Are athletes paid too much?
537971
And you should surely get a couple of million a year for that. And your picture on a box of Wheaties! Our kids are dying to wear the same shoes as yours. And when you blow a knee from kissing your boss's ***, you can retire with all those millions. Yep. Athlete. Security installer. All the same to us! How many hours a day do you work out to install those little boxes?
455506
Sure they are. But the fans keep going to the games and watching them on TV, generating huge advertising revenues.  The owners, don't forget, are are also bringing in bigger bucks; they keep paying the players more to build better teams to attract more fans to attract more dollars.  Vicious circle isn't it.
358675
MLB has the highest average salaries, I believe, at $2.5-$3 million.  The NFL has average salaries close to $1.5 million.  The NBA and NHL are also in the $1-2 million range.  I'm quoting these from memory, as I've seen the numbers before, but they may have changed since I read the article.\n\nNote that the best players get payed quite a bit more than that (some are over $20 million).  All of the leagues have minimum salaries in the $300k-$500k range.
543127
NO! Not in any way! Remember, for contracts, BOTH sides have to agree. That means the player AND the owner agree to the terms and the finances. So if an owner agrees to pay a player a ridiculous amount, that is their choice.\n\nBesides, money is money. The game itself has remained relatively the same. Just some people are getting paid more than they did years back.
701640
Anybody earning over half a million annually to entertain (football, hollywood, whatever) gets paid too much. I don't care how hard they work, blah blah blah, they are siphoning off money from the middle class...and they should feel ashamed.
4876
Players are paid what the market offers.  Team owners generally overpay players in fear that the player may sign elsewhere.  I don't have a problem with a football player getting $2 million.  The average career of a football player is 4.5 seasons.  If that player is injured, and cannot work, then I can justify their salary.  As long as we the Suckers, keep buying tickets, jerseys, memorabilia and the like, then pro players will be overpaid.
1045992
Well, here's the thing.  If you think players are making ridiculous amounts of money (and I agree), what about the owners?  The owners are the ones that can afford to pay them this money.  On the one hand, I'd rather see the players make more money than the owners; however, I do think they are overpaid considering they are only playing a game.  \n\nRemember in Field of Dreams when Shoeless Joe says, "Man, I did love this game. I'd have played for food money. It was the game... The sounds, the smells. Did you ever hold a ball or a glove to your face? ..... It was the crowd, rising to their feet when the ball was hit deep. Shoot, I'd play for nothing!"  That's the kind of love for the game that has been missing in recent years.  It became about contract years and free agency, not just pure, simple love of the game.\n\nShould they get paid?  Yeah, it's their job.  Should they be paid millions of dollars?  I don't think so.  My job can be just as dangerous.  I have just as much chance getting injured as a player.  Do I matter less because I'm not in the limelight?  I'm having trouble walking right now because I got banged up at a softball game Wednesday night, but I'm still going to be heading to work in about an hour and a half, getting paid $10/hr to help people shop.  I don't expect to sit down and still get paid today.\n\nThe good thing is that a lot of players do not blow all their money on themselves.  Many of them have set up foundations and charities to help the underpriviledged.  I don't mind those players making a ton of money.  In fact, I'd rather see those players make more than anybody else for the simple fact that they have more to give away.
355062
As to where money and sports collide, so does the dark side of humans. Some of the athletes I have met are as nice as you could imagine. Others, I would rather have a dentist appointment than endure their presence again.
831093
Yeah, but NFL careers are on average only 4 seasons. Body takes a pounding. I doubt anyone calculates pay per hour/minute...besides you are just talking game time. NFL players practice and study film way more per week than NBAers. Plus off-season they have a zillion workouts from actual working on their own to mini-camps etc.
575672
basketball players make a little more than football players, because of their collective bargaining agreement with the league allows players to make a certain amount.  \n\nNBA Salary (rookies $398,762-$473,604) | (veterans $641,768-$1,352,181) the salaries rise each and every year\nhttp://www.insidehoops.com/minimum-nba-salary.shtml\n\n "Average NBA salary is $4.9 million (U.S.), the highest of any major North American sports league. The collective bargaining agreement came up for agreement in 2005 but NBA Commissioner David Stern decided to make no attempt to implement a hard cap or any other major changes, to the dismay of many commentators who felt that changes were long overdue and that the NBA could take advantage of the NHL's momentum." (Wikipedia - Salary Cap)\n\n\nNFL Salary \nThe minimum salary for an NFL player is $235,000 in his first year, and rises after that based on the number of years in service. Exhibition game minimum is $10,000. These numbers are set by contract between the NFL and the players' union, the National Football League Players' Association. These numbers are of course exceeded dramatically by the best players in each position.\n\nYears Experience Minimum Salary \n0 $260,000 \n1 $305,000 \n2 $380,000 \n3 $455,000 \n4-6 $540,000 \n7-9 $665,000 \n10+ $765,000 \n\n(Wikipedia - NFL, National Football League)
761018
Yes, it's obscene the amount that they earn.   Ultimately it's the fan in the street who pays their wages, and some of those are the least able to afford it.
1146713
If you are asking whether they should be expected to follow the law of the land or face punishment, the answer is yes.  If you are asking whether they should be held to a higher standard, then no.....they're only human.\n\nI don't know about a specific incident like the one you refer to.  There may also be a contrat obligating the athlete to behave in a certain way during "off hours", in which case, he signed the contract, he accepted the money, he should be responsible.
478795
They make so much because we live in a society that glorifies fame, and drools at watching others make millions.....sadly, the common person has no drive to make that money themselves. So in turn, they find solace over personal inadequacies by watching others.\n\nDon't get me wrong, I like watching the occasional game too....but as a lover of athletics....I couldn't give a damn about the players...and their stats...and all that junk.\n\nBesides, I'm also not a dead man walking that has no dreams...I'll make their money too, it just takes time.
988746
This is only true for those players playing in the US, those playing outside ie in the European Leagues are in similar pay scales. All are conditional to what the team they are playing for and what they think they are worth. The US based players get paid what they are worth based on the market. When the sport becomes as popular as basketball and baseball and the teams start making the same kind of money the salaries of US based players should increase.
498319
Well, the NFL is the best organized league in the world, and as the most organized league it is the most profitable. If teams and owners were not earninjg big amount of money, they wouldn´t be paying big salaries. Football players are incredible athletes that compete during 6 hard football season months! But a team woulnd´t be paying 100 million in salaries if they weren´t recieving much more. Tickets, merchandise (in and out of stadiums), TV contracts, sponsorship deals amount for such a profit that they can afford those big salaries. True, players go through a lot of pain during and after the season, but i guess rugby players do also, and they aren´t recieving the same salaries. Also, i believe salaries are way too high, but as long as the owners are making money, they will be going for better contracts to attract the best in the business.\n\nGolf ain´t that bad sport. Last Sunday someone won 1.3 million for 4 days of work at the course... not bad! Tiger has a 20 plus million contract with Nike. I believe he has made Nike win more than that or else he wouldn´t get a new contract!
239847
About 40 thousand a year. The best players can make a little more.
1092294
I definitely think they get paid too much money.