NFL players earn every single penny they make, and then some. Those guys literally put their lives on the line at every snap of the ball. One hit, and you could be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. What other careers have that kind of job stress? And look at the condition of some of the players after their playing days are over (Earl Campbell). NBA players are the most well conditioned athletes on the face of the earth, IMO. Well, most of them anyway. I don't know how those guys do it, playing 3 or 4 times a week and traveling all over the country to do it. And you have to get your average every night. Lots of pressure. Baseball players, on the other hand, are a bunch of fat, greedy, roided-up cheaters. I'm just going to stop there so I don't piss off any of the baseball snobs on the board.
A-Rod: $300 million WTF? He has never been to the World Series yet he commands a fortune for what 50 homers and 150 RBIs but no production in the post-season? He is way overpriced due the simple fact that you could buy 2 or even 3 players for the same price and get twice the production. For 30 mil a year, you can get Mike Lowell, David Ortiz and still be left with enough change to get a ace pitcher like Josh Beckett. Now who would you rather have? A-Rod only works for small markets where the owner needs to fill the seat with a big name superstar. Now if you are trying to build championship caliber team than giving A-Rod that kind of money is ridiculous.
If a player could bargain a billion dollar contract more power to them and their agent. Personally a million a year I'd have a hard time knowing what to do with. As others have said the top 1% usually do make that kind of money no matter what professional field you're in. Maybe not multimillionaire if you're the best plumber on the planet but you're making pretty damn good dough. That's why I think it's about what your passion in life is when it comes to a career. If it's truly something you love to do, and you strive to be the best at it, money will follow suit.
All of the fans need to stop going. With no asses in the seats and no one buying drinks/hotdogs, things would dwindle in price/salaries. Of course, that will never happen. They need to stop charging $36 for a coke and a hotdog. I'd rather see that than see the players make less money.
Nothing ticks me off more than the intent of this thread by the starter. I'm glad to see most people share the same view as i do, that singers, actors, ceo's can be lumped in there, except athletes actually put in some physical effort to earn their pay, and they do deserve to be paid that much for the most part. No where in the world do people whine and b*tch more about athlete salaries than in England. Its absolutely ridiculous, from the MPs to the fans, all they do is whine about how making 100k a week-basically 5.2 mill/yr is insane and no one should earn that much. I feel like hitting the idiots everytime i hear that. Its just sour grapes imho. They feel they can play the game and are ticked off they arent earning that much, while they forget that the athletes worked their socks off to get where they are.
Cops, firefighters, Soldiers, construction workers (certain projects).... I agree that you can't blame athletes for getting the money they get because if someone is willing to pay it, take it. I think what fans and ordinary people get upset about is when these athletes who are making $30 million a year, whine and cry about how unfair it is that they are not making $40 million a year instead.
That does chap my ace. And they already have more money in the bank than they'll ever be able to spend, and the want more more more.
The problem is how replaceable cops, firefighters, soldiers and construction workers are. It's much easier to fill an open position for those jobs than one of NBA quality player. Thus the players demand a premium since they know how hard it is for them to be replaced.
