Professional Sports

Don't you think athletes are way overpaid?
It's ridiculous isn't it?
Not only that, but the cost of tickets to see games is also ridiculous.

Professional sports have leaned in the corporate direction for
far too long, so that now only corporations can afford to see these games.
The hardcore fan is now counted out completely.

Add to this, teams are now having they're own expensive cable stations.
Making it an even more expensive proposition.

Also out the door is tradition. Teams name stadiums after corporations now,
and wear several uniforms,to further bleed more money from the fans.

What is all this teaching the kids?

I think professional sports is a bit of a scam.

YES! Way over paid and over rated as well. Back in the day someone like say a Darryl Stawberry was signed for 1 miillion. Now? a rookie gets something like 2.5 mil his 1st year in baseball. Same with Basketball with all the indorsements and everything. Kids today see this and say. I don't wanna be a firemen or policemen I wanna play sports. Hello Sports is just that a Sport not a Job. It's a game for god's sake.

And another thing too. With all these high paid players, what do the fans get? Zippo. We go to see our favorit club. be it baseball football basketball or hockey and what do we get? Beeped with high prices for tickets and whatever. Soon if this keeps up you will not be able to go to a game or even watch it on TV due to these so called players with there high incomes just from a game. Yes I do love my baseball but I can not stand how it ( over paid players ) has hurt the game so much. It has even effected the minor leagues as well. Back in the day you could take a family of 4 to a game, Minor league and big league for less than 200. Now? that will barely get you in the gate!
I say Boycot them all. let them all know we the fans hate these over paid babies that just want to play when or if they feel like it, who make a cazillion billion a year, just to go on the disabled list for a hang nail.

I agree. I don't understand how somebody can have such an easy job (yes, I do mean easy, especially compared to a doctor or engineer who needs a lot of schooling) can get so much money. What makes them deserve more than a janitor? The fact they can play a sport well? If everybody who was good at sports pursued a professional career, we would have fewer skilled workers. For practicing every day and having a game once a week, they get multiple millions a year. I do that with swimming and pay to do it! And when you look at people who go to school for years to learn, they end up getting paid nowhere near that much. Even a neurosurgeon doesn't make that much and they start off at close to $1 million/yr. There are some players making 4 times that just starting out. I don't understand the industry at all. It is super overpriced and not worth it at all.

Right! This is why at the MLB Winter meeting 2 years ago they put the halt to a lot of these kickbacks too like X amount for winning the Cyyoung and MVP. They know it is getting out of hand. I also put the blame on a lot of these sport Agnents that are getting 10 to 15 percent of the pay.

Well, you've got to understand that this is in a completely different category of the job of a doctor or engineer. It's a lot easier to learn to become one of those things than it is to become an athlete. (Actually, for the most part you're born with it or you just don't have it, at the professional level)

As for the increase in salaries, Daryl Strawberry was what? 10 years ago? The national average for gas then was like $1 Inflation always takes it's toll.

Another point to be made is that people are willing to pay for the seats that pay for the players. Games at the professional level are regularly sold out, so why would they reduce the price?

The Strawman played for the New York Mets from May 6th 1986 to oct 19th with the NY Yankees. by the way.
I only used him as a refferance though. these people are playing a sport not a job but a sport. only differance between that a job is the word professional. thats the key word. but if you break it down it is still only a sport. I dont care if your a Daryl strwberry or a joe the plimber from hoboken. why get paid all that for playing a game. Look at the Yankee's with there 2009 payroll? over a billion dollors for gods sake. Trust me when I say that thay payroll will trickel down to people who at this rate will not be able to go to any games because these players are making so much money for nothing but a game, that the owners will have to put ticket prices so high even Bill Gates would have to think twice of going to a game.

Well, I suppose when it comes down to it, people are willing to pay them millions of dollars to play, so they will keep doing it. That's just the way the world works sometimes xD

Well it's the same everywhere like watching a game or going to a concert, they can maintain that lifestyle and those prizes because people are willing to pay for that, if even for one game no fan goes to the stadium I'm sure they will consider a reduction on the tickets at least.

I don't think being an athlete is an easy job, because you have to train a lot to become a pro, it's not like anyone can do it, but it's definitely overpriced, because that's right not even a neurosurgeon get paid that much and that's a profession with way more responsibilities than playing a simple sport to entertain.

In the case of professional athletics it seems that the term overpaid should be kept in context. Think of things in the terms of basics economics. Every professional sports team is a product. It is the job of the owners and managers or whoevers f that or organization to make a profit. Teams that win more make more money.

If I own a burger joint my product is obviously going to me hamburgers. so for my product to sell I have to pay a certain amount for materials I have to buy buns and meat. There is only a certain amount by which I can control how much my materials are going to cost me. Perhaps I have a cheaper burger that taste good but, Bob Burger Bar across the street is buying better beef and better buns and makes a burger that tastes great. Though his may cost a bit more he is still getting the business. So I may need to buy some better ingredients that the half stale buns from the outlet store.

In the same way athletes are the materials that make a sports team. Even if they seem to make an obscene amount of money for what they do they are simply the material for that product. Athletes that help win games or simply put people in the seats are a higher value product. Soccer (Football) player David Beckham made a ton of money to go play for the L.A. Galaxy. The team still was bad but his name alone put enough people in the seats to pay for him. In the same way Bret Favre helps win games and gets fan excited to see the games. Thus he is an expensive material but one that pays off.

Take in account as well supply and demand. Unlike the bun example I used earlier there is only one Bret favre or Micheal Jordan or whoever. There are only a handful of top Quaterbacks in the world. The best materials for your product cost the most.

In the same way event tickets costs are subject to the law of supply and demand. Every stadium has a finite number of seats available. Those seats get sold at a rate that coincides with the teams ability to sell them. Sometimes those rates goup as material costs up or demand increases and sometimes (rarer) they go down. Ticket costs for the Devils Rays in Tampa went down when they could not get people in the ball park.

So athletes get paid a bunch of money but still less than the profit margin of the teams in question. I think sometimes people gripe of salaries more out of envy than anything else. But, that is another topic entirely.

True but in a lot of ways your missing the point here, yes it is a big biz but it is also a game. just like other Sports it is a game. this was the point I had been trying to make. These players want there money for what? a losing season? Take Padro Martinez. look how much he made while he was in a Mets uniform. Look at how long over the years he has been in NY as a met. most of the time he has been on the DL or out on a personal leave. Yet still making all that. I love my Mets but here is another, John Maine. He is good but not worth the ammount they are giving him I feel. That is what this topic I feel is really about. Players of all sports being over paid for what that do.