Is Brett Favre’s 2010 Salary the Biggest Waste of Money in Sports History?

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Oct 31, 2010

Is Brett Favre's 2010 Salary the Biggest Waste of Money in Sports History? Brett Favre is making $16 million dollars this season — one million per regular-season game. It’s also a pace equal to $500,000 per turnover if Favre continues to play as he has thus far.

Of course, he also costs them by disrupting team chemistry, being a distraction and preventing the franchise from planning for the future, and the Vikings are just 2-4, so it’s really not all that crazy to call Brett Favre’s 2010 salary the biggest waste of money in sports history.

That, of course, is an impossible mark to live up to in the era of Rick DiPietro and Gilbert Arenas, but it is still pretty impressive to think that Favre and Peyton Manning have the same price tags. Something like that only seemed possible in the NBA — the league that inexplicably paid Joe Johnson the most money of any free agent this past offseason.

In the Vikings’ defense, their reasoning for trying to convince Favre to return was sound. They had come moments from making the Super Bowl, and if Favre had stayed retired, they would have begun the season with Tarvaris Jackson under center and few expectations for deep playoff success. In fact, starting Jackson would have meant “rebuilding” for Minnesota.

The Vikings had to take a chance on Favre, and even if he continues to throw tons of interceptions, he is at least keeping the team in the spotlight. Favre may be a bomb, but he’s clearly an interesting one. Whether or not last year or this year was the fluke — or the schedule this year was just too difficult — the Vikings couldn’t have known any better before paying Favre millions.

Whether or not that proves to be the biggest waste of money in sports history remains to be seen.

Is Brett Favre's 2010 salary the biggest waste of money in sports history?survey software

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