Are Professional Sports Players making too much money?
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.
845035
i think they get paid way too much. i do the exact same stuff just for fun and i'm not a multi millionaire. getting paid millions of dollars to hit a ball with a stick basically...
490825
Last year £786 million in wages alone was paid to 2,347 professional footballers, that's roughly equivalent to the GDP of Mongolia in 2005. Of that sum, £583 million went to Premiership players. And the likes of Steven Gerrard and David Beckham are reported to earn over £100,000 A WEEK – that's more than £5 million a year - not bad for playing a bit footy.
934969
I think the other two answers say it all.  Not only are athletes over paid, but the entertainment industry is too.  Bruce Willis made something like 100M for the Sixth Sense, and Mel Gibson supposedly 400-500M for the Passion of the Christ.  Those are ridiculous figures.  It is a checks and balances scenario.  They say why should the network or film company make all the profits when we are putting a**es in the seats.  \n\nI think the ridiculous salaries of CEO's and other top level jobs are way out of hand too.  There was an article where the Sultan of Brunai had a home built for something like 100M, didn't like it, and had them tear it down and rebuild it.  BS!!  He has a home in LA that he had built for around 30-40M, and he has yet to step foot in it.  And you ask why we question it?  If it wasn't thrown into the our faces day in day out, maybe we would not question it.  We don't need to hear about their unbelievable acts of selfishness when we have men and women dying every day to protect our freedoms, and their families get close to nothing for their heroic efforts.
236964
Lots Of Factors Involved. But They Make Around $800-$1200 Dollars An Mth I Believe. I"m Sure You Can Go Any Reliable Sports page An Get The Updated Information.
230404
It is a simple lesson in economics supply and demand. For athletes, people are willing to pay money to see a game and receive a service. Owners are willing to pay star players more because they attract more fans to the games, sell more gear, get more endorsements, get more radio/tv money. The players pay for themselves.\n\nTeachers, policemen and other civil servants does not fall so much into this same criteria. Most of these are paid with taxpayers money.  The taxes come from property, sales or income taxes.  At the same time, they do not produce the revenue that a baseball player/team can produce.  Due to both of these factors they do not get paid as  pro athletes do.\n\nThe same applies to anyone with a specific job with the city, county, state or federal government such as an attorney or an engineer. They typically get paid less than a counterpart in the private industry. They have the same skill set and experience but get paid less. In exchange, they usually get better hours, more benefits. More importantly they usually enjoy knowing that they are working for the citizens.\n\nAs with everything in life there is a tradeoff.
627414
Yes it certainly is. It's the most widespread sport and the Premier League is the richest in the world. It depends however, what you call sport as fishing is supposed to have more participants although professional football is watched every week by over a million people live and far many more millions on television. Top Premier players can earn over £100,000 per week but in lower leagues the average is about £25,000
1126993
Actualyy i don't think they get paid THAT much, if at all... especially in comparison to their pro contracts.  They consider it an honor to represent their countries, kind of like the Olympics, I think.
949543
I don't think its nonsense. It really doesn't matter to the players because all they want is MONEY. Trading in the nba doesn't occur as much as football.
429875
I assume you mean from sports alone - no endorsments or acting gigs. If this is the case, the highest paid athlete is Alex Rodiguez (NY Yankees) - a bit more than $25 million a year. With endorsements deals and pet projects, it is Tiger Woods.
666470
Let's face it..nobody's getting rich playing cricket now are they? Your question could apply to footballers, golfers, tennis players, etc. etc. Outstanding athletes in any sport are a marketing tool for sporting goods companies to sell more stuff, and I think if an athlete has the kind of talent it takes to catch the eye of these companies then they should be compensated for it.
435757
Yes. Of course the millions that are paid to these athletes is mind boggling. And what have the been the results of all that? Recklessness, drug abuse, poor and underachievement and many other unacceptable behaviors.
117790
who do you think should get the money??? (from all the tickets and merchandise??) The Owners?? Of course they deserve quite a bit. This is their life. THey entertain us all and sometimes risk their careers. They've dedicated their whole life to sports. What happends when they get hurt ??? They need the money to last them their lifetime. Hell you know how much it costs to insure a lambergini!!!!!!!?
157234
Well in football they have revenue sharing so all teams make a profit. Some teams are much more aggressive than others when it comes to advertising and marketing. The more aggressive ones have more profit to spend. So the NFL has a salary cap so all teams are on a level playing field as opposed to MLB which has a handful of big spenders and a bunch of small market teams. The salary cap is set according to a certain percentage of revenues taken in each year. Every year each team has to be under a certain limit, set by their Collective Bargaining Agreement, by the end of training camp. The way the owners circumvent the cap each year is to pay rather large signing bonus money up-front which is pro-rated over the course of the contract to spread the cap hit evenly. If a player is cut before the end of their contract the remaining pro-rated signing bonus is all lumped onto that last year which usually means a huge cap hit for that team. Alot of players sign huge contracts knowing full well they will never see the back-loaded contracts to their end, and they end up restructuring their contracts to accommodate the team if they really want to stay. So somewhere down the line difficult player cuts have to be made. Hence why you see teams letting older players go and keeping younger players , it all leads back to salary. Now they have what they call veteran minimums on contracts for older players, if you can convince a player with say 5 years experience to sign for a  veteran minimum the cap hit is not the complete total of the contract yet the player still makes a decent salary and the team gets to keep an experienced player for a lesser salary cap hit. This is the NFL's way of taking care of veterans yet while still considering the owners costs. Of course some owners don't manage their books correctly and end up sending their teams into a tailspin. They have all the signing bonuses and big contracts end up hurting them in the long run and have some down years. Now some teams don't even approach the salary cap spending limit which really bugs the owners who market aggressively and have more revenues. But this also keeps things even because it would just lead to the problems seen in MLB, the haves and the have-nots. Most teams have what they call a salary cap guru to keep things under control. Some are successful, some aren't. It all boils down to fiscal responsibilty and due diligence. I hope this helps you understand what can be a difficult thing to follow.
884215
I think you mean 200k, right?\n\nPersonally, to get sports back to the enjoyable pastime that it used to be, I agree, we should lower all salaries to 200k a year. All salaries would be 200k a year, no more superstar salaries. What would this do?\n\n1) Lower ticket prices so people can go watch the sports again.\n2) Lower the concession prices to something better than $10 for a beer and $8 for a hot dog. Crazy.\n3) Athletes can keep sponsorships.\n4) Provide a good retirement and insurance for the players\n\nPut the love back in the game, get rid of all the whining babies from the game and play player that take pride and love the game.
611584
Aah let me guess; "SMART"people answered these questions, well let me set the record straight  I think some athletes are worth the money that they receive because they had to work hard to become PROFESSIONAL athletes, and a major fact is that most of them put their own bodies on the line just for the entertainment of fans. So they deserve every penny.
224266
I think most of them play for the love of the sport.\n\nYou can't be a good sportsperson if you do not have the passion.\n\nThe money side is a bonus to them.\n\nI know a couple of sportspeople, who make a lot of money\n\nBUT they are excellent at what they do and they also have a passion for it.\n\nOnce they lose the passion, they no longer play well, because they need to play from the heart.\n\nI hope this helps.