[jsarno]

Are professional athletes paid too much, without a doubt YES. They are human just like the rest of us, and those of us doing life changing jobs make a fraction of a fraction of what they get paid. For that reason, they absolutely get paid too much. They bitch and moan about playing a game, when all the while their alternative lifestyle is flipping burgers at McDonalds.
That being said, some here are trying to justify or discredit the fact they make billions of dollars a year overall, but fail to see it is YOU that is doing it. If the going rate for a kid that mows your lawn is $20, and you pay him $1000, is it the kids fault that he is overpaid, or just a happy victim of circumstance? Now if that same kid goes around the neighborhood and says (so and so) is paying me $1000 to mow lawns, well they are gonna have to do better than $20 if they want the services of this kid right? Maybe $40? Well, that is what we have in professional sports. But by now the rates are so damn high, they are beyond comprehension. Of course, some of you are saying "well, go find a hungry kid that will still do it for $20...that's all fine and dandy, but as plenty of pointed out, these leagues (and indirectly the fans) have agents, and unions. The agents sole responsibility is to look out for the client, but they look out for #1. The unions sole responsibility is look out for the players and the respective league, even though they only care about how much money the players get at any cost, even go so far as to not agree with drug testing in certain cases. Of course, I am getting far too deep into this, but first and foremost, if you want to amazing salaries to stop, then look in the mirror. It's not like the government is paying them, it's all of US. It's our fault the players are getting paid millions upon millions, it's our fault the players unions are out of control when they aren't even really needed anymore, it's our fault the agents are money hungry blood suckers. We allow it. There is a really simple way to stop it...stop opening your wallets every 5 seconds to spend on these sports. Otherwise, not only do we have to deal with the high costs, we should expect it.

ps- same can be said for the housing market too. Guess what would happen if everyone stopped paying 500k for a subpar house, the market would crash and the prices would come down.