Europe Apparently has Money
As most of you probably know, I am a huge basketball fan. For decades now, athletes have made millions playing the silly game. For many, the dream was to become a NBA star; however, that as all seemed to change now.
Apparently the United States has gotten so bad that now professional athletes are heading to Europe to bank. Many bench players in the NBA are now being seduced to come take their talent to Europe where they would be stars.
Example One
Former Atlanta Hawks, Josh Childress, left the team to play for a European club willing to pay him 3 years $33 million. For those that don’t know, Childress was the first player off the bench for the Hawks (sixth man). If he re-signed with the Hawks he would probably be making somewhere between $4 - $5 million per year. Now he is making $11 million! This compares to the same amount of money or more as many of the starters in the NBA, such as Baron Davis.
These European clubs also offer time for these players to shine, some tax luxuries, and even give the players options to break out of the contract at the end of any year if they want to come back to the NBA. As the European economy continues to stay strong they will continue to draw some of our best athletes over there.
Example Two
Besides just paying more for these bench players, Europeans teams are also stealing away our prospective talent. About two years ago, the NBA mandated that all high schoolers must go through one year of college or developmental training before entering the NBA, through an age limit rule.
Loopholes are now being found by high schoolers where they leave to play in Europe for that one year. Besides getting a year of experience under their belt, they are also getting paid better than rookies in the NBA and the college students of course.
Example Three
Even women basketball players are making multiple times more money in Europe than they do in the U.S. Some are even making 10 times more money in Europe.
Is this Just the Beginning
Sure there may just be a handful of bench players leaving to go to Europe; however, could this be the beginning of higher acquisitions? Kobe Bryant has said he would be willing to leaving for 2 years $100 million. If the MLS was able to bribe David Beckham over here for 5 years $250 million, then who is to say Europe couldn’t do the same.
This may just be limited to basketball. Soccer as always paid Europeans better and football is not very popular in other places, but no longer is it the single goal of athletes to play in the United States’ pro-sport leagues. Now many of them are just looking for the paycheck in Europe.
The Bigger Picture
There used to be a time when the United States was the best at most everything. Now, with every day, it seems like we are just getting worse and worse or everybody else is getting better and better.
What do you think?
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Well most European countries are tiny. The smaller the population, the smaller the government, the more efficient the government is at meeting the needs of its constituency which also translates to better management of their economy….man I guess I should migrate to Paris, they have the best universal health care program! Hahahaaha!
Sam
Fix My Personal Finance
http://fixmypersonalfinance.com/
[Reply]
TheWild1 Reply:
August 6th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I guess man. It seems to have a lot of things going for itself now.
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You know, supermodel Gisele refuses to get paid in US dollars and prefers Euro, that says a lot about the current disparity in economic strength.
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