In professional soccer? Yes. In other professional sports? I don't know if you win money because you win a big cup then I'm pretty sure you deserve it. Local? No, they're underpaid. They've got little time to earn money and their talent can be unique in the world so they deserve the money if they achieve the goals of the team.
I did start this thread with soccer in mind, actually. The way I see it is that, relative to the amount of money that's in soccer these days, players and coaches should be paid the right proportion of the money they're earning for their boards, and their governments, which would inevitably be a large sum. But paying one player over 100k a week (or half of that for a squad player like Riise at Liverpool) is ridiculous.
"No way man" But seriously. They don't get paid enough in my opinion. The fanastic moments they have all provided over my life is worth giving them millions every year.
Of course. The only reason they are paid that much is because they are a source of entertainment, and they rake in revenue, and that's the key. A guy looking at skin cultures through his electron microscope isn't gonna draw that large of a crowd. But I'd definitely say that his job is more important than say Terrell Owens. There's really nothing we can do about it now...we've created this monster. As long as we keep going in droves to watch these guys (I'm not saying don't, I'm just saying this is why they are overpaid), the fat cats stay happy and are more than willing to dig deep into their pockets to keep the players happy.
To think that there are professional athletes that do nothing more than sit on a bench and get paid for that more than someone who actually does something for society. That makes me sick.
They're overpaid by millions and millions of dollars. Even the athletes making only the minimum salary are being overpaid. There's no reason anyone should be making $500,000 per year for playing a game. Alex Rodriquez pisses me off to no end. In what fucking world does someone need $275,000,000? No world, that's what world. My father and I have always maintained that, in the United States at least, professional athletes should not make more money per year than the president, the man who runs our fucking country.
in italy soccer players are surely overpaid.... other sports sometimes aren t paid at all and men and women have to do another job to live...this is ridiculous, but it s our fault, becouse we just watch soccer on tv, and nothing else...
Yeah, when you find out how much the President actually makes in comparison to our American sports figures, it's almost enough to make you want to vomit. George Bush, our American president makes only a paltry 400,000 a year (source: http://people.howstuffworks.com/question449.htm), whereas Alex Rodriquez makes 275,000,000 over the length of his entire contract. When you figure it out in your head, when it's all said and done, he will have made over 687 times more (with his contract) than what the president makes in a single year. Something is not quite right with that picture.
What's not right is Bush being paid $400,000 a year to screw America over >_>. But seriously...if people are willing to pay these people that much, then they deserve it. They are still making a profit off these people, or else they wouldn't be paying them that much in the first place lol. If someone is willing to give someone a certain amount of money to perform a legal, not immoral task...I don't see there being any real problem with it. If the person giving out the money thinks the deal is fair...that is all that matters.
Don't forget that Sport isn't just men going into a ground to play a game. It's a billion dollar industry fueling hundreds of economies. It has off field value which makes the players salaries worth it to their employers and countries.
By that logic, since the Automotive industry is a billion dollar industry and plays a huge part in several countries economies, the automotive workers should be paid millions of dollars on their salaries.
It wasn't justifying salaries in an ethical sense, I was responding to the people who were calling it "just a game" and the like. It's more than that. Although I still have no problem with how much they are paid. Work hard and ye shall receive, I say. It's takes a damn lot more work and effort to become an elite sportsperson than a politician. I put that in bold, as there the majority of sports-persons wouldn't earn more than the president. The elite earn that much, because they worked damn hard to get there. More than most people I know, anyway.
Nope, considering how much money they make for hundreds, or even thousands of other people and businesses. And as Cale said, they have to work fucking hard to get to that level.
They are overpaid for sure but it is our fault. We watch them, we buy their products and we worship them, in a non-religious way of course. The fans, us, have provided the vehicle for which owners can afford to pay them their inflated salaries. The downside is paying players like A-Rod and Kobe inflated salaries and they are playing a team sport. For them to say its all about winning then why not make a little less money so you can get better teammates? Kobe might be the best basketball player on the planet at this time but he isnt winning squat until he comes off his not-so-high horse. A-Rod is the same way. Their salaries prevent other talent from getting signed which equals an average team at best. Look at the Patsies for example. Randy Moss took a pay cut because he finally realized if he wants to win a ring, he better get on an actual team. If they win the SB I'm sure he will go to the highest bidding team for the 2008 season.
American baseball players are overpaid so much. To play BASEBALL. Hockey players fight with teams to get 2million over a 3 year contract, and baseball players can make like 20 million a year. What a joke. I don't even think football players make that much and they sacrifice more than baseball players. On a side note, I just noticed that the bottom 3 lines all start with players^^ o_0