I'd like to disabuse the notion that athletes are overpaid. Sports is an absurdly profitable industry. Last year, no NFL team's operating profit was less than $26 million, and the average team earned $91 million. Of the 50 most valuable sports franchises in the world this year, not one is worth less than $1.75 billion. Next to those towering evaluations, does the five-year $201 million contract NBA superstar Stephen Curry recently signed look so exorbitant? Absolutely not.
Keep in mind, you as the fan are determining what athletes are worth by how much you are willing to pay for tickets and merchandise. In the NBA, the players receive 51 percent of basketball related income from the league. That means when you fork out $100 to see a Celtics game, just over half of that goes to the players. I assume you're attending to watch the players, and not for the overpriced concessions, so it makes sense that their paychecks are commensurate with how much money the team collects from their labor.
Those are the numbers that the media highlights. What we don't see are the players who put everything they have into their careers but aren't the very best. There are 53 players on an NFL roster and 32 teams. That means if you're not one of the nearly 1,700 best football players in the world, your prospects of making money are slim. What other profession caps the number of practitioners so strictly?
Even if you make it into your chosen sport's professional league, there is huge disparity between what players on the same tier as Stephen Curry and LeBron James ($33.3 million annually) make and what journeyman players like the Cavaliers' JaCorey Williams ($815,615) and the Warriors' Jason Thompson ($945,126) make.
No one should lose any sleep over pay disparity in the NBA. Even the lowest paid players are making close to a million dollars. Keep in mind, though, that athletes reach their peak earning potential early, think mid- to late-20s, and for a much shorter period than the rest of us. The average NFL player plays for just over three years and earns about $4 million after taxes over their career.
It's difficult for players to find health insurance after they retire from sports and the injury costs pile up later in life. A total knee replacement without insurance can run up to $35,000. Throw in brain trauma, foot and hip surgery and sport-specific injuries, and post-career medical costs can become quite a bill.
Finally, almost no professional athlete is prepared for the sums thrust upon them. Most of these players are in their early- to mid-20s, and in the MLB it is estimated that only 4.3 percent of players hold college degrees. These overnight millionaires have limited education, and once their playing careers are over they have to stretch what they've earned for the rest of their lives.
Considering the hell that players put their bodies through daily, the level of competition in their fields and the revenue they generate for the leagues, I'd say rank-and-file players are underpaid, if anything.
Bird's Eye View: Pinching player millions, owners earning billions
