Yes, athletes get training for free, almost. But what you're missing is they return the favour by SERVING their countries (making sacrifices in the process sometimes eg US athletes have the freedom of not representing their country while Chinese athletes practically dont have that option) and bringing home countless medals and championships. While I'm not opposed to the idea of athletes giving up some of their prize money to cover government's expenses, 50% is just downright outrageous.
This is about as offensive as it gets. Let the excuse making and finger pointing of "overblown" begin...........................now.
Who cares what Yao has to give to whoever. He makes much more than that somewhere else by just saying 'may I write a check' in front of the camera. The only thing I care is he will give us a consistent 22/10/2.5 performance for the whole season.
agreed, privatizing is a way to go. that'll happen for sure, but not now. china is evolving, for the better, i believe. you can see it from yao's case alone. the cba didn't stick to the 50% at the end and allowed much flexibility in their negociation itself is a good sign.
How so? Last time I checked, the Chinese sports authority is charging him for past expenses, not representing his country. In fact, the aforementioned Chinese sports authority stated in no uncertain terms that he is not allowed to go to the NBA UNLESS he represents his country, no matter how much money the Rockets offered. So much for the theory of the money grabbing Chinese sports authority.
how many other Chinese players have to pay for "past expenses"? even the non-NBA ones? Did Yao raid the hotel mini-bars or something? Anyway, I like this "past expenses" concept. Perhaps LeBron should re-pay his high school, and Shaq should re-pay LSU, Duncan can re-pay Wake Forest - of course, they made millions off of them while they were collegians but that wouldn't apply in this example because......because....
Well Sam, see here's the thing. How many Chinese players are playing in the NBA? Now, I doubt that the mission statement of the Chinese basketball/sports authorities goes something along the lines of "we want to build the NBA to be the best league in the world." Believe it or not, the goal of the Chinese sports authority is to build the CBA and Chinese basketball in general as the best in the world. What does that mean? When you have the best player China can produce playing in CHINA, everything is great. Directly or indirectly, China benefits. But when you have such players go elsewhere, then it becomes an issue. And apparently you can't tell the difference between a scholarship and full expense payment. How much did Lebron's HS pay towards his room and board? How much did they pay for his basketball training? I would say minimal. Lebron was already a good player that just happen to have gone to his particular HS. Same with Shaq, Garnett, TD, blah blah. They were already good players whom the schools saw an advantage to dish out a small amount of dough (in the forms of scholarships) to receive a much larger amount of dough (through TV contracts, seats sales, etc). Not to mention, all of the players you mentioned above were already basketball players before they joined their respective teams. Yao on the other hand, if the Chinese authorities never approached him and got his parents to finally say "oui," he might never have become a basketball player. The far better comparison is with young players developed through European soccer leagues. Big Club finds young person with potential, signs him to a contract, pays for all the expenses and after that it's a crapshoot. If he turns out junk he's worthless. If he turns out great then guess what, he either stays with the team or gets sold for what, up to 50 million Euros? So I think 10 million dollars (or 1 million, whichever, the Sina article was f*cked up and it's impossible to read anything now) is not too much to pay for the 2nd best centre in the world. Some may say that soccer is more popular. Well, it sure as hell ain't more than 5 times popular. Know what the problem is? Some people here just have a problem believing that OTHERS should be compensated equally.
Given cost of living differences, I don't see how four years at Wake Forest(tuitiion & room alone, currently about 120,000, plus athletic department expenses, which are enormous (the coach at Wake, Dave Odom, is paid in the millions/year and is almost certainly more highly paid than any Chinese coach) is noticeably more expensive than playing for the Sharks and traveling on Air China or via bus. Your european soccer comparison breaks down - in Europe the transfer payment is made by the acquiring club, not by the player. But what I want to know is past expenses - is CBA/Shanghai Sharks really running a red balance specifically related to the expense of putting Yao on charter buses those years ago? I doubt it - which is why other players aren't forced to do the same. THey're putting their hand in and taking their cut, it's very simple, and I don't think it needs to be clouded with euphemisms like "they're just collecting past expenses".
Please... you have no idea how much it costs to live in Shanghai do you? Food is cheap, clothing is cheap, rent/facilities (and the real estate they are built on) ARE NOT. Land alone costs at least 10 times higher in Shanghai, which btw, has the 3rd highest real estate price in the world. Also, Yao did NOT spend 4 years in the system. He was there since he was 11. Travelling on Air China (or if you actually know, you probably would have used Eastern Airlines) is at best marginally cheaper than the cost it costs to fly United/US Airways/whatever. There's also the inherent risk factor. How many players do the Sharks HAVE to develop to find ONE Yao Ming. How many Chinese players turned out good? Hell, how many players over 7'4 turned out good? Anybody who actually taken an introductory course in finance would understand that investors are risk averse and expect higher RoR to take on risk. They develop hundreds of players and pay the related expenses and only find one Yao. Spread the cost of development over the hundreds of players and related expenses, Yao's contract buyout is dirt cheap. How much risk did Wake have to take in offering a scholarship to an already good player. There's also the issue of opportunity cost. For example, when Bateer (who isn't even as good) left, Beijing (the club that owned his rights) saw its revenue decrease by 30%, revenue that could have gone to develop young players more and better young players. Now, how much did Wake Forest give up by NOT developing TD who was already good when he entered the school? And finally, how doesn't the European club example apply? Ain't the Chinese sports authority's fault that the NBA is too cheap and only allows 1 million (grossly exaggerated figure because I can't remember the exact number off the top of my head, just to be safe) to compensate foreign clubs.
