Even with the recent advent of the salary cap, the common hockey fan still has trouble coming to grips with the figures that grace the pay stubs of today’s NHL Players. The salaries are large and the length of the contracts are longer as teams try to lock up their stars for what seems to be their entire careers.
I found myself wondering exactly what happened when Dustin Penner went from being the best deal in the league at $450,000/year, to being one of the worst deals in the league now earning nearly 10X that amount.
Who Made Hockey’s First Million?
In any event, even that pales in comparison to the offer that was made to Bobby Hull back in the 1972 season by the owners of the WHA. The owners of the WHA franchises recognized that they needed a bonafide superstar to give league some legitimate credibility. This desperation by the owners led to the offer of $1 Million to Bobby Hull if he would play in the World Hockey Association.
Hull not only received $1,000,000 to play hockey in the WHA, he reportedly got it all in one lump sum! From all reports, this made Bobby Hull the first player in any professional sport to receive a $1,000,000 contract.
Salaries Adjusted For Inflation
Of course, this may seem like a lot of money back then but it is just a drop in the bucket these days. Even when adjusted for inflation, Hull’s $1,000,000 equates to just $5,049,760.77 in today’s dollars. According to the 2007-2008 salary figures, 52 NHL players will earn more than $5,049,760 this season.
Hull’s Take On His Big Contract
“My wife made me a millionaire when she divorced me - before she divorced me, I had three million”.
This is one of the many interesting facts that I found when reading Hockey’s Book of Firsts by James Duplacey.