from Amazon
Thursday, November 01, 2007
The supply and demand of coaches
The salaries of MLB, NFL, and NBA coaches are discussed here. (The NHL was omitted, even though their revenue intake, while lower than the other three, is certainly in the ballpark of the NBA. In any case, NHL coaches seem to make around the same as MLB, maybe a bit less, even though they have less than half the revenues.)
Who coaches MLB teams and NHL teams? There is an enormous number of former pro players as coaches (and GMs for that matter). Tiki Barber is not in line to be head coach of the NFL Giants, though Don Mattingly was in line to be the Yankees manager. It’s pure supply and demand, and the reason the back office of MLB teams is filled with people making half the money they’d otherwise make in corporate America, and more interns than you can shake a stick at. It’s the equivalent of the Director’s casting couch. It’s the George Costanza syndrome.