There’s a game that takes place far away from the sporting pitch - it’s played out in boardrooms, meeting rooms, courts and the media. It’s a game called ‘playing for dollars’. A more accurate description might be: ‘fighting for dollars’. There are no referees and no rules.
Sports owners and administrators constantly try to keep their labour costs to a minimum – just like any other business. Players through their union and agents are constantly trying to push salaries as high as they reasonably can in the knowledge that a player's earning potential is limited.
In the hurly burly of playing for dollars it is easy for fans and commentators to think the players are simply playing for money and not for the love of the game…….and that is just what the sports administrators want the fans and commentators to think. The truth is, in the author’s experience at least, that the players are playing for both – for love and money. The two are not mutually exclusive.
