A Rookie in ‘70s, The Green Monster Dominates in ‘80s

If the 1920s were the golden age of sports, the 1970s and 1980s will be remembered as the green age, a time of million-dollar contracts for athletes and multimillion-dollar price tags for franchises.

“When I started out in 1962, if a guy was making $15,000, that was a lot,” said Boston lawyer and player agent Bob Woolf. “They had no leverage.”

Then new leagues--the American Basketball Assn., the World Hockey Assn., the World Football League--sprang up.

“That’s when the insanity started,” Woolf said. “Nothing wakes people up more than competitive bidding. Teams that wouldn’t have given a player a $5,000 raise were giving him $50,000 just to keep him.

“Derek Sanderson had signed for three years with the Boston Bruins (of the National Hockey League) for $10,000, $12,000 and $14,000. From there he went to close to $500,000 with the (WHA’s) Philadelphia Blazers.”

Then big money started coming in from television.

Starting in 1978, the NFL got $640 million over four years from ABC, CBS and NBC. The current contract will pay the teams more than three times as much, $2.1 billion over five years.

Baseball’s television rights went from $250 million for the old five-year contract to $1.1 billion for the current six-year package.

The NBA has just completed four-year contracts that brought in $121 million from CBS and cable systems, up from $74 million the preceding four years.

“That, along with changing the laws like the reserve clause, really exploded everything,” Woolf said.

In the last decade, according to various league and players’ union sources, the average salary has risen from $74,234 to $152,000 in the NHL, from $70,000 to $332,000 in the NBA, from $33,000 to $157,819 in the NFL and from $40,839 to $329,408 in major league baseball--increases of 104% to 706%.

At the same time, the average annual wage of the non-government worker in the American labor force has risen 80%, from $8,503 to $15,290, and the consumer price index has increased 93%.

It was only a generation or so ago that the $100,000 baseball player arrived--Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron.

Now $500,000-a-year men ride the bench--Dale Berra of the New York Yankees, John Wathan of Kansas City, Ivan DeJesus of St. Louis and George Hendrick of the Angels.

In 1972, three years after signing a $1.4 million, five-year contract with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar described basketball as “big business . . . a money game” and said $250,000 or more a year was not an excessive salary.

The 1980s brought $1 million a year for such stars as Abdul-Jabbar and baseball’s Mike Schmidt, Dave Winfield and Ron Guidry. They were just catching up to soccer, which had given Pele an estimated $4.5 million for three years starting in 1975.

Now the upper bracket starts at $2 million a year--Abdul-Jabbar and Larry Bird in basketball; Schmidt, Winfield, Jim Rice and Ozzie Smith in baseball.

Can $3 million be far behind? Pat Ewing, last season’s college basketball player of the year, presented an opening bid to the NBA’s New York Knicks this summer for $30 million over 10 years.

While salaries escalate, franchises sell for record prices, cities beg for expansion teams and millionaire businessmen finance new leagues.

“We think we can do it better,” said John Dikeou who, along with brothers George and Deno, bought baseball’s Denver Bears of the American Assn., renamed them the Denver Zephyrs and are seeking an expansion franchise in the major leagues.

“Obviously we’re not going into this to lose $2 million or $4 million,” Dikeou said. “I’m not saying, ‘Well, I just want to do it and I don’t care what it’s going to cost.’ ”

Making money, however, is not always the objective.

Said Jack Kent Cooke: “Heaven knows one doesn’t like to lose money, but I’ll trade the break-even point or a poor marginal return on an investment in a baseball club for the excitement, the enthusiasm, the thrills that one gets in owning a baseball team or any major sports enterprise.” Cooke, who used to own both the Los Angeles Lakers and Kings, still owns the NFL’s Washington Redskins and is seeking an expansion baseball franchise for the nation’s capital.

“The profit margin on the Redskins is thinly marginal but, oh boy, what fun it is,” Cooke said.

When J. Walter Duncan and Ron Blanding got charter franchises in the United States Football League, each had to show a $1.5 million letter of credit. A year later, in 1984, Duncan sold the Generals to Donald Trump for $10 million and Blanding sold the Denver Gold to Doug Spedding for about $11 million.

In 1976, when Tampa Bay and Seattle joined the NFL, an expansion franchise cost $16.5 million. In 1984 the Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers were sold for $60 million to $80 million apiece. The New Orleans Saints, who have never had a winning season, were sold last June for $70.2 million.

Said the buyer, auto dealer Tom Benson Jr.: “I never have owned a professional football team and never have been interested, but I don’t want to see the team leave New Orleans.”

The reasons for buying a team go all the way from profits to an expensive ego trip, said Wellington Mara, owner of the New York Giants, whose father, Tim, bought the NFL team in 1925 for $2,500.

“A guy that has enough money to buy a team and is looking for a profit would do better buying government bonds,” Mara said. “But I don’t think a football franchise is ever sold for less than it’s bought for, so I think they may be thinking at least a little about it as a long-term investment.”

When New Orleans was granted an NBA franchise for the 1974-75 season--it has since been moved to Salt Lake City--it cost $6.15 million. In the last year, the Denver and Milwaukee franchises went for $20 million apiece. And in the NHL, the Kansas City Scouts were sold for $6 million in 1976 and moved to Denver, then were sold again for $9 million in 1982 and moved to New Jersey. St. Louis, the last NHL franchise to change hands, was sold to Harry Ornest for $12 million in 1983.

“I bought the team to make a dream happen,” Ornest said. “It sounds corny, but that’s what happened. I was born and raised in Edmonton, dreamed of hockey and baseball all my life.

“It’s losing money, but I don’t have an iota of regret nor an ounce of trepidation. You don’t go into an NHL club, unless it’s in New York, Chicago or Montreal or someplace like that, if you’re thinking of investment return only.”

In 1975, baseball’s Chicago White Sox changed hands for $10 million. Last year, the Minnesota Twins were bought by Carl Pohlad for $47 million, the Detroit Tigers by Tom Monaghan for more than $50 million.

When someone gets out, someone else wants in.

That happens with sponsorship, too. Colgate withdrew its backing from women’s golf, and Nabisco picked it up. On the men’s tour, the Dean Martin Tucson Open Golf Tournament became the NBC Tucson Open, then the Joe Garagiola-Tucson Open, then the Seiko-Tucson Match Play Championship. Other golf and tennis tournaments pick up new sponsors each year. Communities eager to promote themselves stage tournaments and sports festivals.

In the process, tradition gives way to money.

SPORTS MILLIONAIRES

The highest salaries in sports, not counting boxers, tennis players, jockeys and golfers whose earnings come from prize money. Sources: Sport magazine, March 1985, and Sports Illustrated, March 4, 1985.

1 Mike Schmidt Philadelphia Phillies $2,130,000x 2 Jim Rice Boston Red Sox $2,090,000x 3 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Lakers $2,000,000x Ozzie Smith St. Louis Cardinals $2,000,000x 5 George Foster New York Mets $1,950,000x 6 Moses Malone Philadelphia 76ers $1,900,000 7 Larry Bird Boston Celtics $1,800,000 8 Dave Winfield New York Yankees $1,745,000x 9 Gary Carter New York Mets $1,728,571x 10 Jack Sikma Seattle SuperSonics $1,600,000 Dale Murphy Atlanta Braves $1,600,000x 12 Fred Lynn Baltimore Orioles $1,562,500 13 Herschel Walker New Jersey Generals $1,500,000 Bob Horner Atlanta Braves $1,500,000x 15 Rickey Henderson New York Yankees $1,470,000x 16 Rich Gossage San Diego Padres $1,425,118 17 Eddie Murray Baltimore Orioles $1,380,000x 18 Bruce Sutter Atlanta Braves $1,354,167x 19 Jack Clark St. Louis Cardinals $1,300,000x 20 Robin Yount Milwaukee Brewers $1,284,000x 21 Pedro Guerrero Dodgers $1,270,000x 22 Rick Sutcliffe Chicago Cubs $1,260,000x 23 Steve Garvey San Diego Padres $1,250,000 Steve Young Express $1,250,000 Julius Erving Philadelphia 76ers $1,250,000x 26 Ralph Sampson Houston Rockets $1,200,000 Fernando Valenzuela Dodgers $1,200,000x Tim Raines Montreal Expos $1,200,000x 29 Steve Kemp Pittsburgh Pirates $1,170,000x 30 Steve Carlton Philadelphia Phillies $1,150,000 Mitch Kupchak Lakers $1,150,000 32 Andre Dawson Montreal Expos $1,136,000x 33 Warren Moon Houston Oilers $1,100,000 Mario Soto Cincinnati Reds $1,100,000x Andre Thornton Cleveland Indians $1,100,000x Keith Hernandez New York Mets $1,100,000x 37 John Denny Philadelphia Phillies $1,083,000x 38 Otis Birdsong New Jersey Nets $1,075,000 39 Ted Simmons Milwaukee Brewers $1,050,000x 40 Jason Thompson Pittsburgh Pirates $1,030,000x Joaquin Andujar St. Louis Cardinals $1,030,000x 42 George Brett Kansas City Royals $1,000,000 Ken Griffey New York Yankees $1,000,000 Magic Johnson Lakers $1,000,000 Kevin McHale Boston Celtics $1,000,000 Jim Paxson Portland Trail Blazers $1,000,000 Mike Rozier Jacksonville Bulls* $1,000,000 Nolan Ryan Houston Astros $1,000,000 John Elway Denver Broncos $1,000,000x Marques Johnson Clippers $1,000,000x Tree Rollins Atlanta Hawks $1,000,000x Mychal Thompson Portland Blazers $1,000,000x Wade Boggs Boston Red Sox $1,000,000x Jerry Reuss Dodgers $1,000,000x LaMarr Hoyt San Diego Padres $1,000,000x

x Denotes guaranteed 1985 compensation; all others for most recent figures, 1984

* Now with Houston Oilers. SPORTS’ TOP MONEY MAKERS

According to Sport Magazine, these athletes were the highest paid in 1984.

MARVIN HAGLER $3.3 million RAY MANCINI $3.2 million THOMAS HEARNS $2.4 million MARTINA NAVRATILOVA $2.0 million MIKE SCHMIDT $2.0 million