Before you read the rest of this I would like to make it very clear that this is just an observation, I love sports, and I am not disrespecting any of the players I am about to mention.
Have you ever thought about how many millions of dollars professional athletes make?! It's amazing. Let's start with some of the lower paid professional athletes:
- Rory McIlroy won $1.44M yesterday in the BMW Championship on the PGA Tour. The total purse for the BMW Championship was $8,000,000.
- Yesterday Serena got $1.9M for her US Open win. Today the winner of the men's final will receive the same amount. *Quick Side Note: How awesome is it that men and women get the same amount of prize money in the the Grand Slam events?! The Open will have spent $24,054,000 on prize money this year. The Grand Slam events actually are on the lower end of the USTA and WTA tournaments when it comes to prize money. Players are working to raise the purses at Slams so they will be "in closer line with their own tour events in terms of the percentage of prize money."
Those are the sports with athletes who are paid on the low end of the scale when it comes to professional athletes. In the NFL, it's another story.
- The highest paid athlete in the NFL is Peyton Manning, making $18M this year and having a $96M contract for the next five years. To put that in perspective with another athlete in a different sport, this year Manning will be paid three times the amount Serena Williams has made this year. He will have made 3/4 of the amount of the entire purse of the US Open. To put it in perspective with the rest of the country (median income is currently about $51,000), Manning will make about 350 times the amount of the average worker this year. WHAT?! There is no possible way I can comprehend that amount. Wow.
- My favorite player, Tom Brady, is going to make almost $8M this year (about 150 times the amount of the U.S. median income). His contract through 2014 will end up making him $78,000,000. Again, wow.
These guys and gals play sports. And they are paid amazing amounts of money. While I know that they are paid by the teams (which are private organizations, so it is not our tax dollars or anything paying these players), sports bring a lot of money into cities that have pro teams, and sports are highly valued in our society, the sheer volume of these figures is staggering to me. The fact that these players feel like they deserve these kinds of salaries makes me a little nauseated.
Wes Welker is a prime example of a player I love who was in contract negotiations this summer who, frankly, disgusted me. He wanted $11.42M this year with a long-term contract because he felt he was worth that much to the Patriots organization. He is now on a one year contract, making about $9.5M this year, and I'm pretty sure that yesterday in the season opener he got a total of 14 yards (fourteen?!?!! Is this a high school stat???) and let a perfect pass bounce off his helmet.
So. It's crazy! I know that a lot of players have their own charities that they've started and they do good in their communities, so that's really great! It just seems like our society values athletes much more than police officers, teachers, and firefighters. I feel like I'm going to get a lot of crap for that comment, but if I'm wrong, then why don't we pay the men and women who keep us safe, educate our children, and rescue our families more money? Should we pay more taxes so we can pay our public servants more? Is privatizing law enforcement and education the answer? I don't know, but just by looking at the figures, I feel like I can say our priorities might be a little mixed up.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
I never get this argument. You do a disservice to people when you compare apples to oranges. Any collective bargaining agreement takes into account it's own native resources and expenses. One sport can't be compared to another. And you certainly can't compare a sport's revenue and expenses to a government entity whose job it is to use collected tax money for a fluid economical and demographic landscape.
ReplyDeleteA sport has a known cash influx through tv contracts, ad revenue and such that are set for a number of years, but a town or city has no such guarantee. Migration, natural disaster and other fluidity change a govt's revenue from one day to the next.
You can certainly say that our 'priorities' seem lopsided when we lionize athletes more than civil servants who use their lives to serve and/or protect ours; but that's something we can correct on a personal level.
Teachers and police and firemen certainly can use a proper thank you once in a while, but how often do we as individuals go out of our way to do it? And, do we really think of our librarian in the same vein? Why not?
When was the last time we pressured our local politician to compensate firemen properly? Or voted for the person who promised not to nickel and dime the education budget?
Jerry in CA
Fair points! Thank you for the discussion!
ReplyDeleteI really don't think it is a disservice to people to mention this. I know that the sports world has lots of private money and they get that through TV contracts and all that. What I'm saying is, though, why don't they just pay the athletes the median income and use the rest for something else? Think of how many millions of dollars would be available for use in charities or education or anything if each professional athlete made $50,000.
I think that your point about individuals going out of our way to thank police officers and fire fighters is interesting. You say, "Teachers and police and firemen certainly can use a proper thank you once in a while, but how often do we as individuals go out of our way to do it?" I say, "I feel like individuals are the ONLY ones who DO go out of their way to say thank you. The government doesn't in terms of monetary bonuses or anything."
You have an excellent point that we need to vote for the right candidates to keep our education system and police system strong. I'm planning on doing just that.
No, my contention is with how this argument is usually framed in the media. That's why I said apples to oranges. We automatically seem to expose the athlete for how much they make. To do what? Embarrass him, demonize him? Of course, I'm not saying that's what you meant to do. You said yourself you follow sports enough to have favorite players and know the disparity in pay between sports. But, just as a point of this discussion; how often do you see the team revenues and profits in the mix? If you remember, this last round of NFL bargaining, we were at the mercy of what Godell and the rest of the owners were willing to divulge. And that was nothing. It was all speculation on the reporters' part. But because we know players' salaries, we have a target. (and no I don't believe in renegotiating in the middle of a contract, and yes, athletes make too much).
ReplyDeleteBut that being said, nobody twists anybody's arms in negotiations to the extent that owners or players 'cut their own throats'.
That's why said it was a disservice. Because every time I see this argument in the media, only one aspect gets highlighted and made the scapegoat. I'm sorry, it's a pet peeve. no disrespect meant towards you.
Jerry in CA
No disrespect felt! I appreciate your comments on this. I really agree with what you said about picking one thing and focusing just on that--I agree, it's not the best approach to researched reporting, but, like you said, we know nothing.
DeleteThank you so much for your interest in this and taking time to have really great comments! I will definitely have more sports posts as the football season progresses, so if this is what you're interested in, please check back! :) Thanks again!
Kinsey