I Have a Dream

While perusing through ESPN.com this afternoon, I was overcome with a desire to find out some of the most lucrative contracts in sports. I focused on the MLB because unlike, the NBA and NFL, there is no salary cap, and as a result, the contracts are larger.

Two players came to mind: Barry Zito and Alex Rodriguez. Zito is currently a pitcher with the San Francisco Giants while Rodriguez is the third baseman for the New York Yankees. In this past off-season Zito signed a seven-year, $126M contract. The largest ever for a pitcher. Alex Rodriguez, back in 2000, signed a ten-year, $252M contract. Let me repeat, TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-TWO MILLION DOLLARS. Granted, Rodriguez might go down as one of, if not the greatest baseball players to ever live based on his accomplishments and stats. But sheesh, that is a lot of dough.

In 1947, the average salary for a baseball player was $11,000. Compare that to the average salary in 2007 of $2.94M. The amount of money that is being distributed to professional athletes is truly mind boggling.

Now, I do not protest professional sports nor do I claim that I am not interested in them. Quite the contrary. I consider myself a loyal and devoted professional sports fan who attends or watches sporting events regularly. And some of the things these men and women are able to do is truly fascinating and they should be monetarily rewarded. After all, it is their job. (And let's be frank, we all are after that dollar dollar bill anyway)

But I have a suggestion. A vision if you will. What if there existed a certain money limit that, after athletes signed, would obligate them to donate a fraction of it to charity or some type of good cause. If the bar was $75M or higher and the amount donated was .01 of the original contract amount. So a $75M contract would result in a $750,000 donation. A $100M contract a 1M donation. I know people do not like to be forced into things or told what to do (especially with their money) but this could be something special. I think the charity or those on the receiving end will be grateful, the athlete could feel good about himself(hopefully), and the public will feel good about it.

Off to Capitol Hill... Who's with me?