For Profit ? Or Glory ?

A long time ago the people who played football - in all of the Australian codes - also had a job of some sort to earn a living.  Becoming a playing member of a sporting team ensured that they were constantly featured in newspapers and they quickly became a household name.  Achieving " glory " ensured that they were high on social invitation lists and their club picked up the tab for exotic travel as a way of player " rewards " !

That is not the scene today.  Football players are professional sportspeople and as such they are paid the sort of money earned by entertainment stars. When they sign a contract with their club it is in negotiation for earnings that can run to more than a million dollars a season and to preserve club balance the entire team rewards must fit within a salary cap.   If a mega-star is to be paid more, other team members must receive less.

There are constant ructions in football because top players are being enticed to break contracts and move to another team where their particular skills are badly needed. Teams have been disciplined for breaking the salary cap by enticing supporters to offer hidden rewards to enhance the salary offered. Often this takes the form of providing an upmarket car or a job title and salary in a supporters business venture.

Now this quest for more money has spread to cricket.   Our national team is on strike, demanding that the players rewards are by way of a share of the profits derived from ticket prices and television rights.  The target set is for twenty-nine percent of this income to be distributed as a share of the players pay.   It is evident that this is now quickening interest in the football codes.

Perhaps what has provoked this backlash is the very different reward conditions that have developed in individual sport - such as golf and tennis.  Representing Australia in national competitions is just part of the allure these players attract.  People remember when Tiger Woods was at the height of his fame he was paid over a million dollars just to appear at tournaments because his presence ensured record crowds.  Fame and glory are fine - but in todays world sportspeople are looking for the money !

In the tennis world the top players collect individual rewards that are astonishing. There is no doubt that this success is breeding resentment where the reward for teams is controlled by those bodies which occupy the top of the sporting pyramid.   Their right to control is now being challenged.  Who or what gave them their power is far from clear.

No doubt this cricket strike will eventually be settled by compromise.  But it seems that the genie is out of the bottle.   The old ways of controlling sporting bodies creaming off the profits looks like coming to an end.   In future, the finance of sport may look very different !