Football Fans, Players, Owners and Money

Several years ago I was on the sidelines at a Patriots game when Teddy Bruschi hit someone during a play that unfolded not ten yards from were I stood. The noise was startling. It was the noise created when two men weighing 200 pounds or more, hit each other going full speed. This sound of bones crushing. Then the noise of the football helmets when they collide. It is a truly gruesome sound. I looked for Bruschi to get up. Just a year or so before he had experienced a mild stroke many believe was brought on by suffering multiple concussions during games. He walked away, though. It is illegal for a football player to use his helmet as a weapon in "spearing" another player and yet it happens often in every pro football game, and too often the refs look the other way, or they claim it wasn't intentional.

The announcers barely mention it either, but they are paid by the network, which is the same as being paid by the team. So announcers intentionally miss a lot. Hits have to be blatant most of the time to get the refs involved. In fact coaches and fans like a game where the refs don't call too many penalties. After all, the calling of penalties, slows the game down and interferes with the momentum. Coaches sometimes display anger over the violence, but only when one of their players is hurt. Watching a football game is almost like watching a car wreck. Except, with the majority of car wrecks, the injuries are far less serious.

The average life expectancy of a pro-football player is only 52, more than a decade shorter than mine, for example. Also pro football players, because they are heavier, faster and more athletic every year, are now injuring one another at a more significant rate. For example, nearly 80 percent of all retired pro football players live the remainder of their life with a chronic injury. Dementia and even early onset Alzheimer's are also more common among pro football players. In fact, the NFL even admits that dementia is more common among pro football players - because of concussions. More on concussions later.

In recent months the owners of pro football teams have been proposing lower salaries and benefits for players, while at the same time, making an argument for more games to be played during the regular season. Why would the owners do this? Are they losing money? None of them can prove it. In fact, in the case of most pro football teams, tax subsidies and even major stadium construction subsidies make owning a football team akin to owning a money--making press. It is obvious that the owners want to make more money.

It is just as obvious that the players want to make more money and don't want to give up what they have. Their argument for high annual salaries is a good one. First they have an unusual talent they perform under violent conditions that might cause irreparable damage to their bodies. Secondly, the average pro football player can play for less than a decade - again almost exclusively, due to the occurrence of injuries from playing the game. Now the owners want to pay them less and play them more.

Unless the owners back off there's a very good chance for a pro football strike. The players are truly fed up.While the owners are just trying to squeeze a few more bucks out of the situation. Meanwhile the player's union is involved in several medical studies that many believe will establish their argument that their health insurance benefits have to be upgraded and that players, because the physical demands of the games result in chronic injury sooner than found in most other professional sports, deserve to be paid high salaries.

Concussion is a common injury in pro football. It happens when a player''s head is hit or shaken violently. Inside the players head, his brain is being knocked around. Over time this causes memory loss and permanent brain damage. It may even be the reason why so many pro football players come down with dementia sooner than normal men.

The fan pays a high price for a ticket for a good seat at the game. The taxpayer pays a high price for the football team to stay where they are. The player pays the highest price in permanent injuries to his body and a significant possibility of a lower life span. The football team owner makes a lot of money from all of this. And now he wants more.