Economics

[Tom Bisson <tbisson@doe.state.vt.us>]

It seems that that performance incentive clauses are very common in
contracts for professional athletes (extra money for getting so many
rebounds, playing so many games, etc.) The only incentive clause I'd
want to provide is one that is tied to how the *team* performs. As the
*team* succeeds, so does the player. However, I think this kind of
performance incentives are illegal (don't ask me why). I also think that
major professional sport regular seasons are too long. (I'd recommend
100 games for baseball and 50 games for basketball) This means there are
far too many meaningless games (watching the Red Sox after the July 4th
was really just summer exhibition season - same with last year's Celtics
after January). I wish that team owners would have a ticket price
structure that provided DEEP discounts for any game when the team was
mathematically eliminated from the playoffs; and/or have the following
year's season ticket price directly tied to the team's finish. I think
this kind of pressure would be good for teams. Unfortunately, fans are
suckers and aren't willing to exert this kind of pressure on their
favorite team, which probably means that *cheering* - not winning - is
what fans REALLY want.

- - tom