that is now going to the players who work, sweat, toil, and put their health on the line to provide your entertainment would be taken away from them and used to provide some extra gold for the billionaire owners to add to their vaults and swim in ala Scrooge McDuck on Ducktales.

Real world evidence? Look at college football and college basketball. The players get nothing in salary, except for a free college education, a dorm room, and probably text books and an on-campus meal plan, if you want to count those things. Television rights fees for those products are still very high, and networks pay them and then ask for higher rights fees from providers. Personally, I'd rather see the players I am actually indirectly paying to watch via my television bill get a share of the money like they do in the pros.

By the way, does anyone know the exact date the contract between ESPN/Disney/ABC and Dish expires? Is it all of their channels, or just some of them? This would be helpful to know as I contemplate how to juggle my bills and plan out which provider makes the most sense for me at what time. I won't pay for a television service that doesn't include the ESPN family of networks.

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Scherrman said:

This may be one of the best posts I've seen you make on here Hanover. LOL. You make a solid point and I would not pay for a television service that doesn't provide the ESPN family as well.

The only way I would consider staying with a provider that didn't have them is if my bill dropped $20 and I could get just the ESPN channels by alone through another device for $20 or less.

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HanoverPretzel said:

I don't for an instant blame the players. I don't say that because I think they are as a group less greedy than the owners or anything like that. I simply say it because basic economics dictate that if the owners can charge a fortune for tickets, merchandise, and television rights and sell them all, they will, regardless of underlying costs. So, in the realm of TV, if the players didn't get paid a dime, I fully believe that the NFL would ask for the same rights fees from television networks and get them, and that television networks would ask for the same rights fees from television providers and get them. The only difference would be that the money that is now going to the players who work, sweat, toil, and put their health on the line to provide your entertainment would be taken away from them and used to provide some extra gold for the billionaire owners to add to their vaults and swim in ala Scrooge McDuck on Ducktales.

Real world evidence? Look at college football and college basketball. The players get nothing in salary, except for a free college education, a dorm room, and probably text books and an on-campus meal plan, if you want to count those things. Television rights fees for those products are still very high, and networks pay them and then ask for higher rights fees from providers. Personally, I'd rather see the players I am actually indirectly paying to watch via my television bill get a share of the money like they do in the pros.

By the way, does anyone know the exact date the contract between ESPN/Disney/ABC and Dish expires? Is it all of their channels, or just some of them? This would be helpful to know as I contemplate how to juggle my bills and plan out which provider makes the most sense for me at what time. I won't pay for a television service that doesn't include the ESPN family of networks.

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rocatman said:

I agree with you completely. Anyone who believes the cost of sports programming is significantly affected by the salaries of the professional athletes lacks an understanding of basic economic principles.

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sbturner said:

The fact remains that tv rights and tickets were much more in line when the salaries were. I am not saying they should not get paid well they have gotten way out of hand and yes that is the problem. I am not leaving the owners blameless, they need to police themselves and have a cap per player, not just per team.
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rocatman said:

Obviously you don't have an understanding of basic economic principles. It can be argued that the increase in player salaries is a result of the massive increases in ownership revenues not the other way around. As a side note, the NBA does have a cap on individual player salaries and I would wager to guess that ticket prices for the NBA have increased the most while at the same time from a competitive standpoint the NBA is the least competitive of the major sports. Baseball has little to no salary cap restrictions and yet it is the most competitive of the major sports. Yes, statistics show baseball is more competitive than the NFL.

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Scott Greczkowski said:

ESPN (which is just down the street from me...) had a huge layoff this week. I talked to one of my friends at ESPN and he told me that it was due to their costs to the customers (like DISH) was growing at too high a pace and many cable and satellite providers can no longer absorb the price increases from ESPN. So they (ESPN) needs to make changes from within to make the channel palatable to its customers (ie the cable and satellite companies)

I honestly believe DISH and ESPN are working to get a deal done, as I said earlier they NEED each other.

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sbturner said:

I can't lose college football either, it is the best sport period! Nothing else comes close. I could live without espn in the summer. Why can't these negotiations end in the summer, why does it always seem to mess up college football?


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GaryPen said:

It's like blaming the high cost or poor quality of American automobiles on the "exorbitant" wages of union workers. (as if $20-something an hour was Thurston Howell III income.)

The fact that Nikes still cost $150, even though made by children and abused workers for next to nothing, is a shining example of how product pricing does not necessarily depend on labor cost.

How much do you folks think the guy gets paid who serves you that $10 beer at the stadium?

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GaryPen said:

Define "competitive". (Not arguing. Just want to know more.)

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