The recent case involving Alonzo Mourning got me to thinking? In most sports contracts what happens with injured players? I understand that different contracts would have different clauses, though in general, do teams have to pay the full salary of a player who does not contribute? Or do players receive some type of injury pay when placed on an “injured reserve” list?
cheers
Some contracts are guaranteed and that means no matter what happens the player gets the money. They even get paid if they are cut from the team. I believe most NFL contracts are not guaranteed.
In the case of Mourning the Nets have to pay him the full amount of the deal because they were not able to get insurance on his contract because of his kidney problem. They took a big risk signing him with a known illness. In many cases if a player ends a career due to illness or injury the insurance will kick in and pay the contract off rather than the team having to pay.
More info - NBA 1st round draft picks all get guaranteed contracts for I think 3 years. But 2nd rounders get no guarantee so if a player fails to be drafted in the 1st round they are taking a big risk if they left college early.
I saw the TNT interview of Mourning. It was mentioned, before or after, that the Nets were forced to sign Mourning,or lose Kidd. Why it all is guaranteed-even Kidd didn’t demand that, but Mourning did. Mourning may have bad kidneys,but not brain.
No, absolutely not; players who are still under contract to a team but on the disabled or injured reserve list continue to receive their full salary. This is covered in the “basic agreement” between the union and the owners in all major professional sports.
Can a player be released because of injury, thereby terminating the contract? It depends. If a player has a guaranteed contract, he must be paid his full salary for the term of the contract; that’s the point of getting the guarantee. The team may take out insurance to protect itself, but that’s no concern of the player.
If the player doesn’t have a guaranteed contract, then the provisions of the basic agreement kick in. The Major League Baseball Basic Agreement stipulates that a player released because of injury receives full salary for the balance of the year. (In contrast, if a player is released because of poor performance, he receives only 30 days termination pay. You will sometimes have a case where a player says, “You released me because I was injured!” and the team says, “No, we released you because you stink.” Then the player files a union grievance.) I’m not familiar with the exact provisions for other sports, but I’m sure they’re similar.