Sports Really Are A Business- For the Players, Too

My Mom and I before the Vikings game at TCF Stadium in 2010

Family Christmas card (a long time ago!)

This week, it was released that Jared Allen, #69 of the Minnesota Vikings, was leaving the Vikings and had signed a contract with the Chicago Bears (one of the Vikings' rivals). To a lot of fans of the Vikings, it was not a surprise at all that Allen left the Vikings- as a five-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro player, the next step in his career is to hopefully attain a Superbowl Championship ring. Allen felt that the Vikings weren't the team to do that with, and so as a player began looking elsewhere for that option.

Some of the fans are upset about this, because Allen has been with the Vikings for the past six years and been a key defensive player. They are upset that Allen is going somewhere else to achieve his career goals, and that he isn't loyal to the Vikings.

Well, here's the deal that Allen, the Vikings organization, and many other people know: each of these sports teams is a business. The NFL is a business. This goes for any sport- NFL, NHL, MLB. Yes, there are some "loyal" players out there who will stick with a team from the beginning of their career to the end. However, many of the players will leave a team for a new one that has better opportunities for them- whether it is more money, the chance to win a championship, the weather, whatever their reasons happen to be. These players have a career in the sport, and they make the best decisions for themselves. Because the fact of the matter is that these sports are a business, and the athletes have to treat it as that. At the end of the day, if a player has a terrible year (game, month, season, etc) the team will waste no time in firing or trading that player. The team operates and acts a business- there is no loyalty to players.

Sure, there are times a team will spend a little extra money to keep a player even if they haven't been doing great- and that isn't loyalty, thats trying to keep the fans happy (if the player is a fan favorite). The fans of the games are the only people that are there for the team, year in and year out. Players, coaches, managers, they all come and go. The fans are the ones who are there, and that often realize it is simply a business to the players.