Broncos linebacker Von Miller won the Super Bowl. Then he won the lottery. All in the same year. No wonder he’s laughing all the way to the bank.
Yes, there were times during negotiations when we worried if the Vonster would ever play football in Denver again. His feelings got hurt by general manager John Elway. But, in the end, the most valuable player of Super Bowl 50 made the Broncos pay dearly. The money is staggering: $23 million signing bonus, $70 million in guarantees and $114.5 million in total compensation from now through 2021.
Hey, it’s all funny money in the NFL.
Maybe the joke’s on us.
I received a job resume in my e-mail last week. I smelled the anger before I could open the cover letter.
“I have absolutely no sympathy for Von Miller or the Broncos. I’d be grateful for a job offer with a $50,000 per year salary. I’ve been laid off three times in the past six years. As I’ve been told repeatedly … long-term employment doesn’t exist anymore,” Mike Filion wrote, as the Broncos and their best defensive player were hammering out details of the most lucrative contract in team history.
Say it slowly: 114.5 million dollars. For a linebacker who might not even touch a football in the game? Really?
Yes, the havoc that Miller created and the turnovers he caused during the playoffs were priceless to Denver winning a championship.
And I have no envy for the crazy money earned by stars in the NFL, NBA or any other pro sports league, for if I did, I would have stopped typing about silly games a long time ago and started doing something more meaningful with my life, like picking up my dirty socks off the bedroom floor. So there will be no diatribe against Miller taking home more money per game than a kindergarten teacher might save in a lifetime.
It’s impossible, however, not to feel the pain of sports fans like Filion, who told me he doesn’t smoke, drink or do drugs, but his spirit is slowly being crushed by the weight of $23,000 in student-loan debt and the nagging fear that the next time his landlord raises the rent, he might be homeless. Here’s betting somebody you love has been dumbsized, pink-slipped or kicked to the curb by a corporation that only cares about the bottom line.
Hey, that’s not the fault of Miller or Elway. Broncos Country loves its team. Always has and it always will. But there’s a growing sense in Broncos Country and across the nation that nobody really cares about regular working stiffs. For many of them, the big money being thrown at pro athletes feels like a slap in the face.
If hanging around sports has taught me anything, other than that eating two hot dogs in the press box during halftime always leads to regret, it’s this: Money is not a measure of personal worth, but what the market will bear. The lesson, however, is extremely difficult to swallow by a fan who embraces the football ideal that best-prepared, hardest-working wins on Sunday, then catches the bus on Monday morning for a $12 per hour job.
Miller is a good dude. I’m happy for anybody who wins the lottery. But, if he doesn’t play at a Pro Bowl level each and every week during the 2016 season, there’s going to be resentment, and maybe even a few boos, directed at a filthy-rich, 27-year-old linebacker. “No longer are we the Denver Broncos. We are the Denver Millers, because he controls any future roster moves,” said Alan Jacobson, just another regular guy working for the weekend, so he can watch the NFL.
Miller is now the face of the Broncos. Fair or not, Miller is also the face of insatiable greed, laughing all the way to the same bank where many fans worry if there’s sufficient money in the checking account to cover rent.
“Something’s got to be done about these out of control and outrageous sports and entertainment salaries,” said outraged fan Bruce Baskette, asking me to fix it. “These multiyear contracts for fractions of $1 billion are insane. Von Miller was going to refuse to play for a paltry $14 million a year? That should maybe represent his lifetime earnings. All of pro sports … really needs a reset.”
So you say you want to start a revolution? Well, you know, if a fan is offended by the salaries that NFL players make, don’t be an enabler. Toss that Broncos replica jersey in the trash. Don’t turn on the television during NFL Sundays. Quit the fantasy league at your office.
Easier said than done, right? The NFL is a hard addiction to shake.
The truth: This football country doesn’t want a cure.
