Another issue involving money and sports is determining how salary influences players.

Sports play an important role in society. Many people are involved in the production, playing, delegating, watching, coaching, and selling of sports. Some fans attend/watch games just to see a particular player play, some fans watch games becuase they love the team. If one player is a star or key player on a sports team, it is easy to understand why they might get paid more than other players. If one player helps the team to victory which causes the team to sell more tickets, then it is fair to say that the player earns a higher salary than some of the others. So it is easy to understand how some players get paid so much.

However, the main issue is not why or how players get paid a lot of money. The issue is that these players get paid significantly more than people who play very important roles in society.
The president of the United States only makes 400,000 a year. The president who controls the entire country gets paid less than a professional basketball player, football player, golfer. A professional athlete gets paid more money than a doctors who save lives every day.

In the corporate world, athletes and teams are more important than any other individual job in the United States. For games, seasons, teams, arenas, broadcasting, players, and fans to participate and watch sports, millions and millions of dollars are spent and made each year.

Professional athletes get paid an amount that is delegated by the price of sports. If athletes are considered workers, then they get paid an amount that matches the business they work in.
Even though their job is not as important as other jobs that help the economy run, they get paid for how much their business makes.

Where does the funding that pays for professional athletes come from? Why do some athletes get paid so much? What are the sources of income for Team Owners? Why are ticket prices so high? Where does stadium funding come from?
These are just some questions many people have about money and its impact on sports.

Owners of top pro sports teams make money from 1) gate receipts, 2)media revenues, 3)stadium revenue, 4)licensing fees, and 5) merchandise sales. The reason so many new stadiums are being built are to put more store so people can buy more merchandise so the owner makes more money.

Amateur Sports
Amateur sports dont have owners, but they have commercial sponsors and governing bodies that control events and athletes. All amateur sport organizations are interested in controlling the athletes and the money generated from sponsorships and competitive events. They depend on corporate sponsorshiop money to pay for athlete training, operating expenses, and competitive events. Some athletes sign deals as individuals only as long as they dont fear with NGB sponsors which regulate and control the sport.
Example: Nike signed a 90 million endorsement deal with 17 year old LeBron James before he had even played in a NBA game.
Corporations are about making money, not supporting teams.

When sports are commercialized, athletes become entertainers. Professional athletes are paid for thier efforts, where amateur athletes recieve rewards within limits set by the organizations that govern them.

• Many people dont see athletes as workers becuase people associate sports as a representation of "play" in their lives. People see sports as fun rather than work.


• When sports are organized to make money, the players become workers.


• Many people dont think being a professional athlete is a real job becuase they enjoy thier work, however, many workers other than athletes enjoy their job.
  

Income of minor league sports:

• There are 3500 Minor League Baseball players on 176 teams in North America and their salaries start at 150 at a lower level but can be about 70,000 per year at the top level.


• The medium salary for a MLS player is 38,000


• WNBA average 52,000 per season while the WNBL average less than 5000 for a 24 game season.
  

Major League Sports:

• About 15 percent of players make enormous amounts of money and nearly 30 percent make close to the minimum salary in their leagues.


• players average salaries ahve grown far beyond median family income. the average NBA slary in 2004-2005 was 84 times greater than the median family income.


• A lot of the highest paid athletes do not necessairly get all of their income from the sports team they play for. A lot of money they recieve comes form endorsements.


• Agents today tell their celebrity athletes that they are brands themselves.


• Michael Jordan was the first athlete to do this. He endorsed Nike products which gradually grew into his own line of products in addition to the "Air Jordan."

If some athletes are considered celeberties, then lets compare athletes to some of the highest paid celeberties:

Oprah: 260 Million(year)

Will Smith: 80 Million

Johnny Depp: 72 Million

Eddie Murphy: 55 Million

Camerson Diaz: 50 Million

Kiera Knightley: 32 Million

Some of the professional players make close to the same amount as some of the highest paid celeberties.

Many professional athletes have short careers or play at levels at which they do not make much money.

Are professional athletes overpaid?

Here are some different opinions about athlete's salaries:

http://www.diggreview.net/05/23/why-do-athletes-make-so-much-money.html
You here it every day…why does ‘Kobe Bryant’ or ‘David Beckham’ get paid tens of millions every year to play a “sport”? They make endless amounts of money for doing something they love to do… is there something wrong with that? From the outside looking in… PROBABLY, but if you give it some thought you will understand why.
An athlete dedicates their entire life to their “sport”, and to become one of the best in the world is a huge accomplishment. Compare a good athlete to a top CEO within a big company. CEO’s make much more per year than the top athletes in the world, and believe it or not, some of them are making even billions. Sure they make big decisions, but they have done exactly what an athlete has done…
****** PICK SOMETHING AND BECOME THE BEST AT IT ******

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/109577
What I don't understand is that many of the same people who complain that athletes make too much money are those clamoring to get more money for either themselves or working class America. If average joe american has the right to make as much money as possible how come the same can't be said for athletes? I realize that $25,000 is quite different than $25,000,000 but the principle is the same.

http://hubpages.com/hub/athletesalaries
In the context of analyzing this issue of whether athletes are worth what they are paid, there must be a clear definition of the term “worth”. What does worth mean? Is it value in the sense of their essentiality to human nature? Is it their value to a society? Or does how much one produce remain the determining factor of worth?

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/676003/are_professional_athletes_overpaid.html
I believe that professional athletes are drastically overpaid. We see athletes getting paid millions of dollars just to throw or kick a ball. I mean what importance are they to society beyond entertainment? They aren't.

Highest paid athletes vs. Highest paid jobs

Highest Paid Athletes
1)Golf-Tiger Woods-127 Million
2)MLS-David Beckham 48.2 million
3)NBA-Lebron James-40 Million
4)Tennis- Roger Federer 35.13 Million
5)Baseball- Alex Rodriguez-35 million per year
6)NFL-Peyton Manning-30.5 million
7)NASCAR-Dale Earnhardt Jr.-27.2 Million

Highest Paid Non-athletic Jobs
1)CEO-$240,903
2)Physicians/Surgeons-$139,849
3)Dentists-$133,777
4)Lawyers-$126,530
5)Pilots-$120,505
6)Engineering Managers-$113,388