THE BIG QUESTION: INTRODUCTION

Without doctors in our society, people will suffer and die from diseases. Without garbage men, trash will pile up in our streets. Without teachers, our students and therefore our society's future would lead to chaos. On the other hand, if you remove professional athletes out of society.... nothing really happens. So, why in the world do we pay these guys millions just to throw a ball around and make themselves look good for cameras to snap? Is it even possible for someone to come up with a reason why they deserve these of-the-chart salaries? These outrageous salaries usually belong to professional MALE athletes. There is no gender equity within professional sports between male and female athletes concerning salaries, endorsements, and marketing.

It is true that when it comes to sports, men are usually paid more than what women can earn even if they are playing the same sports. The most possible reason for this is that men’s sports are more popular and they often have lots of sponsors that bring in money as compared to women’s sports. The more sponsors a particular sport can generate, the higher pay the athlete can receive. And while there are no objective studies made on this, anybody can deduce the fact that men are paid twice as much even under the same circumstances, same experience, and the same qualifications. For example, the average WNBA salary for 0-2 years of service in 2012 is $37,260 and for 3+ years it is $54,000. The maximum salary is $95,000 per year and that is usually for the top one or two players in the WNBA. Sue Bird is considered to be the “poster child” for the WNBA and at the most makes $87,000 per year. In 2004 when Sue and her fellow teammates won the league title, they only received a $10,000 bonus. Now in the NBA, the teams who make it to the finals get about a $12 million dollar bonus to split accordingly amongst their players and the coaching staff. The differences between the two are evident, and it’s ridiculous how extreme it is. The maximum salary for NBA players who have been in the league for 6 years or less receive about $9 million per year or 25% of the salary cap; a player with 7-9 years of NBA experience receives $11 million per year or 30% of cap; 10+ years is about $14 million or 35% of salary cap. While opinions may vary, the main reason women athletes are paid less than male athletes is because the amount of revenue generated by male athletes. Male sports bring in more ratings on television which in turn bring out bigger sponsors who are willing to spend more money to endorse the team or product.

A common opinion of the typical sports fan is that athletes are overpaid. That is to say, athletes are paid more than their relative “worth”--- as opposed to teachers, lawyers, doctors, etc. For example, a USA Today article published in November 1994 cites a survey conducted on 2000 individuals on how adequately they feel athletes are paid. 87% of those surveyed responded that they feel athletes are overpaid, compared to nurses (10%) teachers (8%), and secretaries (2%). Sentiments have not changed much in the past 13 years. With these statistics, you can infer that society’s views an occupation’s “worth” as its value to society. After all, nurses are essential components in American health care; teachers are essential to public education; while secretaries are crucial to various administrative tasks. Within this context of the definition, professional athletes seem to have little intrinsic value to society. They seem disposable. Take teachers away, and we have nobody left to teach the children. Solomon and Anderson conclude that “fans cannot be the people who ascribe worth to professional athletes. After all, an athlete’s only concern is whether his employer thinks he is worth a high salary, not the fans…” True, higher fan consumption means higher revenue which means more worth. But at the end of the day fans are not the people who write the checks. This responsibility falls on the owners of these professional teams. Just as any CEO of a Fortune 500 company, it is the owner of the professional sports franchise that has the most at stake when examining whether an athlete is worth the investment. Therefore, he must examine this investment carefully; and if he doesn’t, his company will lose money and he will go out of business.

How does the franchise owner examine a player’s worth? In an interesting study entitled, “The NBA and the Influx of International Basketball Players”, economists Erik Eschker, Stephen Perez, and Mark Siegler examine the process by which an owner, or whoever within the organization has the responsibility of evaluating talent, determines a player’s worth on the market. They use the structure of the National Basketball Association as an example. As long as teams are able to buy or sell players, they say, NBA salaries will resemble an auction.

In today’s culture, it is evident that professional athletes are making a ridiculous amount of money. The only question I have is why. I don’t understand why or how In one year, first year rookie player in the NBA can make more than a top orthopedic surgeon can in 18 years. Another issue is the apparent lack in gender equity among professional sports. These men and women are putting in the same amount of time and effort into each of their selected sports, but they are definitely not receiving the same salary rates.