The Skyliner

Issue date: 4/11/07 Section: Opinion

Professional athletes get a bad rap for bad behavior and big salaries. While I won't argue about the fact that some of them do behave particularly badly, even though they are very much the minority, I'm getting pretty tired of people saying these people don't "deserve to make that much to play a game." Let's take a look at this.

The NFL Players Association reports that the average salary for an NFL player is $1.1 million and that the rookie minimum salary is $193,000. The Major League Baseball Players Association reports that the average salary of a Major Leaguer is $2.7 million and the minimum salary is $380,000. Sure, that's a lot of money for someone to make while playing a game, but the thing people fail to realize is that professional athletes are getting paid to entertain.

For comparison, this year's highest paid NFL player, Peyton Manning, made $14 million while leading the Colts to the Super Bowl. The highest paid Major Leaguer, the Yankees' Jason Giambi, is making a healthy $23.4 million for his services this year.

Compare that to George Clooney, who has averaged $7.5 million per film over his last 10 films, excluding Good Night and Good Luck, for which he only accepted $1. Also compare that to Tom Cruise, who has averaged $38.3 million per film, including $100 million for the 2005 film, War of the Worlds.

The thing that astounds me is that I have never heard anyone complain that actors make too much, when actors and athletes do essentially the same thing. They train year-round to maintain their marketability, whether in appearance or physical prowess, and entertain millions. In being the best at what they do, they earn the most money. It seems that people think the entertainers of our day are simply handed money, but nothing could be farther from the truth - unless you're Milli Vanilli.

Athletes also take more heat for what they do than every profession except for politicians. They can never win enough or make the spectacular play pretty enough.
The athlete not only puts his body on the line every day, but is also entertaining an insatiable consumer. In the same breath, the sports fan is willing to throw money at his favorite player for just one more win, one more circus catch and one more championship.

Put simply, professional athletes and actors are the epitome of capitalism in America. They found things they're good at and that they enjoy doing and they're doing them. When was the last time that was a crime? According to James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come," and if they come, you get paid.
If you really don't want them to get paid, then don't watch them. Otherwise, don't complain when an athlete signs a big money contract. He works hard for the money he makes; do you?

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