Tuesday afternoon Chip Kelly inked a six-year contract extension to stay Oregon’s head football coach through at least the 2015 season to the tune of $20.5 million.
$20.5 million; think about it for a second. Let it soak in. $20.5 million, it has a certain ring to it. As an aspiring young journalist who already anticipates a life of financial scarcity, I’m a bit taken back by Oregon’s newest investment.
First, let’s state the obvious. I will probably be lucky to make one year of Kelly’s contract (year one is valued at $2,400,000) in my entire lifetime. I suppose that’s why I find myself slightly bitter at the value of Kelly’s position. I understand it, but I’m still bitter.
According to an article that appeared in Forbes magazine on May 17, which compared the best and worst paying jobs in America, surgeons took home top dollar earning an average annual salary of $219,770. Now I’m no math major, but that just doesn’t seem quite right. Is it really possible that a football coach, who at the end of the day simply directs kids in nothing more than a game, can make nearly $2.2 million more than a surgeon who saves lives on a daily basis? Well the answer is simple — yes.
And that’s what sports in this country have come to. It’s nothing new; in fact it’s been like that for quite some time. This signing just hits a little closer to home. Here in America games, athletes and coaches, are more valuable from a financial standpoint than doctors, lawyers, and so on. We all remember LeBron James signing a $90 million Nike endorsement deal as an 18-year-old straight out of high school. Or when Alex Rodriguez signed the most profitable contract in the history of sports, signing with the Texas Rangers in 2001 for $252 million. But I digress, back to Kelly.
The man is a football genius and anyone who has seen him work over the course of an entire year, not just the five-month playing season, knows that. In nearly every facet of the job Kelly is at the top of his game — and he’s only in his second year ever as a head coach. From practice, to games, to recruiting and planning in the offseason, few men now how to lead a college football program better than he does.
That’s why it’s so hard to question Kelly’s worth in dollars and cents. Like Register-Guard columnist George Schroeder wrote Wednesday morning, “it’s the price of doing business.” And for whatever reason Tuesday afternoon Kelly’s agent, David Dunn of Athletes First, and the Oregon athletics department decided that $20.5 million was the right price.
After all, Kelly admits he had little to do with the fundamentals of drawing up his contract.
“My agent dealt with everything,” Kelly said after practice on Wednesday. “I don’t deal with anything. I put it all in Dave’s hands, that’s why I have an agent. I really don’t want to deal with it.”
Kelly was his usual cordial self when speaking about the contract, but per usual, his focus was entirely on Saturday’s game and the Stanford Cardinal.
That type of focus, in the wake of a multi-million dollar deal, is what got Kelly into this position to make the money he is receiving. To the outsider with an average income it seems unfair until you step back and think of everything Kelly and the football program bring to the University, and even more so the community of Eugene.
The way Kelly prepares his team to perform every time they take the field in Autzen Stadium is what nearly 60,000 people are willing to save up their money to go see every Saturday. The payoff for those in attendance and all the costs that go along with being a fan, avid or casual, mount up quickly. At the end of the day that’s just the harsh reality of it all. We as a fan base are willing to shell out are hard-earned dollars to go see the product Kelly puts out from week to week.
Ultimately, the athletic department has sent a message with Kelly’s new contract. It expects even bigger things from the future of Oregon football, and for now, it seems they’ve got the right man leading the way.
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