Pro Sports salaries
So lately I've been wondering what exactly makes a pro sports figure worth $100 million plus. Last I checked, they were playing a game. You remember games, right? Stuff like backyard or in the street baseball with a whiffle ball so you didn't break the neighbor's windows (again). Or maybe some Nerf football in the vacant lot across the street. Nevermind that it was overgrown with a couple of feet of grass. One of us was there with a lawnmower to tackle that problem. But we seldomly tackled one another during the game. If we did, we expected to be tackled on the next play regardless of who had the ball. Basketball was played at the persons house that had a goal put up. If nobody had a goal, we hiked up to the nearest school. The nearest school to us was a mile away if you didn't walk over the exposed pipe that spanned the creek. After you walked over it, you always felt relief that you didn't fall in. Oh, did I mention that this was when you were all of 10 to 15 years old?
Back on track here now that I've wandered down memory lane....
How is it that we don't see these sports figures as outrageous? I recently read where a basketball player was set to make $136 million over the next seven years. Math time!! 136 million divided by 7.....19.4 million per year. To play basketball. Roughly 89 games in a season means that his player makes $218,000 per game. Sick. Even if I decide to get a Masters in computers, I would be lucky to see that amount of money per year!
On to how much Houston's arena cost....
To start with, the arena had a budget of $175 million. That excluded several other projects that went with the arena, but rather than list them all here, why not take a look at their official web site here. Even with that type of budget, money man listed above could have bought the arena himself. If he decided to go in halves with another player, he could have bought it inside a year without having to save for it. Just for arguments sake, I say we allot him $10 million to live on for the year. He still would have fallen just short of the $175 million by a mere $49 million. I'm sure that if he would consider making a couple of endorsements from Nike or maybe even Pizza Hut, he could have been able to afford the place on his own. With $10 million left over to live on. Sheesh. How rough could it be?
Then, instead of being able to go see the game for a decent price, the people that helped fund the new arena are now having to pay through the nose to go watch a game. OK, so I admit that I could go watch a game for $10. I had better bring something to stem the flow of blood from being at such a high altitude though. And I had also better pack something like a pair of binoculars so that I can see these guys that are all over 6 foot tall. Granted, I don't like basketball. But even if I did, I still would not have decided to spend that much money on a place that I will most likely not visit.
In lieu if paying some 6' plus tall guy to entertain me, why not use his annual salary to pay for some better schooling for my kid or buy some equipment for my brothers in Iraq? Imagine what would happen to our armed forces if we decided to put half as much money towards training them as we do to pay all the sports figures in America. Forget being bad to the bone! We would be unstoppable and would have less injuries and deaths from fighting! Is it so much to ask? I know that the common in the phrase "common sense" is highly uncommon these days. But how much better should we treat ourselves, kids, teachers, military, and others before we start treating athletes like royalty? This isn't a slam on basketball only. I think that people who play any professional sport should be limited in what they earn. It's a sport after all. Believe it or not, we could do without them putting on a show for us every week.
Back on track here now that I've wandered down memory lane....
How is it that we don't see these sports figures as outrageous? I recently read where a basketball player was set to make $136 million over the next seven years. Math time!! 136 million divided by 7.....19.4 million per year. To play basketball. Roughly 89 games in a season means that his player makes $218,000 per game. Sick. Even if I decide to get a Masters in computers, I would be lucky to see that amount of money per year!
On to how much Houston's arena cost....
To start with, the arena had a budget of $175 million. That excluded several other projects that went with the arena, but rather than list them all here, why not take a look at their official web site here. Even with that type of budget, money man listed above could have bought the arena himself. If he decided to go in halves with another player, he could have bought it inside a year without having to save for it. Just for arguments sake, I say we allot him $10 million to live on for the year. He still would have fallen just short of the $175 million by a mere $49 million. I'm sure that if he would consider making a couple of endorsements from Nike or maybe even Pizza Hut, he could have been able to afford the place on his own. With $10 million left over to live on. Sheesh. How rough could it be?
Then, instead of being able to go see the game for a decent price, the people that helped fund the new arena are now having to pay through the nose to go watch a game. OK, so I admit that I could go watch a game for $10. I had better bring something to stem the flow of blood from being at such a high altitude though. And I had also better pack something like a pair of binoculars so that I can see these guys that are all over 6 foot tall. Granted, I don't like basketball. But even if I did, I still would not have decided to spend that much money on a place that I will most likely not visit.
In lieu if paying some 6' plus tall guy to entertain me, why not use his annual salary to pay for some better schooling for my kid or buy some equipment for my brothers in Iraq? Imagine what would happen to our armed forces if we decided to put half as much money towards training them as we do to pay all the sports figures in America. Forget being bad to the bone! We would be unstoppable and would have less injuries and deaths from fighting! Is it so much to ask? I know that the common in the phrase "common sense" is highly uncommon these days. But how much better should we treat ourselves, kids, teachers, military, and others before we start treating athletes like royalty? This isn't a slam on basketball only. I think that people who play any professional sport should be limited in what they earn. It's a sport after all. Believe it or not, we could do without them putting on a show for us every week.
posted by Cav at 11:53 AM
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