Do Sport Athletes Get Paid 2 Much?

[BrunellMVP?]

Originally Posted by Longtimefan

I don't know if they get paid too much, but they sure as hell would play for a lot less.

this is not relevant, nor do i think its true. if it were, then why do people threaten to sit out partial/entire seasons over the difference between $25 million and $30 million? Why do rookies hold out? They do this because a market value has been established for each position, and that athlete is marking himself against that market. Make a low ball bid, and the player is going to protest, no matter how much he is paid.

[BrunellMVP?]

Originally Posted by redwagonskins

You get paid what the market will bear. If you don't like it, don't pay $15 to see a movie, by a $20 dollar DVD or shell at $1500 for season tickets. If you think that there is a moral argument for guys running around on a field making too much, so be it. As long as only 1700 guys are able to play in the league in any given year, 131.7 million people watch the superbowl, and the average value of a franchise in 2006 was $819 (the Skins are worth over 1.3 Billion) these guys are going to get what the market will pay them and it is a HUGE market.

Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo raked in $57 million per while helping to create the sub-prime mortgage crisis that the country is in. I have a bigger beef with that than B Lloyd taking 10 mil in signing bonus out of DS's pocket.

Excellent points- firmly agree. Except its not really out of Synder's pocket, its ours...

[redwagonskins]

Originally Posted by BrunellMVP?

Excellent points- firmly agree. Except its not really out of Synder's pocket, its ours...

To an extent. Our money goes into his pocket. What he does with it is his choice. DS tends to be on the "generous" side with his cash but many other owners run nickel and dime organizations. The Bills, Jets, and Chiefs tend to be on the lower side of the payroll curve. For even better examples, take a look at MLB where some organizations have close to or over $200 million and payroll (NY, BOS) and others hover near the $30 million mark (FLA, TB). It's all a matter of economics and what the owner is willing to sacrifice out of his/her own profit.

As an aside, I wonder if DS cut payroll in half and fielded a mediocre team (think 8-8 range) year after year, how long it would take for fans to stop paying in and there be a real effect on the bottom line. My guess is that it would take nearly 10 years before it started to hurt him in the wallet. I may fault DS for a lot of things, but being cheap isn't one of them.

[Redskin Warrior]

Wow I started a thread that went a different way from what I was talking about.


i was saying does the huge pay days contribute to the Pacman & Vick actions and attitude does it corrupt there minds?

[BrunellMVP?]

Originally Posted by redwagonskins

To an extent. Our money goes into his pocket. What he does with it is his choice. DS tends to be on the "generous" side with his cash but many other owners run nickel and dime organizations. The Bills, Jets, and Chiefs tend to be on the lower side of the payroll curve. For even better examples, take a look at MLB where some organizations have close to or over $200 million and payroll (NY, BOS) and others hover near the $30 million mark (FLA, TB). It's all a matter of economics and what the owner is willing to sacrifice out of his/her own profit.

As an aside, I wonder if DS cut payroll in half and fielded a mediocre team (think 8-8 range) year after year, how long it would take for fans to stop paying in and there be a real effect on the bottom line. My guess is that it would take nearly 10 years before it started to hurt him in the wallet. I may fault DS for a lot of things, but being cheap isn't one of them.

agreed, I don't fault Dan for ponying up for talent- as I said, I think the coaches gave him a wish list of talent and he went out and got it, with a degree of reckless abandon. But in all honesty, if the Redskins weren't the cash cow that they are, I don't think he'd be spending the same way, for long...

[Skinny Tee]

Originally Posted by Redskin Warrior

Wow I started a thread that went a different way from what I was talking about.


i was saying does the huge pay days contribute to the Pacman & Vick actions and attitude does it corrupt there minds?

What you're talking about is involves parenting. All the ill actions of those players were choices they made with a cause and effect decision making process you are supposed to learn when you are younger.

They made some decisions that were probably, for their sake, not the best to make. Anyone who has developed a rational sense of cause and effect would have probably been able to steer themselves from those actions.



Sounds way too preachy but a viable answer for your intended thread subject.

[BrunellMVP?]

Originally Posted by Redskin Warrior

Wow I started a thread that went a different way from what I was talking about.


i was saying does the huge pay days contribute to the Pacman & Vick actions and attitude does it corrupt there minds?

Well, how else do you judge payment? Seems to me in almost anything you do, if you are the cream of the crop, you get paid a lot of money. How many people play football? millions. how many play football professionally? Thousand? of those professional players, how many have massive contracts? maybe the top 15 at each position? how is this different that most jobs out there? the elite get paid.

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by skinsnut

duh, yes...pro sports athletes get paid way too much.

The argument that their career may be short is crazy.
They must get another job after that career like everyone else.
No one should retire at 25...what are you contributing to society?

Just because I may be too old to do physical labor in my 50's doesn't mean I need to be paid double for that type of work when I can so I can sit on my butt the rest of my life.

If anything...they should be paid LESS than the average worker....they are playing a GAME for heaven's sake.

And regarding kids going for the big payoff....look at society....we teach them this.
You ever buy a lottery ticket?

Wow. I couldn't disagree more with this post.

No one should retire at 25? Why not? Suppose you create a revolutionary product that everyone needs, and make billions of dollars in the process? You're saying you don't have the right to spend the rest of your days how you want?

No one is a slave to society. If you play your cards right, save, invest, and spend your money wisely, say ... in a business or other capitalistic venture that winds up putting money in your pocket, enough to retire on even, then that's your right.

You don't owe society or anyone else a damn thing.

[sancho2613]

Originally Posted by Longtimefan

I don't know if they get paid too much, but they sure as hell would play for a lot less.

haha you think if they told every player they were going to get paid a few mil less that there wouldn't be some kind of a strike? Well about the Pacman and Vicks I don't think that the money is really corrupting their minds. I think that these guys already have that kind of mentality. I don't believe that they were innocent kids and got big paydays so they all of a sudden start making stupid decisions even though I'm sure having all that money doesn't help if you already have the tendancy to make bad decisions.

[BrunellMVP?]

Originally Posted by Beemnseven

Wow. I couldn't disagree more with this post.

No one should retire at 25? Why not? Suppose you create a revolutionary product that everyone needs, and make billions of dollars in the process? You're saying you don't have the right to spend the rest of your days how you want?

No one is a slave to society. If you play your cards right, save, invest, and spend your money wisely, say ... in a business or other capitalistic venture that winds up putting money in your pocket, enough to retire on even, then that's your right.

You don't owe society or anyone else a damn thing.

Agreed, unless we woke up in Cuba this morning, I believe capitalism (to some degree) still reigns supreme.

[BrunellMVP?]

Originally Posted by sancho2613

haha you think if they told every player they were going to get paid a few mil less that there wouldn't be some kind of a strike? Well about the Pacman and Vicks I don't think that the money is really corrupting their minds. I think that these guys already have that kind of mentality. I don't believe that they were innocent kids and got big paydays so they all of a sudden start making stupid decisions even though I'm sure having all that money doesn't help if you already have the tendancy to make bad decisions.

not to sound preachy, but the seeds of poor decision were planted a long time go- these guys grew up being the best athlete most people had ever seen, if you hear that you are the greatest ever enough, I imagine some people begin to believe it eventually. (just ask most people that work for judges). These guys likely were making poor decisions well before the professional lives, but they had people covering for them. This same dichotomy holds true in the NFL, yet sometimes players do things that neither their teams, money or lawyers can make disappear. we are all guilty of placing them on a pedestal; we are all guilty of contributing to their delinquency.

[BleedBurgundy]

Anyone who thinks a person getting paid millions of dollars to play a game when there are still people out there who are: 1) starving 2) homeless 3) uneducated needs to adjust whatever value system they are currently clinging to. This country is one of extremes and this is just one more example.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by Redskin Warrior

Wow I started a thread that went a different way from what I was talking about.


i was saying does the huge pay days contribute to the Pacman & Vick actions and attitude does it corrupt there minds?

Well, to answer that question, it is yes. It has certainly contributed. Money does corrupt people, and to make matters worse, these athletes are told they are gifted from a young age. They are told they will be a pro athlete and only to focus on that, so they avoid essentials such as education and train more in their respective sport. Granted not all do this, but a lot do. So the fact that a lot are uneducated and blindly rich...well that's a certain recipe for disaster. Also, we put players that don't deserve respect on pedistals only cause they are a good athlete for our team. No common person could live up to our perceptions of how these athletes should carry themselves, but we still unfairly hold them up above others. These athletes have the "rock star" persona because we hold them in such high regard. So of course it corrupts their mind.

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by BleedBurgundy

Anyone who thinks a person getting paid millions of dollars to play a game when there are still people out there who are: 1) starving 2) homeless 3) uneducated needs to adjust whatever value system they are currently clinging to. This country is one of extremes and this is just one more example.

1) There will always be starving people.
2) There will always be homeless people.
3) There will always be people who neglect their education.

No matter what you do, no matter how much money we throw at these people, they will always, ALWAYS exist.

On my way to work, there is a guy who stands at the off ramp to the interstate next to a stop light with a sign that reads, "HUNGRY -- NEED WORK, GOD BLESS." 9 times out of 10, someone waiting at the red light rolls down their window and hands him a dollar or two.

Directly across from that stop light is a convenience store. As soon as he has enough money, he goes to the store and buys the biggest bottle of beer that money will buy. And he does this all day long, day after day.

Have you ever stopped to think that most people are in this position because they choose it? There are so many places these people could go to get themselves back on track, to get work -- but they don't.

I'm a firm believer that this is the one country in the world where the opportunity to succeed is everywhere. You just have to get up off your ass and work for it. If you are of sound mind and able body there is no reason you should not be able to succeed and attain great wealth. Other than charitable giving, no one who achieves "owes" anything to those that have willingly chosen not to do what's necessary to take care of themselves.

[Campbell17]

Are they Overpayed?
Yes
Is there any way that this will change?
No