This weekend the USA leg of the International Rugby Board World Series Sevens took place in Las Vagas. The event was a resounding success with 50,000 paying customers coming through the gates. It was broadcast live on NBC on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons. And with rugby Sevens now included in the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro the future looks really bright for the game.
However, on the flip side of this was the performance of the US team this weekend. Of the 16 teams involved, we ended up in 13th place. The players are talented, work extremely hard and are absolutely dedicated to the game. The coach, Al Caravelli, is in the same mold and has done tremendously well with the resources he has available. At the end of the broadcast yesterday he said the US team was the only one of the regular teams in the world series that is not full time. Now there are going to be those that say he was making excuses for a poor performance – I don’t want to get involved in that. But what I will say is that if we are to be one of the contenders for the Olympics in 2016 and beyond then we do need to make sure that our team is able to have a chance by leveling the playing field.
If we were a 3rd world country that was struggling then we wouldn’t be trying to address this issue. But we’re not. Even during the worst recession since the 1930′s, last years wage bill alone, for the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA was a shade under $10 Billion! On average, a players wage in the NFL is $2 million. The minimum wage for a non-skilled player is $260,000 and thats a rookie!
I’m not trying to knock America’s professional sportsmen, far from it. But I am asking for those paying the wages (especially when we’re on the verge of an NFL strike) to take a look at what you could get for the price of an NFL average wage. $2 million a year would pay a good wage for 20 contracted players and the coaching staff. And another million a year on top would probably fund the whole program. An annual investment like that would (over a 5 year period), propel the USA team into unknown waters. Paying a player $50-60K a year would attract some incredible athletes who cannot quite make the NFL.
With sponsors of the USA sevens like Bridgestone, Subway and ADT, and live coverage on NBC (the Olympic channel), I don’t think $3 million a year is a huge sum when you consider what an investor will get for his money.
