Athletes getting paid too much money?

[GRT]

Old topic, I know.

But I read this article today about Michael Phelps potentially earning over $100 mil for his Beijing achievements.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080907/...rketing_phelps

My question: as great an Olympian as the guy no doubt is, he only swims competitively for any kind of coverage one week every four years. Even if U.S. media start covering his world championship appearances, that's still only a couple days a year. Compare that to the other athletes earning big bucks, the team sport stars, that's pathetically little entertainment. Does he really deserve this?

Even if he does, you gotta think about how his manager is saying that he can keep Phelps "relevant," but soccer was hot here for a bit now and then during some international events, and it's never become anything close to a day-to-day entertainment like football or baseball. I really don't see Phelps keeping any kind of spotlight for very long no matter how many guest appearances in early morning/late night talk shows.

I bet most of you have already forgotten about him anyway after the Olympics were over until I just mentioned him

[Plow]

The companies that will make several hundreds of millions thanks in part to his advertising presence, and the World Cup qualifying match on espn2 during prime time in the middle of September (i.e. basebal prime and football kickoff) would beg to differ, I think.

[Gregorio]

The companies that will make several hundreds of millions thanks in part to his advertising presence, and the World Cup qualifying match on espn2 during prime time in the middle of September (i.e. basebal prime and football kickoff) would beg to differ, I think.

I agree. And if enough people could do what he does, then he wouldn't be making the money he does. Rare, impressive, and popular talents deserve whatever pay they get. If you can do it too then you have room to complain, if not then too bad.

[GRT]

Well, there are several problems with the argument "if you can do what he can do, then you can protest."

1. Even before Beijing, after Athens, he was already making seven figures income, which nobody in the history of swimming had done. After this Olympics, he is basically a hundred times more valuable than the No.2 swimmer in the world, whoever that is. Is this really fair? No other sport has an earnings gap so huge anywhere on the ranking.

2. There's an innate problem with swimming: it's not a popular contest sport (most people swim for leisures by themselves, unlike most other sports where as long as you play, you are competing), thus it's not a marketable sport where a lot of people would aim to do it for a living, and therefore, with the lack of participation, there's not much growth in the overall athleticism of swimmers that they could compete at a high level. Phelps' success was much in thanks to his natural born physique, which allowed him to be differentiated from other swimmers and be professionally trained which few others would have the opportunity.

I could list more but I gotta get back to work. My point is that his fame and fortune comes from wild inflations of his gold medal achievement beyond his actual athletic abilities, but it's really nothing but a media fever that will cool down sooner than most of what these investors might think.

[Zhais]

I completely agree, athletes get paid too much money....


however, I must get back to my scheme of winning 6 gold medals in fencing in 8 years /scheme /scheme /scheme

[Lbelle]

Phelps isn't the only Olympian making a lot of money of out Beijing. I remember reading about all of Nastia Liuken's new endorsement deals.

She's set to appear in ads for Cover Girl this fall.

The gymnast will also have her own Nastia Liukin Gold jeans and tops produced by Vanilla Star Jeans. Those will be out for sale this winter.

Liukin will also get her image featured on a Wheaties box!

And, as if all that weren't enough, Nastia will also be appearing on a future episode of Gossip Girl.

Oh, and there's also the possibility of her getting her own line of activewear with GK.

Among other things.

I mean, they do work ridiculously hard to be able to achieve what they do, and so in some ways I can agree that they should be paid for their efforts. On the other hand, I do think that other careers should be paid more, such as teachers. I was an education major for one semester, and then EVERY teacher told me "it's fun but you make no money" so I stopped doing it. I'm getting really sidetracked, but, overall, I think that he earned his paycheck.

edit:

Plus Phelps is doing a lot of good things with his money, like starting organizations and such, so that's good too.

[octopus]

Eh, if someone is willing to pay them ridiculous amounts of money, more power to them. It is a free market after all.

[Correction]

Better that top-notch athletes with a clean reputation get money than a bunch of talentless pretty faces or awful role models.

[Boyiee]

I remember this conversation on the radio one time, and they had some big time sportscaster being interviewed. His point on the subject changed my feelings towards it.

We'll use basketball, since it's sooooo high paying (several people making 15-20m/yr plus europe offering some players 50m)

How many people do you know can play basketball? On a court in town, a driveway, doesn't make a difference, how many people can actually play it? Billions. Everyone can play pretty much, but the pro's are playing on such a level, that there is only 5-10 people on a team, and only a few teams... you're looking at a few hundred pro's out of billions of people... they are THAT good at it. That 10-20m a yr is nothing.

Plus, most of these athletes you are mentioning are lesser-sports stars, not as big as NBA/NFL and such... so the majority, if not all of their money, comes from sponsers. That is something there is no cap on. They make as much as companies are willing to pay them to advertise... look at tiger woods, he makes well over 100mil a year, and only maybe 10 comes from golf lol.

[Lauzian]

Even if his achievements only bring a brief spurt of excitement to his sport its still going to bring in a lot of money.

Look at Lance Armstrong and cycling. I doubt you could ask people randomly on the street to name 3 cyclists and find anyone who can actually think of 3 or even 3 w/o including Lance Armstrong. Even as I type this I can really only name 2 the second being Levi Leipheimer and that's only because he is from my hometown and they plaster his damn name everywhere whenever there is a race.

A second example would be Wayne Gretzky(sp). I recall an ESPN special (perhaps the 100 greatest athletes). In it they did a comparison to several other athletes, but the main point was, what Wayne Gretzky's popularity did for the game of hockey is equivalent to the Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa home run race, which brought many fans back to baseball, only it would have to occur every year for 10 years. Thats how much one big athlete can elevate a sport.

I doubt swimming is going to take off and become a major sport like football/baseball, mainly because its an individual sport whereas team sports you can identify with the teams through the players/city/coaches/logos or any of a number of things that can bring you into their fandom.

[Jefe]

I completely agree, athletes get paid too much money....


however, I must get back to my scheme of winning 6 gold medals in fencing in 8 years /scheme /scheme /scheme

Fencing is pretty cool, used to practice it in Mexico. For some demented reason it's kind of expensive here in Ca. Needless to say, gave up on it etc.

[-Zer0-]

Fencing is expensive anywhere you go

[Katlan]

It's the same argument about tv/movie stars making too much money... For example: don't the voice over's for the simpson's make something around 2mil an episode? And the little kid in "2 and 1/2 men" is making about 1 mil an episode. It's sick... but if I was in their shoes I wouldn't complain.

If you think ppl are making a lot now, just imagine how much stars will be making 10 years from now. While I agree 100mil is a bit excessive, at least Phelps earned it. He really gave up a lot to get to where he is now, too bad it will prolly only go downhill for him once his spotlight fades in a few months/year lol

[Xanthe]

But I read this article today about Michael Phelps potentially earning over $100 mil for his Beijing achievements.

Sadly the money will barely pay for his grocery bills.

[Day]

Yes.

[Lordender]

I think racecar drivers, football players and boxers the money is justifed being that in football one play can be career ending/life threatening and boxing/racing is a no brainer because of how dangerous the sport is.

I think phelps earned his money for his performances in beijing.

[Melena]

meh, any sport can potentially be dangerous. Hell in baseball catchers get the crap beat out of them on a daily basis just from all the foul balls being deflected onto them.

[Day]

I could die on the way to work.

[pohibaba]

Sports is entertainment. It's what a lot of normal average everyday joe's use to relax on the weekend/during the week. They expect the most entertainment possible and they get that by watching the most spectacular athletes in the world. So, the companies that provide them with this entertainment (the leagues and the teams they watch) do what they have to to entice us to watch their sport/their team. They do this by offering the best athletes more money than any other company. How do they get the money to do this? By that same old average joe who watches the team on TV, goes to games, buys the merchandise, etc. If you're saying that athletes get paid too much money, you're saying that the average person shouldn't be allowed to spend their money where and to whom they'd like. Basically, you're a commie fag.

[wintersquall]

Sadly the money will barely pay for his grocery bills.

best post of the thread so far, if you get it.