When the all-too-common argument of athletes being overpaid arises, I tend to always side with the athlete. While $20 million a year seems like an astronomical amount of money to pay someone for playing a game, it is the basic concept of supply-and-demand at work. The money comes from somewhere, and if the people shelling it out didn’t think they were going to get a return on their investment they wouldn’t be investing. That being said, the website that a Saints fan has started to rally fans to donate money to help Drew Brees is extremely disturbing.
As Around the League shared with us, the website FansStepUp.com was launched on Tuesday by a Saints season ticket holder. Through the use of PayPal or a local Chase Bank branch, founder Tony Le Mon is asking fans to contribute to the Drew Brees Fans Step Up Account. Whether you donate $1 or $100, Le Mon insists every little bit helps and will go directly to Brees to help keep him in New Orleans.
“We can send a clear message to Drew Brees that we appreciate what he has done for us,” Le Mon wrote. “We can send a clear message to Drew Brees that we want him to stay here. At the same time, we can let other cities in this country know that we are the best fans anywhere and that we take care of our own. We as fans can become empowered with the creation of this BONUS. We need not sit idly by while a New Orleans treasure is taken away from us.”
If Brees rejects the donation, the funds will supposedly go to his charity, the Brees Dream Foundation. If you have money to spare, that’s the way you should be thinking anyway. The Brees contract situation has gotten ugly and it would be a tragedy to see him sit out the year or miss games, but it’s strictly business. Fans don’t need to get involved by donating money to a professional athlete when they could be giving it to a charity in need. Naturally, Brees would never keep the money for himself. But that doesn’t make the goal of the website any less troubling.
