Has Money Ruined Football?

As football fans we often forget about how the game is tainted by money.  We love the action, the taste of victory, and the heartbreak of defeat.  As fans we live for the last second touchdown drives and the thrill of watching your favorite player breaking a record.  However, too often than not we hear ourselves referencing to the “business” side of the game.

There isn’t one player interview or press conference where we don’t hear “it’s a business”.  Football has become a job not a game.  I would say it all starts with how the owners treat the game.  They build big stadiums and sell tickets at ridiculous prices.  While in the stadium you see nothing but advertisements and free t-shirt giving credit card companies.  You pay $8 for a cup of beer that would cost you $1 per beer if you bought a case of beer at a store.  So these NFL team owners are making a fortune off of us the fan, and then come the players.

The players are not stupid and they understand that without their abilities these owners wouldn’t have a product to sell.  So could we really blame them for demanding their portion of the profit?  I don’t blame the players, nor do I really care what their salaries are but I hate when it impacts the on field “product”.

This is a really big discussion but I would like to keep it limited to the NFL Draft.  Feel free to give your thoughts and comments to continue this discussion.  I am sure many of the fans have different thoughts and opinions.

I think it is a shame when teams are unwilling to trade into the top 5 because they don’t want to pay the salary that comes with it.  As a fan we are missing out on a lot in this situation.  For one it keeps the lowly teams down because they are unable to collect extra picks for their early selection.  It is highly believed that teams are built through the draft and the more picks you have the faster you build your team.  However, if you’re a team on the brink of the playoffs or Super Bowl you may only need that 1 player to put you over the hump.  But money has resulted in slowing the rebuilding of teams and holding other teams from success.

Overall, it is just upsetting to hear myself talking about how money has affected my team.   As fans we are all aware of the effect money has on football, I just wanted to throw my thoughts out there.  I would love to see your thoughts.