Sports Salaries Essay, Research Paper

Most people in America feel that pro athlete’s salaries are too high. Current

sports salaries are reaching astronomical figures. Players are signing 50

million-dollar contracts and up just because they happen to be pretty good at

hitting a baseball. Just the other day Kevin Brown signed a contract worth over

100 million! Now pro sports are fun to watch and follow, but college games

entertain just as well and they aren’t receiving a legal penny. Down south,

people like college sports more than professional sports. Player’s don’t Ned to

be paid exorbitant amounts of money. The economics involved in sports today

hurts the fans, some teams, and the leagues themselves. The sports leagues can

actually be hurt by there own actions. The current NBA lockout is a prime

example of money ruining what looked to be a fine year. The owners are locking

out the players until they can settle on a bunch of points. The baseball strike

a few years back obviously hurt baseball, and this lockout might hurt basketball

also. John Donovan from CNN/SI summed it up perfectly, "You have greedy

owners and you have greedy players, all of them fighting over absurd amounts of

money. And, in the end, it’s the fans who get screwed" (Donovan 1). One

dispute between the two sides is the "Larry Bird Exception". This rule

basically allows teams to ignore the salary cap and re sign a veteran at any

price. Michael Jordan alone makes 6 million more than the team salary cap. The

owners want this modified because some teams are just too good. The players

don’t want to budge on this issue. Their side on this is that there is no middle

class because of the salary cap. This is a very good point. Salary caps are

important to keep teams close, but that leaves great players making millions

while the good players make too little. The owners are trying to get the most

money out of their team but in the mean time nobody is watching their team play

and the profit is zero. Money problems have and will continue to scar sports and

more importantly the fans. What should you tell a little kid who loves

basketball, when his favorite player is playing golf somewhere instead. High

price players effect fans more than you might think. According to Richard

Amrhine, "The Los Angeles Lakers offered Shaquille O’Neal $123 million over

seven years. The deal will help push tickets for the so-called cheap seats at

the LA Forum from $9 to $20." That is ridiculous, now the average family

has to spend a fortune just to go see a game. Relocation seems to be the new

thing for teams to do. In order for a team to be good they must buy good

players. If they don’t make a profit they must move. The best example of this

would be the Cleveland Browns. Despite having some of the most loyal fans in the

world, the owner decided to move to Baltimore, where they could hopefully make a

profit. Once again money problems stemming from high salaries comes between fans

and their beloved game. If the trend in sports doesn’t change, I would have to

think that attendance is going to drop. Sports popularity is soaring but more

and more people are going to have to watch the games on the TV. Prices for

tickets are rising pretty steadily and there are more and more premium seats

being placed around the arenas. How can the average family afford to go to a

game when for 4 people it will cost well over $100. And then you can factor in

the absurd prices for food and drinks. Pro sports may soon become entertainment

for the rich. The way sports are set up today money is a huge part of how

successful the team is. It has often been said that you can buy yourself a World

Series Championship and to a certain extent it is true. A couple years ago the

Florida Marlins bought many high priced players, putting them at the top of the

salary list. They won the World Series that year and then totally dismantled the

team. The next year the Marlins were one of the worst teams in the league. Even

though Florida did win with money it doesn’t always work out. Last year the

Baltimore Orioles had the highest payroll, but they didn’t even make the

playoffs. High priced players don’t always equal high talent. In spite of the

fact that teams with high salaries don’t always win, it has been calculated that

unless your payroll is at a certain level you are out of the race before it even

starts. Baseball has the highest salaries out of all the sports. With the

average salary at about 1,000,000 it’s hard to think of any player as poor. And

the salaries are growing very rapidly. In 1981 the average income was $185,000.

Compared to the "real world" baseball players are totally in a league

of their own. "In 1976 the average ball player earned eight times the US

average income. In 1991 the average ballplayer earned forty-seven times the

average US income" (Zimbalist ?). Salaries really have lost every sense of

reason. If you wanted to look at the other side of the coin, baseball players do

make considerably less than their entertainment counterparts. On the field money

is just a fraction of what some players get. In 1996 Michael Jordan made 12.6

million dollars. But since image is everything he made $40 million just in

endorsements in one year! All because some companies believe his face will help

them sell their product. Sports athletes are hot commodities. Everywhere you

look there is a sports related endorsement. Some companies rely solely on sports

figures to advertise even if their product has nothing to do with sports (Wheatees,

Campbell Soup).

326