In the article Older athletes playing longer, pushing boundaries, Shira Springer, a sports writer on the staff for the Boston Globe, writes about how the sports world is changing due to the ability of some athletes to last in their respective sports much longer than in the past.
"It is also about teams recognizing the value of aging star athletes — as both on-the-field and off-the-field marketing assets — and giving more of them the chance to play deep into their 30s and beyond."
It seems that the game is making a steady shift to putting money and time into making the big stars of your team last as long as possible rather than trying to find the newest, youngest, potential future star. This completely changes the dynamic of the innerworkings of these major team sports. Trading now becomes based around getting one or two big stars who you feel like will last a long time and consistently perform well. It is even more of a gamble because with a young star you don't have to pay them an insane amount of money right away and if they don't work out it is just unfortunate and you move on. However, if you are getting a big time veteran it is going to cost big money and if they end up getting hurt or perform poorly it can end up being a huge setback to the organization.
"Teams know that predicting well and spending wisely on veterans gives them a competitive advantage. They also appreciate that better training, ever-improving sports medicine, league expansion, and multimillion-dollar paydays give older athletes more means and extra incentive to play on. And more than ever, older athletes not only play on, they play integral roles."
The huge technological advances made in recent years in sports has made a huge difference in the career length of athletes. These pros are getting the best care possible and the most efficient training possible to ensure that there is as little chance of serious long term injuries as possible. Of course, there is no way to get rid of this completely, but the increased prevention that has been able to develop is greatly impacting the number of years players can endure. Another big key point mentioned is the money. If a big time star is deciding between retiring or playing another couple seasons and making millions more dollars, it is going to be pretty hard to turn that down. It seems like every year there is some new record breaking contract signed. The amount of money in pro sports is going up and with that it is just going to increase the length on the careers of the biggest stars.
“If the Ferrari isn’t working quite right, it’s going to slow down. But it’s still going to beat the Honda over time. It’s just how rusty does the Ferrari have to get to no longer work?”
This is the hardest part about this new shift in sports. How can anybody possibly know when a player gets too old to be worth all of the trouble? Each individual is so different from the next and on the court or field anything can happen. A star could be having the game of his life and then the next play a freak accident happens and he is done for good. There is no way of knowing what is going to happen down the line. Every move a GM or team makes with a veteran athlete is a risk and as the athlete gets older and older the bigger the risk gets. However, the reward when it works out are so big that it is hard to argue that the risk wouldn't be worth it.
Discussion Questions:
1. Is there a sort of system or someway to analysis athletes and decide if they are worth investing on or is it just pure chance?
2. What are some of the biggest payoffs and biggest busts in investing in careers of pro athletes?
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