WHY DO NBA PLAYERS MAKE MILLIONS TO PLAY BUT DOCTORS & NUSRSES GET NO WHERE NEAR THAT MUCH TO SAVE LIVEs?

Answer 1

Very good point. Compensation has nothing to do with value.

Consider teachers, who are lucky to earn $25K to $50K in some markets.... isn't their job harder and more important than Shaq's? (If you don't think so try educating 35 kids in one classroom.)

Nolan Ryan earned more for one pitch than any baseball player earned in 1965 for the entire year. It's totally out of control.

Answer 2

NBA players are entertainers. Entertainers always make a huge amount of money, especially since they get money for playing as well as getting money from sponsors to pitch their products.

NBA players have a short professional life span. Many players retire by the age of 40, and then lose their sponsorship deals.

NBA players belong to a players union.

Doctors and Nurses are not members of unions.
There are some nurses that are members of unions, but those people have 15 years of experience and work for large hospitals in major cities. 90% percent of all nurses do not fall into this category.

Also supply and demand.
There are 1,000's of doctors and nurses throughout the country.
There are NOT 1000's of NBA players and therefore they perform a specialized job.

Answer 3

Simply because of supply and demand. Plus with a little bit of media and entertainment.

There are so few 7 footers that are athletic, skilled and can play basketball. Hence this shortage that increases their value. Couple that with a controlled environment like the NBA which limits the number of teams (30 with 15 players per team at any time) and a television broadcast system that can transmit their exploits over many different markets, and their value goes up even more.

Doctors and Nurses, as noble and as essential as their role is in society (i can imagine a world without basketball players, but I'm sure we cannot begin to imagine a world without doctors and nurses) are not that rare. So many hundreds of thousands graduate and pass the board every year, making them more abundant and thus less in value (income wise anyway).

Answer 4

It's a matter of supply and demand. A great basketball player is hard to come by (though there are a lot of good ones). Notice the only ones that make those figures are the greatest while the players on the bench that you never hear about don't make near that amount. I'm not trying to say that good doctors are commonplace, but certainly moreso than a great b-ball player. Nurse, though are very common, hence they themselves make a lot less than the average doctor. Because there is a short supply of great b-ball players, they are in higher demand and make more money. Because there is a relatively higher supply of doctors and nurses, there is also less demand, therefore, they make less money. It's all economics.

Answer 5

The job of a doctor n a teacher is always taken by people who don't xpect anythin in return for what they do. But NBA players always chose that stuff for makin money n fame n to get some good lookin blondes. If docotors start sayin that they would only save a life if they get to spend a night with Paris Hilton, half the population won't b here by now.

Answer 6

because that's how much our society is screwed up... i often wonder why sports players are deemed "hero's"... i mean isn't a hero someone who did something like save people or something, since when does making a pass, or a slam dunk grounds for calling someone a hero.... what about our teachers, and social workers, and people who spend their lives trying to make the world better for others... these people barely make enough money to get by, and our culture is fine with that, as long as we have our sports to watch while they are making enough money to support small countries in a 6 month period....
i understand the economics of it... i mean with any entertainment area there are sponsors and such that pay butt loads of money so millions of people will see their products, and that money has to be divided on some level.... if i was the one out there busting my hump, and possibly getting hurt I'd want my fair cut of all that cash, and not let the higher ups who do nothing but sign the checks get to keep it all, but dang we are some screwed up people....

Answer 7

NBA players get paid by the franchise they work for.

Doctors get paid by the hospital they work for.

The reason NBA players get paid more is a concept called "return on investment".

An NBA franchise stands to make a huge return on their NBA player investment.

A hospital will not make nearly as much off of a doctor than the franchise will make off of a NBA player.

Answer 8

Because people are willing to pay $100 a ticket, $10 a beer, $6 for nachos and $100 for a jersey. This enables the owners of a team to pay a "star" player multi-millions of dollars to play a game.

Are you willing to pay $100 to watch a nurse clean a bed pan?

Answer 9

Because this country has a serious morality problem! It took 9/11 for people to realize that police and firemen are the real heroes... look how long that lasted! I wish I could get everyone across this nation to quit going, listening and watching pro sports for one year in an attempt to tell them all (especially the owners) that we're not going to pay $80 to watch a hockey game!

Answer 10

Because as a whole nation we value sports, sad but true. Also because so much more money is put into sport games. Also, these sports players are treated like stars by the people who own them. Though personaly, I value a doctor more than a lame sport player who no one will remember when they stop playing.

Answer 11

Because more people want to watch a sport then watch a Wart being removed.

However I'm sure due to marketing that some ER stars are making close to what low level basket ball players make.