Are you offended by how much sports stars make?

"Are you offended.." this fucking thing, man... Please stop...

It doesn't really matter to me how much they make. Sure, it sucks that they get paid a whole lot more than a cardiologist, but it is what it is. The catch with that, though, is that the cardiologist has 40-odd years making 200k a year, probably more with raises, whereas the athlete makes 50 million over 10 years, and blows it all on fancy cars, 5th McMansions, boats, probably drugs, and ends up back at square 1 with nothing at age 35. Not to mention his body is so fucked up from all the overexertion he had to do, he's gonna be in excruciating pain for the rest of his life. I see it as a fair trade. Athletes basically sell their body to the devil for fame and fortune.

No. What I'm saying is that everybody's time should be worth the same, up to the point that one has earned one's basic keep, as in put in one's productivity on the fundamental level of the pyramid that is modern civilization - such as agriculture, construction, sewage, electricity, waste disposal, mining, fishing, hunting, agroforestry - that sort of work. Because up to a certain degree, we are all the same. As in: 'Does the Pope shit in the woods?'. Because of course he does. Everybody does.

That's ideally speaking. I'm no idealist. I'm just contributing an idealist point of view, why the possibility of making such an extremely good living for oneself just by playing some sports really well, and it being all you'll ever need to do in life, is distasteful to me. If I'd be willing to take a gamble on my ideals, I'd be what? At war? Come on. And I don't really believe that it works all that well either. In the face of overpopulation and increasing pollution, and based on the fact that ressources are finite, the maxims of capitalism such as maximizing profits and continuous growth are clearly trappings of a doomed enterprise.

While modern civilization might not come crashing down around us, or catastrophically fail in some other way during our lifetime - it's still a rather childish and stupid way to conduct one's business. We're living in a world where the gambling man - the winner - rules and shapes the world. Winning is not the equivalent of earning, since one can win more than one could ever reasonably earn. I don't know about you, but I don't quite agree with this situation. Am I gonna do something about it? Hell no. I got games to play. Movies to watch. Books to read. Food to eat. Beverages to drink. Women to enjoy.

I'd rather spend my time idly enjoying myself, than waste it on idle and pointless fighting over this or that. Sure - if the Endwar breaks out, I'll take a stab at it for the lack of alternatives. Other than that, I'm free to see the world through my idealistically tinted glasses, without living the life of an idealist. Thank you very much.

This is the nature of private enterprise, I have to agree on principle it seems disgusting, but what a private organisation (as opposed to a public sector job, in which the taxpayers contribute to) pays it's employee's is entirely their affair. That's capitalism.

Like there is too much money in politics there are too much money in sports.Nowadays Football players are known for how many $xx million they are worth, like as if they are nothing more than expensive whores. I wouldn't mind if we went back to the time when athletes where just amateurs and instead of being primarily a Football player, just a mason with a talent for Football.

No I'm not offended.

On one hand it is retared how much money they make, and no one can work "hard enough" for that kind of salary to seem fair to an ordinary worker.

One the other hand their salary is perfectly reasonable from an economic perspective. Elite fotballers are an important and high demand commodity in a business where success is linked to huge profits. Same exact thing with A-list movie stars. They're simply paid what they're worth to that industry.

No I'm not offended.

On one hand it is retared how much money they make, and no one can work "hard enough" for that kind of salary to seem fair to an ordinary worker.

One the other hand their salary is perfectly reasonable from an economic perspective. Elite fotballers are an important and high demand commodity in a business where success is linked to huge profits. Same exact thing with A-list movie stars. They're simply paid what they're worth to that industry.

Ask Sweep about being offensive.

And how much does he make? More than any sportsmanplayer that's for sure.

Yeah, that's right.

#PAX

I see how it happens, but on paper when you look at how little teachers, soldiers, and generally more important people make and then look to a man (that does work hard) but is basically a stage performer throwing a ball around is kinda gross.

I'm not offended by market economics. Sports players don't get paid that much because as a society we've decided they're ethically superior to doctors. They get paid that much because that amount of people will pay to watch them ply their craft.

Nope, they earned it.

If it makes you feel better, most doctors I've met are huge jerks.

Not at all. Do you know how much Kobe Bryant is ACTUALLY worth to the Lakers? He's paid in the mid-20 million per year range, but factoring in sales of his jersey, TV licensing deals, playoff ticket sales, endorsements and so on, Kobe Bryant (and LeBron James) are worth more like $75-90 million per year to their teams. Because of competitive rule sets that only allow NBA teams x amount of money to spend so that Milwaukee can technically compete with L.A. in the market place the very best players arguably earn exponentially less than they're actually worth compared to their benchwarming counterparts.

As the son of a teacher I understand the moral quandary that comes from an educator making in a year what most athletes in the big five sports (hockey, baseball, football, football, basketball) make in a week. But I also understand the realities of economics; in that regard, the college athletics system offends me. The NCAA's pursuit of equality across all sports has become appalling in the years since the Michigan basketball "scandal". It's a farce and I hope the bigger leagues like the SEC, Big Ten and Pac-12 can find a way to secede from the NCAA and create a new order for the great "student"-athletes out there.

If it doesn't affect you (Which it clearly doesn't ), why try and throw your oar in?

I'm jumping in to agree with the sentiment that the conversation isn't really about how much athletes make, but about how much we spend on entertainment. If every classroom, doctors office or mining pit was surrounded by 100,000 filled seats then things would be different.

@believer258: Thats not an argument. In case they were paid less and needed more money after their short career they could do this fabulous trick anyone else does to get more money. Its called working. When they retire they may no longer be fit enough to compete at a world class level, but that doesn't mean they can't handle a regular job.

The only argument why they are getting so much money is because someone is willing to pay them. If all people suddenly would loose interest in football, they wouldn't get paid a single dollar.

I'm not offended, but obviously it is very unfair.

If you (the OP) come from a first world country which seems to be the case, there is nothing stopping you from becoming a great sports star yourself. Which answers the "is it fair" question.

Should you become one of the best teachers of troubled young kids in the world, or the best at selling yourself I am sure you can become rich too. By becoming a public speaker/expert on the subject, or by teaching some rich sportsstars kid some manners. I bet that Nanny lady on TV is loaded by now.

I'm neither offended nor jealous. I just think it's wrong.

It also kind of depends on the athlete at hand. You mention Kobe Bryant, he's paid nearly $30 million this year by the Lakers (last year of his contract), but he also works his ass off to be healthy, his dedication to the sport is unmatched and he performs on a high level each night even at age 34 (or 35 coming season). And yes, his commercial value to the Lakers is three times his pay, but he also works for it. But it's a different story with for example Andrew Bynum, who doesn't look after his body as well, worsened a knee-injury while bowling, doesn't play an entire year, yet still gets paid $17 million by the 76'ers.

Same applies to footballers/soccer players: Messi is worth a lot to Barcelona, but he delivers every time he steps on the pitch. Another example is Fernando Alonso, who gets paid around $35 million each year by Ferrari, but he delivers on the track and works hard to stay fit. What I'm basically trying to say is that as long as you deliver as an athlete, work hard and represent a high commercial value for your club/team, I don't have a problem with the amount of money athletes make.

They aren't paying Bale for his hard work though, they're paying him primarily for his rare talent. Teachers, firefighters and even (most) doctors don't have particularly unique skillsets. As necessary as these jobs are, thousands upon thousands of people can do them or are capable of doing them. Football is the most popular sport/entertainment on the planet and there are perhaps a handful of people in the world who are as talented at it as Bale is right now.

It's not really worth getting worked up about. In the grand scheme of things it still isn't a particularly significant amount of money and society will take 50% of his money to pay for far more than his share of doctors, teachers, firefighters etc anyway.

If you had dedicated your entire life to honing a world class talent you could potentially have enjoyed similar financial rewards too. You chose not to do that, so you can't really bring 'fair' into it. Like you said, your reward is in knowing that you are doing something important and making a difference. Maybe on your deathbed you'll be more content with what you've achieved with your life than Bale will be.

they get paid proportionally for their importance in their business, there's nothing else to say.

No more offended by how much CEO or plumbers make.

No, its called capitalism, they make EXACTLY what they're worth to their teams, its called good business.

If you think an athlete makes a lot of money, you'd be surprised. Its NOT EVEN CLOSE to what the owners make...

They are the labor force. They deserve a share of the profits. Would you be more comfortable if the owners made 90% and the players 10%?

They are the labor force. They deserve a share of the profits. Would you be more comfortable if the owners made 90% and the players 10%?

I'd not say offended. I think it's crazy how much money is flying about sports, but I understand the why. I think it's absurd but not offensive.

They are the labor force. They deserve a share of the profits. Would you be more comfortable if the owners made 90% and the players 10%?

wut?

Well and the millions of public taxes in the form of direct subsidies and public media paying licensing fees to broadcast their games. And now the fore-mentioned bailouts. Not that there is any widespread public outcry over this.

I'm more offended by how little most everyone else makes.

I'm not offended by it. I do think many are overpaid after you factor in some of their salary being for retirement, but then that money would just go to the owners, who are extremely overpaid. I'd rather see sensible ticket and merchandise prices, and if it affects how much those overpaid is paid a little less, I'm ok with that.

I try not to count anyone else's money because that's a shitty slope to fall down.

Things to remember before getting offended...This guy's entire life has been devoted to the sport. He works extremely hard, and has for years to get to the place where he is. His lifestyle has to meet certain strict guidelines in order to keep his body in condition to play at that level. I'm not sure how it works with Football, but with American Football, the players are not given any real benefits i.e. they pay full price(if i recall correctly) for their health plans, they aren't given retirement plans to pay into...now this is off the dome so i don't fully recall..however i do vaguely remember reading an article written by an american football player stating all that. Could be talking outta my ass there.

Anyhow, this guy MAY have 10-20 years of playing time left in him....but more than likely not. Injuries are always a real threat and can end careers; (What can end you're career, other than your own actions? This guy has an ACCIDENT and he's done.) smart/lucky athletes can get sponsorship deals to fall back on, but even those are fairly well ephemeral. And, as dtated before, the players' entire lives are dedicated to the sport..so not too much to fall back on if they do get injured.

Their life is a risk. A real honest to goodness gamble, begining at pretty much childhood. And prolly fairly lonely too, not knowing who's a real companion and who's just a hanger-on. I'm not offended at paying for talent, and compensating dedication.

I wouldn't say that I'm offended, just disappointed that we as a people choose to pay sports celebrities more than we do teachers, or police.

If society didn't enjoy football, racing, tennis etc then these people wouldn't be paid nearly as much. Not their fault per se, but societies.

It doesn't offend me, I find it flat-out disgraceful.

A military private makes less than a police officer, a police officer makes less than a middle school teacher, a middle school teacher makes less than a construction worker, and an NFL player makes more than all of them combined.

I don't fault the players; if someone was willing to pay me two million a year to throw or kick a ball I'd do it in a heartbeat. I don't even fault sports marketers; if massive amounts of money can be made legally and morally, go for it.

I fault the government and the fans: the government for their use of taxpayer funding to build egregiously lavish stadiums (yes, I know the return over time nets a profit), and the fans for their priorities. It's no wonder most people are ignorant when ten dollars for admission to a wildlife habitat or a history or art museum is too expensive, but sixty dollars to watch people moving balls is just a day at the park (figuratively speaking).

Sad thing is, is there is no 'money' in policing, teaching, soldiering or nursing. If there was, they would be paid more.

Yes.

I'm not 'offended' but I certainly don't think that professional athletes should be making that much.

The sad truth about it is that based on the amount of press, advertising and reams and reams of money these players make for team owners, they're probably being significantly underpaid.

Sports franchises make billions, so it makes sense that the best in the world at their particular athletic endeavors will reap the benefits. Although I was just reading that the practice squad guys in American football make $6K and up weekly.I'd give a toe for that kind of scratch!

Well it does annoy the hell out of me, as does stuff like reality TV where pepole can makes thousands of pounds just by acting like morons on tv. They have no skills, they have no talent, they don't even work for it.

No. A lot of the people getting paid a lot of money get paid that much not only because they can play, but because they generate a lot of revenue for the franchise, so in essence they are getting a cut of that. There are people making a whole lot more for doing a whole lot less in this world, I fail to see why sports stars are always the ones that get shit for getting a fraction of the money they helped generate.

Still not satisfied? Watch Broke on Netflix and see how so many NFL stars lose all their money after retiring.

I think it's stupid, yes. But I understand why they make what they do. A lot of people love to watch sports. A lot of people will pay a ridiculously inflated fee for the privilege. A lot of companies will pay large truckloads of money to have their advertising featured in the broadcast of the popular thing. That's just business.

I'm more confused by the extent to which anyone follows and cares about sports. What difference does it make if the corporate entity associated with your general geographical region happens to win a game against the corporate entity associated with the geographical region neighboring yours? That I will never understand.

@herbiebug:

Someone could ask the same question of any entertainment consumed. I watch sports because I enjoy the strategy and athleticism as I played, and still play, sports. As for who to cheer for again why does anyone cheer for one over another in a competition. The rationale is always going to be arbitrary.

Offended and fair are the wrong words for this. Disagree? something along that line. I wish great teachers, great police officers, talented scientist or coal miner makes anywhere near that much.