Are Athletes Overpaid!!

One of the big questions often talked about in professional sports today is the millions of dollars that teams are giving to these athletes. On March 28, 2013 in my American Sport class we talked about this issue and who is benefiting economically from sports. In the last two decades, the size of players contracts has exploded. In the early days of modern sport, athletes didn't make enough money to just play football or baseball they have had other jobs as well to put food on the table. Since that time there have been some changes that have provoked this rapid growth.

There used to be restrictive labor practices that kept players salaries down. There wasn't a free agency and players could not negotiate there own contracts, the owners made the decision. Until the mid 1970’s, professional athletes in the major sport leagues had little or no legal power to control their careers. They could only play for the team that drafted, and as a direct result, owned them (Coakley, 2010; p.381). The first free agency was in 1976 brought on by two players, Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally. The first basketball free agency was in 1976, and the first football was not until 1993.
 
There were two legal systems that are responsible for these labor practices.
 
             Reserve System                                                                      
 

 Most restrictive in baseball and hockey   

                         

 Implemented in early 20^th century to mid 1970’s      

 

Players were bought and sold like property, 

and rarely consulted about their own wishes

 

Players were at the mercy of team owners, 

managers, and coaches

 

Each club had the right to negotiate with the players

whose services were reserved solely for that club

 

Each player’s salary was determined by the

  owners

 

               

         Option Clause

 

Most restrictive in basketball and football

 

Implemented from the early 20^th century to 1976

in basketball, and 1993 in football

 

Owners had the right to invoke the terms of a player’s

 contract one year after expiration

 

 

Owners only had to pay 90% of the original salary,

when the terms of a contract were invoked

 

If a player wanted to become a free agent he had to play one 

additional year with his original team for 90% of his contract

 

Yes there are athletes that make a ton of money, but the thing is there is only some many that really make crazy amounts of money like Lebron James and Alex Rodriguez. Most of the players in the NBA  get 1/4 of what Lebron gets. Here is the list of the average salary of professional leagues.

   AVE SAl.                         League MIN                                                           NFL$1.9M                            $405,000                 

• MLB-$3.31M                     $480,000
• NHL-$2.4M                        $475,000
•   NBA-$5.15M                      $525,000

When I look at those numbers there is one thing that stands out to me. The players that take the most beating in their sport get paid on average less than any other sport. In the NFL you have the shortest length of career and have the best chance of getting hurt and on top of that not all of your money in your salary is guaranteed like in other sports.
 
      Top 5 Highest paid athletes            

• Floyd Maywheather - $85M
• Manny Pacquiao      - $62M
• Tiger Woods            - $59.4M
• Lebron James           - $53M
• Rodger Federer        - $52.7M

     Top 4 Highest paid CEO'S

• Richard Fiarbank - $249M
• Terry Semel-  $230M
• John Hammergen - $145M
• Bruce Karatz - $135M

I think that athletes are not overpaid, but its getting very close in my opinion because what they do is very difficult and not everyone can do it. Less than 1% of us have the ability to be a professional athlete. Just think in terms of supply and demand. How many people have the ability to work at McDonald's, mostly everyone does. So you get paid very low in that job  because so many people can do it. So now how many people have the ability to be a doctor not very many and you get paid pretty good in that field because its not easy to be a doctor and there is less people to pick from. 
Now for a professional athlete, there is a very small number of people that can be one, it's less than 1% and that's why they get the kind of money they do. 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1089195-two-sides-to-every-coin-are-professional-athletes-overpaid