Are Sport Athletes Paid Too Much?
Kabir
Above is a picture of Jaylen Brown, a basketball player for the Boston Celtics. In 2023, he signed a contract that could potentially earn him $304,000,000 over the course of 5 years! That's around $60,000,000 a year, and $150,000 per day.
Jayson Tatum, the star role player for the Boston Celtics, barely earns half of $60,000,000 a year. So any argument for the importance of Jaylen Brown and the talent he provides for the Boston Celtics being the driving factor for his absurdly high contract is invalid, especially considering the official NBA website doesn't rank him in the current top 70 most impactful players. Also, he is only 19th in the NBA points per game statistic, which would be impressive if not considering his contract. The average American income is around 50-60 thousand dollars, and Jaylen Brown makes triple that a day, without being exceptionally good at the job he does. While this paragraph seems like a giant hate message, I like and appreciate Jaylen Brown and this only serves the purpose of questioning his high salary.
The reason the Celtics are able to spend this much money is because of the high NBA salary cap, which is based on the leagues revenue from the previous season. From the 1984-1985 season the salary cap as gone from $3,600,000 to $123,655,000 in the previous season. This is reflective of the huge increase in popularity and income by the NBA. If any team was to go over the cap, they would have to pay a luxury tax for every dollar they go over (more than $1.75 per dollar exceeding). You might expect the Celtics to worry about this luxury tax and exceeding it with Jaylen Brown's contract, but like federal taxes, there are loopholes. The Larry Bird exception allows a team to resign one of their players if they've been in the team for a certain number of years, even if it means exceeding the salary cap. While the Celtics aren't going over the salary cap, they wouldn't really have to worry because Jaylen Brown has been with them his whole career.
In the WNBA, the highest paid athlete, Jackie Young, earns $250,000 a year. This is primarily based on the amount of revenue certain teams bring in a year, which didn't used to be much in the WNBA. Hopefully with the boom in popularity in the WNBA with the introduction of superstars like Caitlin Clark, they will be able to pay all of their players more. I think it would be a helpful gesture if the NBA could divert and contribute some of their income to grow the WNBA, which would be mutually beneficial because both theoretically make more money. Instead we see a major imbalance in salary cap: the $123,000,000 of NBA vs $1,500,000 of the WNBA, Jaylen Brown's $60,000,000 a year vs Jackie Young's $250,000.
In conclusion, this is a very subjective and complicated decision to make. If you think Jaylen Brown's salary is too high, then what about movie stars and business owners. Adam Sandler reportedly made $73,000,000 in 2023. In my opinion, these teams and athletes aren't laundering money (probably) or doing anything to break any rules, they're operating within the lines. So, while there are much better uses for the money, I think Jaylen Brown is rightfully owed that money, purely because it is income that he and the Celtics helped bring into the league, and the Celtics believe he is worth that much.
This is an interesting view on this controversy, somehow you manage to stay passive while showing your views. You show us the facts while exhibiting the way you feel about them. This was very well written and you make a lot of good points.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't expect the answer for this question to be "no" of all things, but I do respect your opinions. What I like is how you referenced that the average American income is 50-60 thousand dollars compared to the conventional millions that athletes are paid - I do feel like this however is an indication that they do get overpaid when comparing sporting to other forms of labor, but I do think you have made good points.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic. The effort and skill that it takes to be an athlete is undeniable, but in my opinion, its apparent that their salary is overblown once you apply that same context to lower-paying jobs. While players are paid millions for being good at sports, people struggle to afford basic necessities despite having college degrees and impressive jobs. Although I might disagree with you, this blog is nicely done!
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