Why do we pay a baseball player twelve million dollars a year....?

Question

but a lifesaver twelve thousand dollars a year?

Answer 1

because we are nuts , that is why we pay a fortune for bleacher seats today,along with foot ball , hockey , nascar ,etc,etc,etc. Don't go to games or races in person and you will see the prices drop like a lead balloon . I believe in fair wages but no one is worth that much money , no matter who they are

Answer 2

A brief overview - supply and demand within (relatively speaking) free market economies, workers who earn far more over a career in other industries, opportunistic industrial magnates who simply happened to be there at the right place at the right time and be a big enough b@stard to bully and manoeuvre their way to the top of the rich list... I'm not sure I'd group lawyers in with doctors as a shining example of contributing to society... or, indeed, try to show ALL doctors in the same light, particularly those in the cosmetic surgery industries which are surely blighted by money hungry pr*cks aggressively seeking to monetize peoples' insecurities. Another important fact that you have overlooked is that an entertainer's income is far from certain, their shelf life is often limited to a decade or less at the highest level. Additionally, the vast majority who work within a particular entertainment industry do not reach the heights you speak of, and carve out a rather modest living until they can no longer perform and have to retrain, as they often possess little or no education or transferrable skills. Football generates huge revenues. Top footballers are in short supply, yet there is huge demand for a high quality product. Whilst you could argue that if ticket prices, TV subscriptions and merchandising prices were lowered for the consumer, that revenues would drop and therefore so would a top level footballer's wages to something akin to what you consider to be acceptable, it's obvious that it's just a fairytale - that everything is worth what the purchaser is prepared to pay for it. Hence the high prices, because there is always somebody willing to pay them. Now, if you accept this as the truth, ignoring an 'appeal to emotions', wouldn't you rather see the talent, i.e. the footballers pocket a large percentage of that revenue rather than almost all of it going to the board of directors?

Answer 3

Simply free enterprise.

The people who are willing to pay the ticket prices or drive the ratings up when the game is televised to maximize advertising revenue are directly paying the athletes' salaries.

Unfortunately, 40 or 50 thousand people will not pay to watch a lifesaver at work.

I believe the salaries are ludicrous - but if the Red Sox won't pay Roger Clemens a king's ransom - then another team will (in this example, the Yankees.)

Answer 4

Baseball players aren't paid with tax dollars.

Answer 5

Ok number one, YOU and WE don't pay any baseball players anything...
Only people who pay ticket prices to go see a game are the people funding these incredible athletes.
In that case, if you pay to see them then you obviously support them; therefore you are supporting their salary by buying your $40 ticket.

If you think their salary is ridiculous, then don't go to a game.

Answer 6

Bcuz America is Capitalist.

Answer 7

good ?Ive been wondering the same thing sounds like the one that sets wages is bassakwards.so if every thing is true what the others on here are saying why dosent the govrenment step in and spread the money more fairly like for for cops troups or the other hard workers

Answer 8

the left is the one that is all for Unions... ask the players union they put the owners over a barrell every year.

Answer 9

do you think anyone cares?