I don't understand.
Are you saying Butler making $650k per game isn't crazy, because networks/the NBA are in on a $75 billion dollar deal? Because the players deserve the increases as the network contracts increase?
I can grok that to a point. But, my perspective is:
• That money isn't just appearing out of nowhere. All of us are paying for it. Whether we watch the NBA or not, in many cases.
• Every athlete is fungible. If there were no such thing as a Jimmy Butler, the game would exist exactly the same—the players don't create anything.
• If instead of $50 million contracts for top players, just through magic, the very best players made at most $10 million per year, and that was always the ceiling (not talking about a pay cut for already rich guys), who of them would stop playing the game and would do something else? Essentially, i'm saying it's always an overpay for what they're doing.
• The players are employees of various companies, within a broader organization. Just because the organizations make profit x doesn't mean employees are entitled to 1/x share. The fact that the game and media and networks magnifies their roles into 'stardom' doesn't negate the fact that they're still only pistons in a machine, and the pistons get replaced every ten years.
I'm sure there's a lot of chaff in the above. Please contradict me.
I'm just of the belief that we're seeing $850k college centers that probably aren't even good enough to play in the NBA, so how much are we going to have to pay a program-changing center? And that's for 2025. In 2030, what will be the price? It won't be the 2025 price, and who's going to be paying for that? It's already ludicrous that alums are buying a college kid an SUV, so that he can get chicks, dunk in front of formerly-massive crowds, and create a resumé reel for bigger money in real pro leagues. To me, that's not what college sports should be about.
I'm not anti-player, at all. I think there should be stipends, insurance, and standard licensing of names on merchandise, etc. But, you come to college to be a student and to represent a school.
Old man views, possibly, but i'll wager the game 'back then' will always be better than the game we have under the current system.