The article contrasts the evolution of professional football since Super Bowl I in 1967, noting significant changes in player size, salary, and lifespan. Today's players are larger and earn millions, with average salaries around $3.2 million. However, they endure shorter careers, averaging over three years, with running backs often lasting just two. Additionally, the violence of increased collisions and a longer season—21 games versus the original 16—contribute to players' reduced life expectancy compared to their peers, highlighting a troubling trade-off in the sport's growth.
Contemporary players earn much more as well. The first NFL collective bargaining agreement...set a $10,000 minimum annual salary for veteran players, the equivalent of some $90,000 today.
Pro football players these days pay a steep price for their paychecks. The average player career now lasts only a little over three years.
Those shorter lifespans reflect both the violence of the collisions between today's much bigger and stronger players and the much longer length of today's NFL season.
Players participating in that first 1967 Super Bowl only competed in 16 games. Players on the 2025 Super Bowl's...squad will have competed in 21 games.
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