|
You
Do the Math
According
to God's word, (Hosea 4:6), our people are destroyed from
lack of knowledge and our vision at Entertainment & Sports
Plus is to be the source of information and resources to help
you participate in the $250 billion plus per year sports business
industry.
You
all know that Black people from across the country have come
together to support Barack Obama's Presidential campaign.
You all also know that at the same time we are coming together
to support Barack that Black people are suffering the brunt
of the subprime mortgage fiasco, losing our homes at record
rates. You all also probably know that Blacks are likely to
be left out of the $700 billion bailout. Financial firms were
lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments covered,
not just those related to mortgages. At the same time, investment
firms are jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury
plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role
that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year
in fees. Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury's proposal
to buy up bad assets of financial institutions. What's most
unbelievable is that the same Wall Street and its backers
created this mess are now poised to clean up like bandits.
Even Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for his firm to be hired (and
paid) to "consult" in the bailout. Something
we don't really control.
Something
we ought to control. In the 2008 NFL draft, Black
agents represented only 18 of the top 200
draft eligible players for the 2008 NFL draft, including
3 of the 18 players who were jointly represented by a Black
agent and a White agent? Why a player would require more than
a single agent when every player drafted after Round One of
the NFL draft through Round 7 received a minimum base salary
contract with incentives, is beyond me and not the point of
this piece. The 18 players were represented by 5 different
Black agents out of nearly 800 agents who are certified by
the NFL Players Association.
Let's
see, 5 out of 800 is .006 percent of the
total number of certified agents. Black agents represented
18 out of the top 200 players, or 9% of the
top players. Approximately 160 of the top 200 players, or
81% were Black. There are 32 NFL teams and,
therefore, 32 draft picks per round, and 200 players would
represent Rounds 1-6 of the 2008 NFL draft. Using the average
guaranteed dollars received by the 200 players, including
an average guarantee of $11.9 million for Round 1; $1.9 million
for Round 2; $668; for Round 3; $432,000 for Round 4; $166,000
for Round 5; and $90,000 for Round 6, the top 200 players
in the 2008 NFL draft received a total of approximately $485
million in guaranteed dollars for 200 young men,
an average of nearly $2.5 million per player.
The 161 Black players received total guaranteed dollars of
nearly $403 million which is more than the
combined sales for all of the component
companies of the BE Top 100 in 1973
and more than the combined total earned by
the component companies in the Black Enterprise 100
for 2008 in the each of the following industries:
Security or Janitorial Maintenance (0.9%/$271.148); Telecommunications
(0.5%/$152.707); Entertainment (0.4%/$105.000); Healthcare
(0.3%/$ 98.928); and Health & Beauty Aids (0.2%/$ 48.000);
and nearly as much as the combined total of component companies
in the Computer/Office Products industry (1.8%/$509.239).
You
do the math. Less than 200 (161) young Black men,
a single NFL draft, and $403 million in revenue!
Imagine what would happen if we came together around the sports
business industry with the same enthusiasm as we have come
together to support Barack.
If you have questions or require additional
information on how you can participate in FAIR, FraserNet's
Athlete Initiative for Reform, please feel free to contact
George Fraser at gfraser@frasernet.com
or contact the writer, Everett Glenn, at eglenn@espsportslawpro.com
or 562.619.8460.
|
|
|
