Back in the 1960s, the US Supreme Court was dealing with the conflict between free expression and obscenity. As part of his concurrence with a majority opinion, Justice Potter Stewart revealed his definition of hardcore pornography:
“I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description, and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that.”
The US Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit (Philly) might have leaned a bit more heavily on Justice Stewart’s thinking this week. A case was before the Court of Appeals that involves the status of college athletes as employees of the colleges for whom they play versus amateur student athletes. According to a report in the Washington Post this morning, the Court said:
“… a test should be developed to differentiate between students who play college sports for fun and those whose effort ‘crosses the legal line into work’.”
Unfortunately, Justice Stewart is no longer an active member of the biosphere; he died about 40 years ago. However, if he were alive, he might be able to look at various athletic situations involving colleges and college athletes and “know it when he sees it” regarding the question of playing for fun and “working. Perhaps Justice Stewart’s thinking was too abstract, so let me offer another way to look at whether college football and basketball players are workers or just fun-loving kids:
- “If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck, it’s a duck.”
Or consider a variant on that logic as expounded by the noted philosopher, Groucho Marx:
- “He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot, but don’t let that fool you. He really is an idiot.”
Moving on … Dan Hurley signed a contract extension with UConn earlier this week. After winning two consecutive national championships, that sort of reward is hardly in the category of “shocking news”. However, looking at the deal does raise some questions:
- Hurley signed for 6 years and $50M.
- Hurley turned down a Lakers’ offer of 6 years and $70M.
It would appear either that Hurley likes his East Coast life a lot better than he thinks his LA life would be – – or – – he made the assessment that coaching the LA Lakers with LeBron James and Bronny James would involve a level of drama that he just does not need in his life. Or maybe it is both factors plus the dead solid fact that the $50M he will get from UConn is beyond the level of “chump change”.
Switching gears … When people report on NFL revenues, they often use the terminology of “National Revenue”. That category of revenue includes:
- All NFL national media rights deals
- All league sponsorships and “corporate partners”
- All royalties from things like NFL Enterprises, NFL Films etc.
A recent report said that the “National Revenue” for the NFL last year was $13B; that is the revenue that is shared equally among the teams. So, even if you account for the HFL Front Office skimming a couple hundred million off the top for its own usage, each owner will wind up in receipt of about $400M BEFORE the owner sold the first ticket or a fan bought its first $15 beer, or a car pulled into the stadium parking lot for $75 or … you get the idea.
Last year, the NFL’s salary cap, which is spelled out as a formula in the existing CBA, was $224.8M. So, if you are wondering how or why an NFL franchise could possibly be worth $6B to a consortium of owners, just take a look at those figures. Moreover, the way that the salary cap is defined in the CBA provides a measure of protection for the owners should a situation arise where “National Revenue” craters. An NFL franchise is not exactly a license to print money, but it’s close.
Finally, I will close today with a couple other observations by Groucho Marx:
“Behind every successful man is a woman, behind her is his wife.”
And …
“Why should I care about posterity? What’s posterity ever done for me?”
And …
“I didn’t like the play, but then I saw it under adverse conditions – the curtain was up.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………