my big idea and the pepperette parade

Are you, too, being bombarded with fundraisers at every turn?
Every kid, in every sport, activity and school seems to be selling something at this time of year. So far, I’ve bought a poinsettia, sausages, Christmas desserts, cheese, chocolate, lasagna, and a variety of raffle tickets. I don’t resent these purchases, having already lived the years of young kids in multiple activities, but the system never seems to change. I remember, as a teenager myself, doing endless fundraisers and bingos for my figure skating team. I remember, during my kids’ school years, doing an active trade with other parents: “I’ll take three gift cards for two packs of pepperettes.” “I’ll trade you ten rolls of gift wrap for five pizza kits.” In such cases, no money actually changed hands, making the entire process feel completely ridiculous. I understand, of course, that without fundraising, the costs of kids’ activities would not be manageable for many people, but surely that could be overcome differently, more efficiently, rather than staying the same for forty years?

Similarly, every charity in existence seems to be asking for money right now. It’s the season of giving, I get it and I give, but the sheer number gets very overwhelming. All of them feel important in one way or another. In addition to cash, there’s the food bank needing nonperishables, the warming centre needing coats, Adopt-a-Senior needing gifts for elderly shut-ins and nursing home residents, multiple services needing children’s toys, charities looking for socks and tampons and baby formula.
 
I can’t solve the problems of a society in which there’s ever-increasing needs and perpetually inadequate funding. I do, however, have a Big Idea for children’s sports.
 
My idea came during the baseball playoffs as I learned about the unbelievable wages earned by some of the major players. Shohei Ohtani is the top earner, making $70 million annually. Annually! In the NBA the top wage is $59.6 million/year, and in the NHL $14 million/year, which seems paltry by comparison but is a massive amount of money, more than anyone could ever actually need. I understand the market forces at play and the arguments about short careers and potential injuries and teams bidding for players and blah blah blah. Most of these top athletes are also making a lot of money through endorsements. Well invested, a single year of their salary could cover them for life.
 
My Big idea is to cap all professional athletes at $10 million annually. I’m sure this idea will be hugely unpopular among said professionals and their team owners and managers, especially  teams raking in billions, because what I propose is that along with this salary cap in all sports, at least part of the leftover money should be reinvested into children’s sports programs. Imagine if Shohei was capped at $10 million: that would leave $60 million annually to fund developing sports. And that is only one player on one team! Naturally, pro sports are businesses, and players are often called “products.” Having better products is good for sales and the bottom line. But would our professional sports franchises really fall apart if they had salary caps? I highly doubt it; the NHL has survived so far. Meanwhile our kids could have partially or fully funded opportunities to develop their own skills, rather than spending their time (or more accurately, their parents’ time) schlepping pepperettes. Surely, we should at least consider change. Am I the only one feeling the imbalance of funding makes no sense? Let’s have a conversation. Reply in the comments, or on Facebook at Karen Lea Armstrong-Author.