Money in sport

[Arkacia]

What do people think of the sometimes huge amount of money some sportspeople "earn" simply for playing a game.

A few I can think of off the top of my head are top golfers, "star" baseball and basketball players, and soccer players like David Beckham and Pele.

While junior sports groups have to practically beg in the streets to get enough money to outfit their team, and get them to games, these so called "top" sports people earn tens of thousands of dollars/pounds etc, for merely turning up. Is a name really worth that much.

While I have no problems with professional sports people earning money, and a decent amount of money in return for the effort they put into their sport, the obscene amounts some of them are paid, would in my opinion, be better spent on junior sports, and the next generation of players.

[2xGuest426]

Well, I am not really against big payments for professional sports folks... Usually they are the best on their field. Thats about same thing that is in businessworld etc, the best *insert occupation here* can often tell their prize, and still someone wants them. Because they're best on their field.

What I am against, is the thing, that some (quite many actually) of those hi payed players do everything they can, to avoid paying taxes. Like many of the Finnish icehockey players that play in NHL, wont play more than few games in Finland, even tho they now had the opportunity. Reason? Reason is that if they play more than n - games, they'll have to pay taxes... (I cant remember the exact amount of games). So almost every player will play couple of games, but almost none of them wants to play more... (couple of them have told they will, but it's really a minority.)

Same thing goes with many other sports but icehockey.. Sportsmen, no matter how well they are paid, just want more... One could think they would afford to at least pay taxes, after all, every single one of them have been helped by government at somepoint... (With government I mean that they have had some fundings from the state).

Then something... F1 world... Anyone ever thought the amount of money that is evolved in that business??? Anyone ever thought what else could be done with that money?? I do not really know what to think of F1... I enjoy watching it sometimes, and it is sports, but... And if for some reason we decided to limit payments in sports, where should we draw the limit??? And if just one country decided to put such limit, wouldn't it cuite probably cause those most talented sports players to move some better paying country?

Greedy Greedy sportsman?? :|

[DGizzle]

think its stupid, they could at least share like a weeks wages (which for a top footie player, wud be earnin £80,000) for jus a weeks work, cud share it with a charity like once a year, like they need it

and then u get like a local working class person takin out their lifes savings of £25,000, to donate to the tsunami appeal, should be comin out of the rich footballers pocketsand movie stars who could earn that in a week

[pollovivo]

When people are getting payed up to millions of dollars to nearly kill each other to gain possesion of a small, typically round object, you really have wonder what the world is coming to...

ohh... and greed also ended my beloved NHL season before it could even start... :(

[HinesDaMan]

While I do agree that money is becoming a ridiculous factor in sports, you have to understand that entertainment is a huge thing, and people pay lots of money to see things like movies, or go to DisneyWorld. You can't limit this topic to sports, and similarly can't blame all the greed in the world on sports

[johhnywave]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=shanoff/lipsyte/050316
I was going to type but i am too tired right now. But what do you guys think about this?

[L!l_R0ck@]

hey why do footballers get payed almost 40x more money then normal working people?

please answer me so i can add this to my favourites

[Skeletor]

the reason is the return on that money invested can be millions. higher gate receipts, the prospect of earning a place in a major championship etc etc.

no offence but comments made about sports men and women and charity is utter rubbish, a lot of the well known sports stars do a hell of a lot of work for charity, and i am sure they donate a set amount of their income each year (to avoid tax ;) ) just someone appearing in a tv advert or speaking out publicly abotu a charity raises awareness etc..

now i am not saying that they should get paid all this money but be realistic. :D who wants to pay tax? and on £80,000 a week i bet they pay tax - there is no way for them not to.

[kid]

When is enough, enough? I live in Australia where we are mad about our sports. Sure some of our athletes have done extremely well out of committing themselves to the individual sports. However I think it is fair to say that the large proportion of their salary is derived from work they do outside their sports and through the endorsements they have procured. Our Australian rules footballers while revered and worshipped mostly have to find other employment outside of their normal training regime, which is extremely intensive in order to earn a decent living. Sure there are the hand full of players that make their living solely through their footballing endeavours, but they are the top echelon. A relatively small proportion of players involved in the league. My point is, these players aren't motivated by tens of millions of dollars in salaries. They play the game because they love it. Gaelic footballers in Ireland play for no money at all and have dominated our Australia side since the initiation of an intinational series in the late 80's. These guys go to their regular jobs during the day and they turn up and train hard because they love the game and want to succeed. When millions and millions of dollars come into a game it takes the focus off the reason we enjoy playing and watching sport. The fact that we enjoy seeing a rivalry from a moral standpoint that hopes that the best man may win and at the end of the day the game, the team and the supporters are the big winners. o
Superstars definitely sell tickets but how can they justify the crazy salaries they expect. Recently Mathew Bogut a 19 year old Australia signed a US $15 million, 3 year deal in the NBA making him Australia's highest payed sportsmen ever. What is the world coming to? Where will it stop?
Well that's enough blabbering
I'll stop now

[billy]

I dont know why they pay huge amounts of money to sportsmen that play sports that most of us play for fun any way. But i suppose these people are also part of the entertainment business and if you can get away with it do it i would not knock back a million dollars to play a sport i love

[Mick]

They are paid well because they are in demand and popular, although the well paid ones are a small proprotion of the total number of players. I certainly think no one here would say no if they were offered that much money. It is more a case of the clubs offering large salaries for fame and popularity rather than the players being greedy demanding lots of money.
Another thing to consider in professional sports is the high risk of injury, sometimes permanently crippling players. Also the players in very physical sports usually retire about 35 - 40 which is very early compared to 60 - 65 for most jobs, so the players have to find another career.
Many popular athletes usually move on to TV or radio as a career and who knows what happens to the rest.

[pablo]

i think that if there good enough that they should get paida sufficiant amount

i do not know why they get paid so much but if you are good enough you desirve it i guess

[michael_watling]

well they should b but not as much

they get paid way to much but i spos i wouldnt be complainin about it if i was getting paid that

[JsWoman]

I wouldn't complain if I was getting paid that much, either, but it does tend to make the country lopsided when it comes to money, because you have the extremely wealthy people; actors, athletes, old money, etc; and then the people that are comfortably set (usually once they get to middle/old age), then the people that are just barely, or not at all, getting by. Tends to be more of the last 2 than the first.

As far as getting paid too much?? It's a rising trend that has been going on quite some time, now, so I don't know if I can say if they are getting paid too much.

[yarnellcg17]

Baseball salaries topped $2 billion for the first time this year, with Texas shortstop Alex Rodriguez atop the list at $22 million."

The New York Yankees led all clubs with a record payroll of nearly $126 million -- $92 million more than last-place Tampa Bay.

Players will earn $2.023 billion, up from $1.934 billion last season. The average salary of $2,383,235 was up 5.2 percent from last year. That was less than half of the 13.9 percent increase of 2001 and the smallest percentage jump since 1998.

Hmmmmmmmm ..don't think it will stop there :rolleyes:

[JsWoman]

Probably not.. If it doesn't stop, soon, we won't ever know when to say enough is enough, and they are getting paid too much. That's why I can't say if they are getting paid too much, anymore. Back in the 70's and 80's, the current pays would be an exhorbiant amount, but that was only 15 - 25 yrs ago. If that much can change in such a short time frame, how much more will it change in the next 15 - 25 yrs?

[Ned]

i think its good if i could make the money i would

[JsWoman]

I think that would probably go for anyone. If they had the talent to do some of these things, but then again if everyone were able to make that much money, the value of the money would go down. That thought just occured to me.

[kornrockgod]

people makle too much money these days on football alone let hockey players earn more!!!! (i live in canada)