Actual Proposals

In his senior year at a major mid western university, Billy Wilson had been the third runner up for the fabled Heismann Trophy. The trophy goes to the outstanding football player in America and is presented annually by the New York Athletic Club. During the past football season, Wilson had run for over 1,500 yards and scored 18 touchdowns. He had also caught 41 passes coming out of the backfield. His time in running the 40-yard dash, which professional scouts consider to be extremely important, was 4.38 seconds. He was voted first team All American by the Associated Press and was a second team All American in the Coaches Poll selections.

On Monday morning, his agent, Joel Weinberg, called to say that he was looking at three different proposals that a major West Coast professional football team had made for Billy Wilson's services. The team had drafted him in the first round of the National Football League draft as the sixth player selected out of the thousands of college football players that were eligible for that year. The Edmonton, Alberta, team of the Canadian Football League was also interested in Wilson's services. The Canadian team had called his agent over the weekend to put its offer on the table. While the NFL (National Football League) team that had drafted Billy Wilson in the first round had exclusive rights over all other U.S. teams to signing Billy Wilson during the current year, the arrangement and could make any offer it wished and hope the outcome would be positive.

The West Coast NFL team offered the following three proposals. The team's general manager, who was on charge of contract negotiations, said his team would stand behind any of the three offers and it was up to Billy Wilson and his agent to choose which they preferred.

Contract offer 1:

$900,000 immediate signing bonus.

$850,000 at the end of each year for the next five years.

Contract offer 2:

$200,000 immediate signing bonus.

$100,000 at the end of each year for the next four years

$150,000 a year at the end of years 5-10.

$1,000,000 a year at the end of years 11- year 40.

Contract offer 3:

$1,000,000 immediate signing bonus.

$500,000 at the end of year 1.

$1,000,000 at the end of year 2.

$1,500,000 at the end of year 3.

$2,500,000 at the end of year 4.

As part of the third offer, he was also promised a $200,000 bonus for any year in which he was selected to play in the Pro Bowl All Star game. His agent figured there was a 25 percent probability of that occurring in each of the next four years.

The Edmonton, Alberta, team of the Canadian Football League offered the following:

$1,100,000 signing bonus.

$2,000,000 at the end of each year for the next three years.

The Canadian contract was not guaranteed. This means that Billy was assured of his signing bonus, but if he did not make the team in any of the three years, he would not receive his salary. His agent figured there was an 80 percent probability that his contract would be picked up (paid) in each of the next three years. (The U.S. team’s contract was all guaranteed.)

Billy Wilson was a sociology major in college and although he was red-shirted (laid out) for one year, he would still receive his degree at the May graduation ceremonies. He was proud of the 2.75 average (out of 4.0 points) he had complied because of the rigors of college football. He knew that only about 40 percent of athletes on scholarship ever got their degree. At some schools the average was as low as 10 percent, while Notre Dame boasted about a graduation rate approaching 100 percent.

As a non business major, Billy was confused about the process for determining the actual numerical value of the offerings. For example, the second contract offer from the U.S. team had a total dollar value of over $31 million. He was astounded by such a figure. He knew that the players selected as the very first player in the draft in prior years had not received such high sum. They had been the first players selected in the draft in their respective years, and he was only the sixth player chosen in the current year.

His agent, Joel Weinberg, began to explain to Billy the importance of the time value of money. He said inflows and that, there for, they should be discounted back to the present at a 10 percent interest rate. While Billy did not fully understand how the calculations were done, he knew he could rely on his agent to do the proper analysis.

1. Calculate the present value of the three contract proposals offered by the U.S. team. Factor in any probability considerations where appropriate.

2. Calculate the present value of the contract offered by the Canadian team. Factory in any probability on side rations where appropriate.