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Boycott the Washington Redskins: $182M in Contracts After Layoffs
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by Tina Kells | March 3, 2009 at 02:34 pm
191 views | 0 Recommendations | 3 comments
In this depressing economy layoffs are becoming the norm and even big time sports teams are not immune to the pain. Earlier this year the Washington Redskins laid off 20 staff members to save cash, but if the player contracts they signed this week are any indication the team had plenty in the bank.
The talent roster reads like a Forbes 500 list, with players earning in the tens and now hundreds of millions, surely one of them could have given up a million for the little guys in the office.
Now the team that was so cash strapped they had to resort to layoffs has doled out huge bucks for just three players. The Washington Redskins could pay up to $182 million to three players, and have guaranteed the trio will see at least $72.5 million of that sum.
- Cornerback DeAngelo Hall agreed to a $55 million deal, $23 million guaranteed
- Offensive guard Derrick Dockery will sign for $27 million, $8.5 million guaranteed
- Defensive Tackle Albert Haynesworth gets a $100 million deal, $41 million guaranteed - the biggest contract in league history
It is outrageous to see how quickly the Redskins are willing to bite the hands that feed them. It is the working class Joe who packs the stands, buys the endorsed products, and makes the players big enough names to command such high paying contracts.
Couldn't a single million have been spared to save those 20 jobs!?! If I lived in Washington I'd be boycotting the Redskins. They clearly don't value the working class people who really write their paychecks.
But this spending spree begs a couple of larger questions…
1. Why would anyone ever think education is the path to success and give up sports (I really blew that one)?
2. Why did the team lay off 20 team employees (not players or coaches) earlier in the year if it has all this money just sitting around?The answer to the first question is pretty easy…I was never that good of an athlete. I could catch a football, but didn’t much like getting hit. I could field a groundball and catch a throw in the dirt from third base, but was average at best with a bat.
My sports career was over with high school. Education seemed to provide opportunities for me—a determination a lot of people make. Good grades and test scores, as I’ve discovered the hard way, don’t lead to financial security. They don’t even ensure employment. But running into people at full speed sure seems to.
Pro athletes are receiving and signing mammoth contracts while the rest of us are losing our relatively low-paying jobs.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 14:38 on March 3rd, 2009
This strikes me as just silly: it's raining pink slips, and a game played between multi-millionaires is meant to provide drama?
at 14:40 on March 3rd, 2009
That would be a great protest, attend a Redskins game and throw pink slips on the field like confetti!
at 08:03 on March 11th, 2009
no, i would never boycott. I'm a redskins fan because of the team they put on the field. I dont care about the inner workings of their business. It's like, if you enjoy a restaraunt for the fantastic food they put on the plate, what do u care how much the bus boy makes, or if they just laid off the host staff. Business is performance based...if a fanbase likes, appreciates, and continues to support a product...then it is successful!
oh yea and Tina, GREAT IDEA (NOT) you would go to jail because 20 people lost their job?! you're a moron...complete moron! btw- FedEXfield seats almost a hundred K...do you know how many pink slips it would take even see...on top of that, no one would even know what the hell you were doing. I would love to see you being pelted with Beer and pretzels as you're being horse collared out... go grow a tree, or do something useful!