By Eric Katz

Whenever the major sports leagues collective bargaining agreement expires there is one thing they should really look at.

The thing they should consider revising is the amount of years they can offer on a contract. Signing a star athlete to a ten year contract is way too much of a commitment to that specific player.

In the beginning the owner and general managers feel great about giving out these types of contracts. The only thing to feel great about is keeping that player from signing with another team.

Recently the Yankees have had to deal with Alex Rodriguez’s steroid allegations. Back in 2007 A-Rod signed a ten year 275 million dollar contract to stay with the Yankees.

Although it worked out for a little while A-Rod’s stats slowly started to decline. Also, injuries started to increase and his production started to lower.

With professional athletes you can’t predict when they will lose their talent and neither can the front office.

No matter what they do on the field there will come a time when they won’t be able to perform at the highest level anymore.
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There is a lot of risk of signing a player to a ten year contract. Some of the risks include injuries and there production declines.

From what I know of everybody is human and starts to decline eventually.

Also, in professional sports injuries are a part of the game. There is much more risk than reward with these type of long term contracts.

​If the contract doesn’t work out all ten years bad things happen. One of the things that happens it the team is stuck with that athlete and their contract.

Typically that contract asks for over 100 million dollars at least. There is no way to trade the athlete and their contract because no team wants declining production and all of the money they would owe them.

Even if the team offers to pay most of the contract the other team will not want declining production.

It will also be harder for teams to build around these athletes because of the money they owe.

​The best solution is to put an end to these types of contracts. The contracts should be limited to five to six years.

This will make it easier for teams to trade or release the player down the stretch.

Also, when production starts to decline the team won’t be stuck with that player for over a decade.

Although job security is not as secure as it was before the athlete is getting a favor done for them.

Let me know what you think in the comments down below.