Sports and Money

People love complaining about the salaries professional athletes receive. 

“X gets paid 50 million a year for throwing a ball in a hoop while soldiers get paid 20,000 pounds a year for putting their lives on the line and defending freedom and democracy,” is the common detraction from the Average Joe in a bid to castigate the sports industry and its screwed up morals. 

Okay, fair enough, point made. Now ask yourself this – would you pay 40 pounds to watch a soldier fighting against insurgents, or pay 40 pounds to watch a doctor perform heart surgery or pay 40 pounds to watch a teacher teach?

I’m not belittling the services these people offer mankind – regarding the necessities of society, one surgeon is much more important than Wayne Rooney and Andy Murray combined. Morally and ethically, surgeons and doctors are far superior. But we don’t live in a world that’s limited by morals or ethics.  It’s much more complex than that. In fact, more often than not, we live in a world that’s dictated by economics. And the law of economics states that is perfectly conceivable and more so, right that a top professional athlete earns more in one day than a teacher will in his or her entire life.  I know a few people will be frothing at the mouth at such a statement, but let me explain.

In 2010, the boxer, Floyd Mayweather, earned 85 million. He was the highest paid athlete for that year. He fought two fights during 2010. Two fucking fights and he lands himself a fee close 100 million.  The fact that this guy only had a couple of bouts will probably inspire a torrent of rage in the detractors.

However, let me tell you this – when Floyd Mayweather has a fight, 85 million is actually a fraction of the money he generates. Millions of people buy pay per view deals to watch him fight in their living room – corporate sponsors pay millions to have their products advertised, television deals reach in excess of hundreds of millions. Floyd Mayweather’s name, his brand, is highly marketable – it puts money in people’s pockets and indirectly, that money creates a lot of jobs. The money that Floyd Mayweather makes (along with the many other pro athletes that get paid millions) is not only a fraction (yes, a fraction) of what his name generates. He brings in much more money than 85 million to a variety of people.

A soldier’s name is not marketable – a surgeon’s name is not marketable, because the fields both respective professionals operate in are not marketable to the masses that crave for entertainment. They don’t inspire whole countries to stop on a Sunday evening in anticipation of the coming result.

Floyd Mayweather’s salary is simply part of the laws of economics and capitalism. That’s why top athletes are able to get paid such an obscene amount of money. That money doesn’t come from some golden well reserved for athletes – it comes from us, from society. It comes from season ticket sales, from team shirt sales, from television subscriptions.

Morally and ethically, I don’t agree with the amount of money pro athletes get. However, economically, I totally agree with the amount of money athletes get. Economically, they deserve every penny they get. I always find it curious and contradictory when a sports fan complains about the salaries of players, yet this same person religiously renews his season ticket year in and year out at a fee of hundreds of pounds.

Economics, economics, economics.