Are Athletes Overpaid?

Sports news has many areas of topic, but one common are of discussion that is routinely brought up is about athletes and their contracts. During the October 23^rd lecture in my American Sport in the 21^st Century class we focused on whether or not athletes are overpaid. In the class discussion, we talked about the history and progression of professional athletes’ pay. The general public consensus is that athletes are overpaid and during a contract dispute most people tend to claim that the athlete is being selfish, greedy or a crybaby because he is already getting paid hundreds of thousands, or millions of dollars. I have two pieces of knowledge that will change some of your minds; so the next time you hear of a contract dispute you just don’t jump to the usual criticism towards the athlete and can actually understand that most athletes are NOT overpaid.

Until the mid 1970’s, professional athletes in the major sport leagues had little or no legal power to control their careers. They could only play for the team that drafted, and as a direct result, owned them (Coakley, 2010; p.381). This was the life that pro athletes lived from the early 1900’s all the way to the mid 1970’s. In this time free agency did not exist and was far from its present form, so what happened when their original contract expired? The players were obliged to sign standard contracts saying that they agreed to forfeit to their owners all rights for the remaining duration of their careers (Coakley, 2010; p.381). I have listed below the two legal systems were responsible for implementing these restrictive labor practices.

The Systems that Restricted Labor Practices Until the last Two Decades of the 20th Century
Reserve System	Option Clause
Most restrictive in baseball and hockey	Most restrictive in basketball and football
Implemented from early 20th  century to mid 1970’s	Implemented from the early 20th century to 1976 in basketball, and 1993 in football
Players were bought and sold like property, and rarely consulted about their own wishes	Owners had the right to invoke the terms of a player’s contract one year after expiration
Players were at the mercy of team owners, managers, and coaches	Owners only had to pay 90% of the original salary, when the terms of a contract were invoked
Each club had the right to negotiate with the players whose services were reserved solely for that club	If a player wanted to become a free agent he had to play one additional year with his original team for 90% of his contract
Each player’s salary was determined by the owner(s) = lower and cheaper salaries	Heavily restricted player’s own wishes
Ended in 1976, when Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally challenged saying the system was like slavery and a monopoly	Ended for basketball in 1976, and for football in 1993 as a result of the end to the Reserve system

 

During the class discussion, everyone agreed that the Reserve System and the Option Clause both unfairly held money and better opportunities away from the athletes that played during that era. All of the information that I listed in the above chart, came from the class lecture and pages 381 and 382 in Coakley’s Sports in Society. Following the extinction of the Reserve System and the Option Clause, baseball, basketball, and hockey got to experience the creation of Free Agency in 1976. Football would experience Free Agency later on in 1993.

The second piece of knowledge I have is to simply look at the numbers of today’s sports. I have three things to display the money numbers of today’s athletes: the league minimums, the average salaries, and a comparative list.

League Minimum Salaries                                           League Average Salaries

  NFL:      $ 375,000                                                            NFL:      $ 1,330,000             

  MLB:     $ 414,000                                                            MLB:    $ 2,749,125

  NBA:     $ 473,604                                                            NBA:     $ 4,900,000

  NHL:      $ 525,000                                                            NHL:     $ 1,800,000

Yes, I know that we have are big-money athletes such as Alex Rodriguez, Peyton Manning, and LeBron James who are all making a healthy sum of money. Athletes of this caliber are only a small, elite group of players. Most athletes have salaries that are around the league minimum or the league average. In class we also compared a list of the highest paid athletes to the highest paid celebrities. Seen below, is a list by Forbes that corresponds to this part of our lecture. Notice that LeBron James is the only athlete from a pro team sport to crack the top 5. *If you would like to see the entire lists then follow these links:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/19/floyd-mayweather-jr-forbes-highest-paid-athlete_n_1607490.html#slide=1114068

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mfl45lhfj/oprah-winfrey-21/#./?&_suid=1351199411879034918626601021113

Top 5 Highest-paid Athletes Verse Celebrities
Athletes	Celebrities
Floyd Mayweather - $ 85 million	Oprah Winfrey - $ 165 million
Manny Pacquiao - $ 62 million	Michael Bay - $ 160 million
Tiger Woods - $ 59.4 million	Steven Spielberg - $ 130 million
LeBron James - $ 53 million	Jerry Bruckheimer - $ 115 million
Roger Federer - $ 52.7 million	Dr. Dre - $ 110 million

 

As seen in the list, celebrities who have gained riches by non-athletic talents and who are at no real physical risk make A LOT more money for just safely sitting around, while athletes put their own physical health and well-being on the line at every practice and game. Being a professional athlete is not an everyday job and therefore is deserving of millions. The bottom line is if we can accept celebrities making 8-9 figures, then we definitely can accept athletes making 6-7 figures. This is why I say, ATHLETES ARE NOT OVERPAID!