Its funny because you can even see it in pro sports.
For example, the vet minimum Salary in the NFL is something like 900k. If your a vet, on the tale end of your career, and you just want to play for a team then that team has to be willing to fork over that 900k..even though said player might not be worth that. Even if they player was willing to play for say 100k, he couldn't do it because it is against the rules...so said player has to retire.