Why do professional basketball players earn such disproportionately large salaries compared to other sports?
2007-02-22 05:45:42 · 9 answers · asked by camaroane 1 in Sports ➔ Basketball
Under the current NBA collective bargaining agreement the players are guaranteed to receive salaries equal to at least 57% of basketball related income.
The NBA is generating approximately $4 billion of revenue so something like $2.3 billion must go to player salaries. This revenue is not much less than the MLB and roughly half that of the NFL.
There is a maximum of 360 active players and 90 inactive. This is far fewer than in the MLB and NFL.
In the NBA the average salary is currently $5.2 million. In MLB the average is $2.7m and in the NFL it is $1.4m.
In summary NBA salaries are high because:
1. The league generates a large amount of revenue.
2. There are relatively few players sharing it.
3. Most of the teams are more interested in winning than making a profit (Only 20% of the teams make a significant profit and 40% make losses).
2007-02-23 00:36:38 · answer #1 · answered by naj1_1 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think they are pretty close to the same amount based on the revenue of the sport. They difference I believe that in football you have a 53 player active roster, baseball 26 player active roster, hockey 22 player active roster, basketball 12-15 player max. Given the number of player/revenue and bottom line the OWNERS pay these players with a salary cap. Why shouldn't Shaq make 25mill per year if the owner makes 75mill after expenses including salaries. We dont tend to worry about the actor who makes a 6 week film and makes 10-20 mill. who cares
2007-02-22 07:08:05 · answer #2 · answered by Timothy W 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its not about the players. Its about the market. How much can team owners charge for a ticket? The prices dont go up because they pay players more. They go up because they know joe sucker is willing to shell out 100 dollars plus to watch a game. Mix in concession sales.
Player salary is only a tip of the iceberg. Dont forget they share almost half their pay with their agents who are getting paid big time. One agent usually handles multiple players. The salary adds up astrometrically.
2007-02-22 05:54:25 · answer #3 · answered by jasonpickles 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Timo is correct.
Most importantly the number of pro players vs every other major sport is much smaller.
Also the television contracts and licensing deals are very lucrative.
The sport is very popular nationwide, much more so than say Hockey. So you have more fans, more products to sell, bigger tv contracts, less players and owners with deep pockets.
Mix all those ingredients together and you get some very well paid athletes.
2007-02-22 05:52:12 · answer #4 · answered by zaphodsclone 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
They do earn large salaries but baseball earns larger salaries... 125 mil for one player???!?!?!? Yeah... As for football there's too many players to give huge salaries except for the QB but yeah... that's y
2007-02-22 05:59:46 · answer #5 · answered by Str8ballin23JK 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Theoretically, entertainment salaries (whether a band or actor or sports figure) are based on their ability to draw a paying crowd. The more the ticket revenue , the higher the salary . . . in theory at least.
2007-02-22 05:55:29 · answer #6 · answered by kate 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's all about the people who pay to see the sport, and all the revenue generated. You think the players get alot of money? The GM's and Owners get about 90% of the money, the players only get about 5% of the revenue. The rest to charity.
2007-02-22 05:51:29 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't have the numbers with me but I'm almost 100% positive MLB players make more money than NBA players.
2007-02-22 06:26:03 · answer #8 · answered by Adam C 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think it might be cause there are few players on a team. hockey has a roster of over 20, football what 70, baseball i don't know but alot more
2007-02-22 05:48:34 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋