Athlete Salaries

Those who moan and groan over the unfair huge salaries paid to professional athletes often show they not only have little understanding of professional sports, but that they also exhibit a complete lack of understanding of capitalism. First of all, professional sports are a multi-billion dollar business. It is not a civic form of pride, a loyal code of ethics or a group of people choosing to play sports because of some inherent “love” for the game. It is a business. As such, like any other privately owned commercial enterprise it is ruled by the dynamics of capitalism. Capitalism. You know, that economic system that revolves around the law of supply and demand, free enterprise and profit maximization? As such, the topic of players being over paid is a moot point because the market sets the salaries, not the owners and certainly not the players. In fact, if anyone is responsible for the lofty realms of professional athlete salaries, it is the fans themselves. The fans, you ask? Yes. The fans. Because fans pay for tickets, watch televised games, and buy promotional merchandise, they create an enormously profitable market for sporting events. This not only includes tickets and merchandising, but also the enormous profit opportunities opened up to owners in terms of television contracts and corporate sponsorship. People often complain athletes are paid too much in comparison to school t

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will bear should examine the difference between the average salaries of those in Major League Soccer and those in the National Basketball Association. Soccer players average salaries are ten times lower than the average salary for NBA players because of the enormous difference in popularity between the two sports. Millions do not pack into stadiums for soccer games. Advertisers are not drawn to soccer because millions of viewers do not tune in regularly for soccer games. This is why the difference exists, but those who work on no-sports occupations do not see this because they are comparing apples and oranges when they complain professional athletes are overpaid. They are comparing their own worth in their chosen occupational market to those who play sports. Fans complain they pay for the high salaries through increased ticket prices, but, once again, ticket prices are a function of free enterprise and the law of supply and demand not high athlete salaries. In fact, once again the fans themselves are responsible for the high ticket prices about which they complain, “Ticket prices are set by the market forces of supply and demand. The cost of paying players does not influence the amount of money that spectators will pay to
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1372
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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