The Influence of Money on Professional Sports Loyalty

Over the past decade, money has taken over the sports world. What it seems like is that the main concern of every player in professional sports is how much money they make. This concern is leading to nomadic players that go to whichever team will pay them the most money. This is causing loyalty in professional sports extremely hard to find. In some cases though, players remain faithful and loyal to their teams. In Tom Brady’s case, the quarterback for the New England Patriots, he has continued to remain loyal to his team throughout his playing career.

Over the course of Tom Brady’s career, he has compiled a very impressive resume. He has made appearances, along with the New England Patriots, in the Super Bowl five times. In three of those appearances he has lead the Patriots to victory. Not only did Brady lead his team to victory, he has been named the Super Bowl’s Most Valuable Player twice in those five appearances. This has built Tom Brady into becoming an extremely valuable player in the league, and a very accomplished quarterback.

Most players who build this type of resume in professional sports let the love of the game slip past them, and let the temptations of more money overtake them. They request to be traded to other teams in order to make more money, or when they are “free-agents” they decide to sign with another team. A prime example of this would be the NBA star Lebron James. He was a standout player at Cleveland, but decided to take his talents to Miami in order to make more money in the long run there, and to be a part of a more successful team. Once James was satisfied with his accomplishments in Miami, when he became a free agent he decided to resign with Cleveland for $2 million more per season.

Tom Brady on the other hand, has been given several opportunities to sign with different teams for more money, but Brady has remained in New England ever since his original contract. Brady has a sense of home in New England. It is a special place and team to him because he was not a very highly desired player coming out of college. He was picked in the 6th round by the Patriots which allowed him to have a chance in the NFL. He turned this chance into a success story of an underdog coming into the league. Even after all of his success and accomplishments in the NFL, Brady has never sought after another team in order to make more money.

To most players in professional sports today, money is the only thing that matters. No matter where they are or how long they have been there, they are always willing to leave for more money. In some special cases, loyalty to a team means something to certain players. They will stay with a team no matter how much they are making, or how much more they could be making. For some, money isn’t everything.

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