i feel like it'd be great if players could get comped with equity in their franchises.
for an aging star that's on the downhill side of their prime, it'd help with salary caps and letting them build new stars around them. and the franchise doesn't have to worry about shipping off a beloved player once they get too expensive.
besides, lets player take ownership of the teams that they're building just feels right.
NFLPA has to fight tooth and nail to get 48% of the league revenue.
Owners don't have to give up anything. Thanks to media deals and taking advantage of city-owned stadiums (with ridiculous parking fees and nacho prices, etc.), the teams print money no matter how good or bad they are, even if they let a beloved player go.
There's an argument to be made about conflict of interest when players move to other teams. It would probably be better for players to get equity in the League and maybe the League have equity in the teams.
The idea would be to give it to older players on their way out for one final contract. Not guys that are early in their career and need to keep their options open.
According to some random site [1], rookie draft contracts are 4 years, with an option for a 5th, and undrafted rookies usually have a 3 year contract. Average career length is 3.3 years [2], so a lot of players only have one contract.
[1] https://collegefootballnetwork.com/how-rookie-contracts-work...
[2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/240102/average-player-ca...
yeah, but those aren't the guys i'm thinking about. i'm not thinking that it's a startup model where every employee gets equity. it's more of a law-firm model where once you prove your worth, you get to become a partner.
so it's for guys like mahomes (in a couple years) or rodgers (a few years ago) that are first-ballot hall of famers that have become the face of the franchise.
- management can't rebuild while paying their huge contracts. - they've already earned a ton but they'd love one more shot at a championship, so they'd glad trade some salary-now for equity-later if it means some young talent could get onto the team next to them - this also saves some of these guys from the same of having to take a paycut and admitting they're past their prime - fans would love to see their guy hanging out in the owners box ten years later