An exciting new asset class for America's pension funds and college endowments to consider

Your obsession with my country has so far been quite amusing, but why write about Feyenoord when there are so many more interesting teams to write about, like Ajax? It makes no sense.

Actually, this trade in human flesh is not that special. Usually clubs "own" a player for several years through an employment contract. If the player wants to leave, his new employer must buy out the contract. There are clubs that earn most of their income this way; buying cheap and selling at a profit is a good business of you can consistently spot talent before others can. In Holland, SC Heerenveen is a good example of this.

BTW, the human flesh in this business enter these contracts willingly and are extremely well rewarded. In Dutch first division, one of the smaller European competitions, AVERAGE wages are about $500.000 a year, with top players earning 5 times that. Wages in England, Spain and Italy are much, much higher still. So perhaps it is creepy, but few players complain.

What do average NFL-players make?

I'm actually a bit of an Ajax fan, and definitely not a Feyenoorder. But I'm a slave to what the NRC chooses to cover. The innovation isn't that teams are buying and selling players but that this activity has been moving onto financial markets. But yeah, the players are well paid, albeit for often-short careers.

As of 2005, according to USA Today, the average NFLer made $1.4 million.