Money is Demanding, Dealing With the Demands of Professional Athletes

In professional sports, the owners and General Managers of these teams have potentially the hardest job dealing with players constant demands. Many difficult players request that they either get traded, receive more money, or be given contract extensions. Balancing these demands with the stress of operating a successful sports team puts both the owners and General Managers in a constant limbo of pressure to analyze whether they should give these players what they want. They have to make the right decision with a high degree of efficiency or they are likely to face serious repercussions. For these leaders to be able to make the right move, they must first look at their options; is it the best for the team? Do they have the assets to give them what they want? Are they willing to give up their best player just because that player would prefer to go somewhere else? Make the wrong move and it could eventually come back to bite them in the ass. Why do these players request these demands? How do the owners and General Managers play this out?

One of the main problems that the owners and General Managers of professional sports teams face, is players demanding trades. A prime example of such a scenario is the recent demands of Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets asking to get traded to another team where there is more potential for him to win Championship. The management of the Nuggets had to take a look at their options and talk to other teams so that all parties could determine what is best for them. In this situation, Carmelo wanted to go to a better team, but as the Nuggets were willing to give up one of their best players, they were looking for ways to benefit from it; whether it be money or other players. During this time, the Nuggets had been speaking to both the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets the most, as both teams had something on the table to offer both Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets. Both teams were able to make trades equal to the value of Carmelo and were willing to give Carmelo a contract extension. Carmelo was interested in a contract extension because he wanted to make sure that he would be able to play longer than what was currently remaining on his contract; which was one year. Eventually the media played out this deal and the trade talks ended due to the ways the media chose to report it. The media kept on reporting about how the deal was about to go through... over and over again, but there had never really been any progress in finishing the trade. The Nuggets were about to reach a closing the deal with the New Jersey Nets, but Nets Owner Mikhail Prokhorov eventually called off the talks of the trade because he was frustrated with the way the media had talked about the trade prematurely. In the NY Daily News Mikhali Prokhorov was quoted saying, “Really I am not happy with the way the deal has gone until now. It has taken too long. It has been played out in public. The uncertainty has taken a toll on the players. And I believe it has cost us several games…” (Bondy). Up until that point in time, the trade talks between those two parties had lasted about 5 months. I can see how it had frustrated the Nets owner, but again I can see why it took so long to make the trade at all because the Nuggets were looking around for their best options. Of course, they wanted to get the best deal possible. Eventually Carmelo Anthony got traded to the New York Knicks a month later on February 22, 2011 putting an end to the several month chaos that started in the Summer of 2010. All parties were able to get what they wanted.

Another issue that owners and General Managers are faced with regularly are the ever increasing salaries and contracts that players demand. The majority of professional sports athletes will only play if they receive what they want. If they don’t get what they want then they will refuse to play. In professional sports this type of situation is considered a holdout. Basically, a hold out is the process of a professional athlete refusing to attend meetings, go to practice, play in games, and anything else that is related or affiliated with the team until they get what they believe they deserve. Unfortunately the owners and General Managers do not have an unlimited salary to give players whatever salary they want. They have to consider if the player is worth the money that they are demanding. This is a tricky situation because other players perhaps deserve the money that one player is demanding. Teams cant give every player what they want because it could actually hurt the team more than the holdout. Most professional sports teams have a salary cap; a salary cap is the most money an organization can spend on its team. They have to spend their money wisely. Usually teams give one player a franchise tag; which means the franchise tag player is the one the team is going to focus on. They are the future of the team and they are the player that deserves the largest contract and salary. In the Philadelphia Inquirer, Banner states, “the Eagles applied the tags to protect their rights to Vick…” (Tamari). The Eagles wanted to make sure that they had Michael Vick locked down to the team. Putting these franchise tags on players like Vick shows that Vick is the player on the Eagles that the team is willing to spend the most money on and give them whatever they want.

Another problem owners and General Managers have to deal with is another case similar to bigger contracts and salaries demanded by players is the rookie contracts. Rookies coming into the pros sometimes believe that they deserve the same contracts that the veteran players receive, but the owners and general managers don’t know if the rookies deserve the contracts that they are asking for. In this case it is very similar to the veteran’s, if they don’t get what they want, then they’ll holdout as well. An example of this scenario is in 2009 rookie Michael Crabtree was one of the higher drafted rookie receivers drafted 10^th overall in the 2009 NFL Draft. Crabtree didn’t receive the contract offer he was expecting, thus it led to him having a 71-day contract standoff with the 49ers (Barrows). This became a holdout record for a rookie. In Barrow article it states the reason for Crabtrees holdout was “Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker began one of the most high--profile rookie holdouts in league history because they felt that Crabtree, drafted No. 10 by the 49ers, was a better receiver than Darrius Heyward--Bey, drafted No. 7 by the Raiders, and deserved more money” (Barrow). Crabtree believed he was the better receiver between him and Heyward—Bay, even though Crabtree was drafted lower. He wanted more than Hayward-Bay, and would accept nothing less; but the 49ers held their ground. General manager Scot McCloughan states in Barrows article, “that it was very important that the 49ers, a team with a youthful front office, held their ground” (Barrow). With the 49ers staff holding their ground, both parties were able to agree on mutual deal ending Crabtree holdout. Rookies have not proved that they deserve the contracts professional athletes get yet. They haven’t play a professional game; they’ve only proved that the can compete with the others.

In conclusion, the owners and General Managers of professional sports teams have a very hard time dealing with the demands of professional athletes, whether it be players demanding that they either get traded, receive more money, contract extensions, or rookie contracts. These owners have to look at their options when dealing with these transactions; they have to see if its best for their organization, do they have the assets to give them up if trading them, are they willing to give them up, and have the money if they want a bigger contract? They have to make the right moves to make organization the best they can.