One would think that owners of professional sports franchises would learn that handing out long-term contracts to players seldom works out.

Take the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Tigers as good examples of money thrown away.

The Vikings, with hopes of getting to the Super Bowl they missed out on last season, threw big bucks away to sign quarterback Kirk Cousins away from the Washington Redskins.

It turned out that Cousins was little better than the guy they had last year. In fact, Case Keenum, now with Denver, may have been the superior of the two players.

The Vikings, who have a good defense, folded up entirely in the last two weeks of the season, and will now sit home and watch the playoffs.

And chew on the idea of paying Cousins some $87 million over the next few years.

The Tigers also were overly lavish when they signed slugger Miguel Cabrera to a large multi-year contract a couple of seasons ago.

Now, the difference was that Cabrera was bonafide superstar back then, and almost certainly a slam dunk Hall of Famer when he retires.

But when he does play — and that has not been much over the last two seasons — he sits on the bench with injuries and collects some $30 million a year.

That is what anyone would call a poor investment, much like the Tigers pulled when they overpaid the now retired Prince Fielder a few years back.

Fielder, as you will recall, did little to justify a salary the Tigers are reportedly still paying for.

Such mismanagement in Detroit has helped lead the team being little more than a glorified version of the Toledo Mud Hens. And that’s with not much of a future.

So, these millionaires (actually billionaires) running pro sports should consider all of this.

The question is how much do they really care, certainly not as much as long-suffering fans …..