So what do you think about Pro Athlete wages?

[BigRon]

@Fry

Is there some pro-athlete union artifically inflating their salaries or something?

Yes, a players union?
League Minimum for the NFL in 2007 was:

Rookies - $285,000
One Year Veteran - $360,000
Two Year Veteran - $435,000
Three Year Veteran - $510,000
Four to Six Year Veteran - $595,000
Seven to Nine Year Veteran - $720,000
Ten+ Year Veteran - $820,000

[Joe_Omerta]

@boardjnky4

For those who think they shouldn’t get paid so high:

Where else should the money go if it didn’t go into the player’s pockets?

Why not lower the cost of tickets slightly, build more parking, have valet parking, more security, mayb a bigger half time show or w/e. all of which leads to more jobs and the players wouldn’t take that much of a pay cut.

also, possibly more advertising(not needed but could lower the cost of sports apparel), charities, help bail out wall street

[ryanmcell]

@Paulo"

The thing that drives me crazy on this other forum, is that a couple people are trying to say that mechanics deserve more money than pro athletes and seem to think that becoming a mechanic requires more thought and dedication. WOW.

Questions/Comments/Concerns/Noodz?

I don’t believe this at all.

1. You can learn the trade of being a mechanic over time if you choose to. There is no training classes on how to play sports. It takes a skill you can’t learn, even training for it doesn’t mean you will be the best or even good.

It’s hard to compare the two because one is a physical demand and one is more of a precision operation with tools.

IE) You can be out of shape and still be a mechanic, sports on the other hand no.

[Karter]

Depends on the sport IMHO.
A football player can be hurt his first pro game and be done forever.
Thus waisting his entire life to football without a decent reward the juice wouldnt be worth the squeeze.

Baseball players make WAYYYY too much money for a zero contact sport.

Hockey players get payed properly IMHO they deserve it, theres nothing safe or easy about thier game.
Race car drivers have to spend tons of money to get noticed on a high paying level, racing all the down divisions you will NOT make any money, it will cost you 400 - 1000 a month just to run very low level.Sponsors pick up a very minimal ammount of that in lower level racing.

[ryanmcell]

@Just Karter

Depends on the sport IMHO.
A football player can be hurt his first pro game and be done forever.
Thus waisting his entire life to football without a decent reward the juice wouldnt be worth the squeeze.

Baseball players make WAYYYY too much money for a zero contact sport.

Hockey players get payed properly IMHO they deserve it, theres nothing safe or easy about thier game.
Race car drivers have to spend tons of money to get noticed on a high paying level, racing all the down divisions you will NOT make any money, it will cost you 400 - 1000 a month just to run very low level.Sponsors pick up a very minimal ammount of that in lower level racing.

I agree and disagree with your statement.

Ever played baseball? There may be minimal contact but it is not an easy sport to play and be good at. Can you throw 90+mph? Probably not, thats a skill that takes precise mechanics of the arm, and accurate? Even more precision. How about for 100+ throws for 20+ games a year and then do that for 10+ years and not lose a step/get cut? Can you hit a 90+mph fastball and pick where you want to hit it? Doubtful, and consistently?

The point of that is, yes there may be a lack of contact, but it’s not something you can just pick up and do. They get paid what they do because it is not something the average person can do and there is money to be made from it.

Nascar, football, hockey, baseball, basketball, whatever all require specific skill sets to the sport that the average person does not have and is not capable of learning. Thus giving those athletes a skill that is rare and marketable for big money.

[Syrup]

none of what has been said about baseball factors in that there are 160 games, therefore, MORE $ made than say, 16?

and how does contact affect the difficulty of a sport or affect the pay?

so just because NASCAR drivers have the risk of dieing, they should be paid the most?

gay

[Karter]

@Syrup

none of what has been said about baseball factors in that there are 160 games, therefore, MORE $ made than say, 16?

and how does contact affect the difficulty of a sport or affect the pay?

so just because NASCAR drivers have the risk of dieing, they should be paid the most?

gay

Read next time.
Contact ads risk of injury, your first time playing pro baseball/ basketball I doubt your going to end up with a severed spine or slit throat like hockey or perminent head neck and back injurys like racing.
Also The cost of playing baseball all the way until your in the mlba is about the cost of 2 years of racing. (which wont get you close to a paying level)

[Karter]

@ryanmcell

I agree and disagree with your statement.

Ever played baseball? There may be minimal contact but it is not an easy sport to play and be good at. Can you throw 90+mph? Probably not, thats a skill that takes precise mechanics of the arm, and accurate? Even more precision. How about for 100+ throws for 20+ games a year and then do that for 10+ years and not lose a step/get cut? Can you hit a 90+mph fastball and pick where you want to hit it? Doubtful, and consistently?

I agree you cant learn it over night, but by no means should they make 20+ million a season.
5-8 million for top of the line players is more like it

[Afrank45]

@BigRon

Yes, a players union?
League Minimum for the NFL in 2007 was:

Rookies - $285,000
One Year Veteran - $360,000
Two Year Veteran - $435,000
Three Year Veteran - $510,000
Four to Six Year Veteran - $595,000
Seven to Nine Year Veteran - $720,000
Ten+ Year Veteran - $820,000

damn my estimates were off by about a 100k

[Syrup]

@Just Karter

Read next time.
Contact ads risk of injury, your first time playing pro baseball/ basketball I doubt your going to end up with a severed spine or slit throat like hockey or perminent head neck and back injurys like racing.
Also The cost of playing baseball all the way until your in the mlba is about the cost of 2 years of racing. (which wont get you close to a paying level)

the risk of injury doesn’t factor in to the pay, or else MMA fighters would be making ALOT more than they do. and this post made little sense

what’s the mlba? lol and a slit throat in hockey?

i wasn’t aware this happened so often

[Daddie]

@Nikuk

ehhh you’re kind of missing the point on it.

American’s pay into the teams. The teams pay into the players. The more competitive the team the more they collect, the more top dollar players they can pay. If a player is deemed more valuable then another, he’ll prolly get paid as such.

Obv the fans paying into the team is the root of it, but we the people have no direct control, as it were. Even buying merch & the like.

you rarely have a player who is getting extra money for entertaining the masses directly (ie-TO, Deion, etc).

Cliffs: Player values are set by the owners, not the fans directly except in very rare cases.

See: New York Knicks

[ryanmcell]

@Just Karter

I agree you cant learn it over night, but by no means should they make 20+ million a season.
5-8 million for top of the line players is more like it

The only person in the MLB making 20+ is ARod.

Edit. Looks like Giambi and Jeter are as well. So I take my statement back.

[Nikuk]

@Daddie

See: New York Knicks

why? what have they done?

[system]

You have to remember though these players only ‘work’ for so long too. Most people will work for 50+ years today, athletes work for maybe 10? And their later years they don’t get pay raises, they get cuts. They have to make enough money to live on, support families, and deal with the headaches of their fame for years after they finish. Yea, the perks are great when you are 24. Try raising a kid with a shit ton of paparazzi constantly photographing you.

[TgDn32]

@Fry

Face it, Americans pay good money to be entertained. If you can entertain Americans better than anyone else you get to demand a huge effing salary.

This.

[Johnnylude]

You think athletes make $$$$ check out top hedgefund CEO salaries in 2007.

BALLIN!

[traumadog]

Hmm… makes me wonder where American priorities are.

Noone complains when a ball player makes millions, but bitches when a CEO of a multimillion (multibillion?) dollar company does the same.

While we’re at it, how about multimillion-dollar ambulance-chaser lawyers that just happen to feed off those who really need help? (Jim “The Hammer” Shapiro, anyone?)

Oh, and I remember a poll from the NY Times some years ago that said doctors should only be paid $100k/year.
(http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F0CE3DA123EF932A05750C0A965958260)

Mind you, these are people complaining about the cost of medicines (even co-pays), yet think nothing of $100/seat tickets to sporting events. (or even more… re: personal seat licenses for season tickets)

So obviously, paying someone to entertain you is worth alot more than paying someone to keep you healthy.