Who really pays for everything – 101.

Here is my second course, “Who really pays for everything – 101,” presented by MrEricksonRules’ University as a public service.

So, who really pays for everything? 

The answer is WE DO.

The 99% of us poor slobs who are just trying to get by and make a living.

We pay for EVERYTHING.

Don’t believe me?

Let’s begin the class and see if I can change your mind.

We’re all aware of these billionaire sports team owners in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), and the National Football League (NFL), right?

They have to be really, really rich to pay all of the exorbitant, multi-million dollar, salaries of the players on their teams, right?

Wrong.    

They have to be really, really rich in order to join the club of sports team owners.

We pay for all of the exorbitant, multi-million dollar, salaries of the players on their teams, and here’s how it works.

Let’s take a look at the NFL, specifically, here.  

NFL team owners get approximately 70% of their revenue from television contracts, and the other 30% from ticket sales, concessions, parking, etc.

I think we all realize that when player contracts go up ticket prices and concession prices go up as well.

Hence, the $10 beer and the $6 hotdog!

And if you choose to pay $200, $500, $1,000, or more, for a seat to actually attend a game, God bless you. You’re getting ripped off, but you still only account for a small portion of the 30% of their revenue.

What about the other 70%…, the bulk of their revenue? 

The NFL distributes television revenue to all teams equally, regardless of performance. As of February 2019, each team receives $255 million annually from the league’s television contracts.

The league’s salary cap per team is currently $182.5 million, so, you do the math.

That’s why teams could afford to play the 2020 season without any fans in the stands and still do quite well.

Okay, you say, but the television companies are paying for that.

But where do the television companies get their money from?

The answer is advertisers.

Yes, the people who put those commercials on our TVs that we all love to watch so much.

This year, in 2021, a 30-second commercial for Super Bowl 55 cost about $5.5 million!

How can these companies afford to pay that?!

Well, they don’t.

We do.

Companies like Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Coors, Coke, Pepsi, just bump their prices by a nickel or a dime to cover their costs.

Yes, folks, we are all being “nickel and dimed to death.”

Isn’t it nice of us all to cover the costs of their advertising, which covers the costs of the TV companies, which cover the costs of the billionaire owners?

That’s why we should be upset about these people who play a game for a living, while getting paid hundreds of millions of dollars, while teachers make in a year for what they get paid for one game! 

That’s why we should be upset about these people, who play a game for a living, while getting paid hundreds of millions of dollars, while a doctor would have to work over a hundred years to make what they make in one year! 

So, if you eat, drink, wear clothes, wear shoes, drive a car, buy insurance, or use a cell phone…, you’re paying, whether you like it or not.   

So, who really pays for everything? 

The answer is we do.

Please be on the lookout for my next course, made available to everyone free of charge, from MrEricksonRules’ University.

Hey…, I’m just trying to do my part!

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Thank you, MrEricksonRules.