Team Loyalty

[LSN80]

Loyalty is one of the most talked about terms in sports. All of us hope our favorite players will take a "hometown discount" to stay with our team, rather then leaving for another city and the allure of more money or other incentives. LeBron James is the biggest example of this in recent memory, as an affront to the city, and the people involved. Cavs owner Dan Gilbert went as far to call James "disloyal", and a "coward."

I want to look at things from the opposite standpoint, however. On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers released all-time leading receiver Hines Ward, who has previously spent his entire 14 year career with the team. Ward's numbers have dropped off significantly over the past two years, and he had fallen to 4th or 5th on the WR depth chart. Furthermore, Ward was owed $4 million dollars on the year left on his contract in 2012. Despite expressing his desire to remain in Pittsburgh and his willingness to take a large pay cut, the Steelers cut him anyway. Obviously, noone has questioned Ward's loyalty, but radio shows and their callers here in Pittsburgh have questioned the loyalty of the Steelers to Ward. Alot of people have been up in arms that because of Ward electing to stay in Pittsburgh for his entire career, his work ethic, leadership abiilities and on the field statistics including a Super Bowl MVP. People have argued that the Steelers didn't show loyalty to Ward by cutting him, especially due to his desire to stay in Pittsburgh.

My response to that is this: What loyalty? First and foremost, sports is a business, and Ward can't play anymore. Cutting Ward both frees up money to sign or re-sign younger players who can contribute, and also avoids any possible dissension due to a limited role. The Steelers showed their loyalty to Ward over his 14 year career with them by paying him alot of money to play for them. It was a give and take relationship at its best. Ward provided a service, and the Steelers compensated him for it. Now that Ward is no longer able of providing the services he has for the past 14 years(He hasn't done much the past two seasons), the Steelers owe him nothing in return. If anything, they went above and beyond the call of duty by ensuring he got to 1000 catches for his career. Retiring his number when he retires and enshrining him into their Hall of Fame are sure to come, and deserved, but a guaranteed roster spot with a salary for as long as he desires is not.

Do teams owe players anything for lifetime loyalty, and why? If so, what do they owe them?

 

[PlayTheGame]

Good thread as always LSN, this is a good topic.

No, the Steelers certainly do not owe anything to Ward. He's been paid in full for his services, and like countless numbers of players before and after him, his time as a capable player has come to an end. As you pointed out, most people who have a problem with the Steelers cutting Ward are from the Pittsburgh area, which speaks for itself. Pretty much everyone else, using logical thinking, know that the NFL is a business, and the Steelers are a corporation. Ward was great for them, and he was financially rewarded very, very well. But now he cannot perform as well as others on the team, so the team no longer requires his services. Nothing malicious there, it is what it is. It's like any other business. Take a factory worker, for example. A guy can work in a factory for 40 years and be paid for his work, but if and when he loses his eyesight and coordination ability and can no longer perform his duty, the company can't have what it needs from him anymore, so they go in a different direction by hiring someone else. Maybe he can become a supervisor of sorts for the factory, just as Ward could probably secure an office job/advisory role/ambassador role/assistant coaching position with the team. But his time as a player for the Steelers, business-wise, is over.

However, I will say that pro sports being a business works both ways. If a player thinks that he can succeed more so on another team, then he has every right to do so, and should if he sees fit. It's the same as if a company worker can make more money or have better benefits somewhere else- he or she should go. It's their livelihood, they have the right to do what they want in order to secure it, wherever it may be. They have the right to take their services to wherever they see fit, as do athletes. The backlash over LeBron was horrendously selfish. People that were enraged seeing him go obviously didn't/don't view LeBron as a human being. If they did, then they would certainly realize that he has his own life with which he can do with what he wants, no matter what you, I, or the Pope may think about it. How would you feel if LeBron said you couldn't take that juicier contract with a new company? It'd be damn selfish of him, wouldn't it? Exactly.

The only thing I will say in defense of Ward is that I hope the Steelers took the following course of action: I hope that, upon making their decision to not have him back, that they quietly contacted him about it, respectfully telling him their reasoning, and encouraged him to retire before the Steelers had to make any kind of announcement about cutting him. Then, theoretically, he could have gone out "on his own terms", and the Steelers could have saved some face from the unreasonable yet unavoidable public backlash. I'd like to hope that they did go this route, and Ward didn't follow suit, so their hand was forced. If they didn't, it's not the worst thing in the world, but you'd think that Ward would be a rare player who deserves that type of special treatment. I'd speculate that they did try this with him, but that's just my guess.

 

[Big Sexy]

Just like players don't owe teams anything, teams don't owe players anything. At the end of the day professional sports is a business and a very lucrative one at that. Hines Ward has made over $40 million in his career with the Steelers and he has helped them win football games in return. However, Hines Ward is now 35 years old, his production has dropped considerably, and the Steelers have younger, better receivers to build the passing game around. It may seem in some cases that players deserve more then what they get, but the NFL is a young mans game and that is even more true for the skill positions like receiver and running back. I'm sure if he wants Ward can find a team to give him a shot for the veterans minimum and if not then he has had a long, successful career and I'm sure he'll be fine in retirement.

 

[Mustang Sally]

The public relations department of teams issue pronouncements that they care about what the fans want, but in truth, you can't run a team by "giving the fans what they want," if for no other reason than the fans opinions run in too many directions to please them all. Plus, there are issues inside the team the fans don't know about.....and wouldn't care about if they did know.

Okay, so Hines Ward is allegedly willing to take a huge salary cut to stick around. On the surface, this would seem to solve the problem, no? After all, $4 million is too much to pay a 5th receiver, so if he's willing to work for less, what's the problem?

That's the rub; we don't know what other issues the team has concerning this. It's more likely related to personnel decisions than money. Maybe the team has other guys who'll be held back if they keep Ward. Maybe Ward's agent is saying he'll take less money, but that's not the case (perhaps he wants the same money but is willing to defer some of it so it looks as if he's taking a salary cut). Maybe Hines' attitude is a problem; despite the smile we see behind the face mask, maybe he's a pain in the ass in the locker room. Who knows?

The team isn't going to share these behind-the-scenes issues with the public.....and after all, the fans are fickle, anyway. They want the team to win and are unforgiving if they don't. If the team keeps Ward and he performs below par, a lot of the same people who are protesting his release would be the first to complain that Hines is hurting the team.

We don't know what goes into these decisions, despite the fact we think we do. We care about the results.

The world doesn't want to hear about labor pains......it just wants to see the baby.

 

[DirtyD79]

It sucks, but sadly that's the way the business works. Hopefully they use the money to get some offensive linemen or else it ain't gonna matter who the wide receivers are because there won't be a quarterback to throw to `em.

 

[LSN80]

They want the team to win and are unforgiving if they don't. If the team keeps Ward and he performs below par, a lot of the same people who are protesting his release would be the first to complain that Hines is hurting the team.

This is especially ironic to me, considering the situation with Ward and the Steelers last year. Ward was going into the final game of the season with 995 catches. Ward had expressed the desire to get to 1000 catches by seasons end. Head Coach Mike Tomlin had expressed the desire to get Ward the 1000 catches. Ben Roethlisberger, Ward's fellow receivers, and the rest of the offense did too. They were going into the final game of the season, with a chance to win the division, and the talk in Pittsburgh was foremost one thing: Hines Ward and his 1000 catches.

Well, Ward got there. The Steelers made sure of it, as three of his five catches were screen passes to him, and he totaled a whopping 24 yards on his 5 catches. On a drive in the 4th quarter that could have pushed the Steelers lead to a TD, the Steelers were driving. In field goal range, with Ward at 999 catches, the Steelers called a shovel pass to Ward, one that lost 3 yards. The chance to push a 4 point lead to a 7 point one went by the wasteside as the forthcoming field goal was missed. The Steelers barely held on to beat the Browns 13-9.

The reaction following the game was incredible. The radio hosts and callers clammoring for Ward to get his 1000th catch were up in arms that the Steelers called the play they did at the time they did. It seems those dedicated to getting Ward his 1000th catch only cared so when it was for the betterment of the team. I don't blame them. Team over individual goals, right? Perhaps it was Ward's comments after the game that rocked the boat some.

"It's the happiest negative-yard catch I've ever had," Ward said. "I always try to put team ahead of personal goals. But 1,000 catches and over 12,000 yards is not bad considering I was a third-round pick."

But things like this happen all the time, and not just in Pittsburgh, or regarding Hines Ward. An extra carry, that last at bat, the final shift. Teams reward long-serving players with chances to achieve personal goals in the late stages of their careers all the time.

To me, that's the pinnacle of loyalty an athlete deserves, and that's stretching it. Not the chance to hang on as long as they want to play. Loyalty works both ways, and in the case of a player like Hines Ward, his sense of loyalty should come in the form of knowing he can't add anything to the Steelers(or likely any team), and hang it up. This doesn't just pertain to Hines Ward and the Steelers, but athletes and teams everywhere.

The money that exchanges hands and the performance on the field is all the loyalty one owes the other. Anything extra is a nice bonus.

 

[Davi323]

LeBron James is the biggest example of this in recent memory, as an affront to the city, and the people involved. Cavs owner Dan Gilbert went as far to call James "disloyal", and a "coward."

This is what always bothered me about how the Cavs handled LeBron's exit. They seem to forgot that the only reason they even were able to draft LeBron was because they were a shit team that got to pick #1 in the draft. LeBron didn't choose to go to Cleveland, even if they were his "hometown" team. They drafted him because they were in a position to do so. LeBron didn't choose Cleveland, they chose him.

He left to join a winner, instead of having to shoulder an entire team on his back. Can anyone really blame LeBron for leaving? They didn't do jack shit to build a championship team around him. They kept a mediocre team around him, expected him to do everything himself, and made quite a pile of cash off of his name. Is it really disloyalty to leave when you cannot accomplish what you want to accomplish where you are at? The way they announced the decision on E$PN was poorly done...but you cannot fault LeBron for getting the hell out of Cleveland.

When is contract expired, he was no longer a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. They acted as if they still owned him and he defected or something. An athlete's loyalty to the team they play for lasts until the point when they were no longer paying him, and conversely, the team's loyalty to that player expires when they are no longer obligated to pay him. When the contract is up, the contract is up.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

It is nice to see a team keep hold of a fan-favourite long serving player in a show of loyalty, but when it comes down to it, sport is a competive enviroment and having a team of long-serving loyal players who are past their prime is not going to lead to success, simple as.

Teams often DO retain loyal, popular players on a reduced salary if they are willing to accept a smaller squad role, but the most important thing is if the player can still contribute enough to warrant a role in the team.

Sport is a business after all. Teams want to win and to win you need the best players. If an old fading players wages can be used to put towards signing/paying a younger, better player then loyalty must go out of the window. Look at the most successful teams in history- they were cut-throat and only kept the best players. That is what needs to be done to be successful in sport in most cases.

In soccer, a player who has remained at a club for 10 years is often awarded a testimonial, where traditionally a friendly match is played and the individual keeps all the gate receipts, as a kind of lump retirement sum. Due to the wages that top sportsmen are paid nowadays, this money is not neccesary and is given to charity on alot of occasions and the match is more a celebration of the players career. Lower-league teams do still tend to have the player keep his testiomonial money as they will not have made enough money to retire on.

I personally don't like seeing a legendary player tossed aside by a team when his usefulness comes to an end, but everyone reaches the end of their career of some point. But, clubs usually find a way to treat their outgoing legends or loyal players with respect, which is good to see. BUT, the most important thing is that the club needs to move forward and build for the future, as it will be around long after one player has retired.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

Screw team loyatly and Hines Ward is a perfect example of that. There are very few Sports owners(if any) that will show any towards of loyalty towards their player. They expect their player to give them a "Home Town Discount" to sign with them when he's still in his prime, but the second he's washed up that team/owner will get rid of him in a second. It's so ass backwards, and as you mentioned, sports is just a business, so no I don't think there should be any team loyatly. If it's ok for management to release you the second you lose some of your skills(IE Hines Ward and Peyton Manning) it should be ok for the athlete to go tot he highest bidder. And I know I will never show any hatred towards an athlete for going to the place that offers him the most money.

 

[Khalifa]

I use to think loyalty was a good thing until my dad said " It's a business. The second they can find someone better or can improve media wise they will" and he is totally %100 true. You don't owe them anything (especially like Lebron James, he gave them enough chances (like Dwight is at the moment) and did the right thing for himself by leaving, he just did it the wrong way) and if you want to win a championship then you don't have to wait around. If you want to provide food and money for your family then you get the most money you can.

The same goes for owners. Lets use LA as an example. As good as Pau is and how thankful I am for getting him and those two championships I would still rather see him leave for Howard even though he has done so much for us and I am sure Jim Buss and co wanna win a championship asap so they shouldn't feel bad for doing business.

As much as I love loyalty, it doesn't mean anything as soon as business is involved.