Earlier today, Falcons receiver Roddy White decided to get something off his chest. So he took to Twitter, and he started tweeting.
“I hate when espn commentators say this is a war between millionaires and billionaires with the cba it’s like 10 players on an NFL roaster [that] make 1 million dollars the rest of the guys make in the 100 thousands on a 53 man roster such a stupid comment,” White said.
He’s right, and given the average length of an NFL career and the habit of many players to spend to the limits of their income, not many have a seven-figure net worth.
But here’s the problem. Despite the labels, NFL players make a lot more money than the average person. So whether it’s $250,000 per year or $500,000 per year or $20 million per year, most folks can’t appreciate the difference. In the eyes of the general public, every NFL player is rich while playing in the NFL, even if they don’t stay rich for long after they leave the NFL.
Even if it’s not millionaires versus billionaires, it’s rich versus richer, and that’s why most fans are having a hard time caring about the inability of the two sides to carve up their riches in a way that makes everyone happy.