Success of each sportsman or sportswoman gives the person not only individual achievements but also money. The more popular the sport is, the more is on the table. It is not only about price-money as people call how much you win in a tournament or a league. Nowadays ads campaigns play much bigger role than they did before. So how much do most popular sportspeople earn?
The more recognizable you are, the more you can get. Of course the more popular sports discipline is the more sportsperson can earn from endorsing some brand. That is why footballers or basketball players earn so much money. The average monthly salary in the most popular league in the World, English Premier League, is 240 thousand pounds. Highest paid player in the league, which is David de Gea - player of Manchester United, earns 1,5 million pounds a month. And this is what players get only from clubs.
To know the total earning of best players we need to add their earning from ads campaigns. Most of popular footballers are faces of popular brands. Robert Lewandowski, player of German club Bayern Munchen, is very well recognized by many people that are not even interested in football. That is because Robert is face of companies like Vistula, Huawei, Oshee, Gillete, Coca Cola and many, many more. He earns 10 million a year because of those contracts and his contract with Bayern is worth 20 million a year.
The facts about sportspeople earnings are even more interesting if you take into consideration the very few athletes that are most popular in their disciplines. Most of them earn much more from advertisement than playing sports and that is no surprise. According to Business Insider Lebron James, the best basketball player of 21 st century makes 52 million dollars a year out of endorsements which is 61% of his total earnings. Roger Federer, the most popular and recognizable tennis player of all time, makes even more. 12 million dollars earned by him in tournaments looks small compared to 65 million dollars which he got in 2018 from deals with sponsors. The disproportion is even bigger if the person is popular but the sport is not. Usain Bolt, the most decorated runner in the world, earned just 1 million dollars while competing and 30 million by acting in commercials.
Questions:
1. What do you think about salaries in sports? Are they too high or maybe too low?
Please refer to certain sports, maybe compare them.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
Comments
I'm not really a big fan of sports. I can't understand how people can be so obsessed over a bunch of people that are only running after a ball, or something similar. I understand that playing it is completly a different thing because it takes a lot of effort and practice, and competing like this might be fun, but watching it is really boring for me. Saying that, I think that salaries in sports are definitelly too high. I just don't understand it.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
In my opinion it is really unfair. The fact that football is the most popular sport is a mystery to me.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
If they earn so much because of being a face of some brand, it's pretty reasonable. They are some kind of celebrities. But I would change how much they earn for the usual match. I think it would be better to give them more money for winning some competitions, not just the usual payment per month.
In my opinion, they are at the right level. If you practice a popular discipline, you earn more, if you earn less than the less popular. If anyone has a problem with this, let him change his discipline. This is how you pay a lot of money in football, but companies and clubs can afford it, it cannot be forbidden. The same can be said about tennis - it is known recently the French Open tournament was won by a young Polish woman - Iga Świątek. I don't know if anyone knows, but in the final she not only played for the win, but also for huge money - about 1 million euro... 1 million for 1.5 hours of tennis. In my opinion, she deserved.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
Yes. Football is the most popular sport in the world. Why is it like that? Since it's a simple sport to play, all you need is a ball. Football is played everywhere in the world - in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. As a result, to become a professional footballer you have to face huge competition at every level and just be lucky. The ball is a simple sport, but it is also difficult. Why? Because in order to be successful, it is not enough that only 1 player will be great. The whole team has to be good, you won't win anything in football yourself.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
Sorry, what are you talking about? Are you a follower of socialism? Since companies and clubs can afford such salaries and bonuses for sportsmen, there is no point in limiting them. After all, athletes do not get public money, everything they earn with money from private investors. We just live in such times when the best athletes have to be paid so much, but the prevailing coronavirus can change the rules. There is no point in imposing any limits.
Otherwise, no one would be willing to finance their efforts.
People just love watching and experiencing top performance. I was participant of both, physical and electronic sports.
I understand that many want to relieve emotions and feelings that accompany a player... and they are willing to pay money for that.
I don't like claiming whether sportsmen earn way more than they should. I just don't mind it.
Probably, their work is worth that much for their payers.
There goes so many factors into one's compensation, that I prefer to not overthink it.
One way to change their salaries, would be to become their employer...
Definitely, I wouldn't do it by social campaigns and inciting one kind of people against another.
Seriously, I wouldn't do it at all.
Let someone wiser than us(all) do it :)
I wouldn't say it could be fair or unfair. The sports industry is a huge business. Huge numbers of viewers and fans are paying for this and contributing to it. I am glad that athletes are the ones who receive such a huge salary and not all the money goes to the owner of the sports club or the management.To focus solely on athletes in the monetization of fame discussion is biased. The situation of influencers in social media is very similar.
I've heard that organizations like FIFA can encourage club boards to do specific financial activities. A great initiative for the largest clubs would be to give up earnings from matches for charity foundations, since they earn much more from advertising.
2. Not really, for me. It's a pity that some of the most underpaid professions are actually the ones that we couldn't live without.
3. Maybe I would but to be honest I don't like the idea of deciding how much and who should be earning. I don't think it's up to me to make any kind of decisions about that. For now, it is like it is in the world.
2. Things that are in demand always pay off. People love soccer, it gets a lot of attention. There is a lot of money at stake, I think athletes only earn a fraction of what the corporations do. Fortunately, many athletes use the money they earn to support charity.
3. No. I think people who earn a lot of money fully deserve it. Especially if they do not exploit others. Athletes have no way to exploit others, they provide a lot of emotions and are inspirations, role models.
Still it's a bit sad that people who devote their lifes and health to be the best at what they're doing are sometimes struggling to make the ends meet. If I recall correctly some polish athletes had to train in terrible conditions and still they came back from the olympics with medals. Meanwhile teams from polish football league are struggling to win anything outside Poland and they still make tons of money.
3. I'm fine with their salaries just make sure the rest of the sportsman competing at the highest level in other sports are paid decently at the same time.
2.It's hard for me to talk about it because I hate football. After all, being honest about my previous statement, I must admit that they earn the right amount of money
3.Of course I doesn't want to change how much an athlete earns. Why would I interfere with someone's earnings. It is not my money and if the club has the amount of money and is able to give the payments it currently gives, then let it do so.
2. I do not think that it is fair, that football players earn more than other sportspeople. Sport is spectacle for people, it really only differs in equipment, simple rules and audience. Of course there is more demand for football than for other sports, but I think football salaries are not proportionate to others
3. I wouldn't change the fact that sportspeople earn that much. People can spend their money as they wish, if they want to invest in football or fund other sports thats their personal decision. Though I would personally prefer that this kind of money would be spend on other things, scientific research for example.
2. Well it is kind of fair, because football is such a poplar kind of sport. But I don't really understand why people love football so much. What really amuses me, that there is such a movement as ultras in countries like Poland, England, Russia. It's dumb.
3. Only a few people in the world make real money from being a sportsman. Nothing to be jealous of. To start making money from participation in sport discipline means dedicating all your life to it. Even more, you need to have a talent.
2. Yes it is very fair. If they attract a larger audience than, for example, volleyball players, it is understandable that they should earn more.
3. In my opinion, they earn too little. Super athletes have their private staffs of advertising specialists, managers, physiotherapists, and private chefs, to whom they certainly give a large part of their earnings.Sponsors should be more generous to the best people in their profession.
I strongly disagree that this is unfair even if someone might not understand the whole phenomena of this sport. Footballers earn that much because they are very popular and this is the most popular sport in the world. I think that the fact that their salaries are that big is defined by market. If clubs, their employers, are rich than they are able to pay a lot of money.
I definitely agree with you but I don't know why are you accusing me of being a follower of socialism. I am just asking questions which we are ordered to do. As you can see in Kinga's response there are other opinions and someone might not understand this phenomena. In response to the second question I wouldn't say that the fact that the whole team needs to perform is what makes that sport difficult. There are some pros and cons f.e. tennis players often have to break their own psychological barriers whereas footballers might rely on others. Great example would be teams like Barcelona - often when the team is playing bad, Messi is there and scores a hattrick.
Yes, that is great way to explain the fact of sportsmans earning that much. People love to experience emotions and football gives plenty of them. The fact that football is so popular lead to the big business developing around it and it is completely natural.
Very interesting comment. Nice example of controlling how much clubs spend for wages is NBA. There is a mechanism called 'Salary cup'. It sets a limit of wages per season that club can pay to players and of course forbids clubs to exceed it. I don't know that to think about. One thing is that in my opinion organization shouldn't interfere in how much club is spending. On the other hand NBA teams are very rich and NBA is big franchise. Maybe NBA board wants to keep high and competitive level of the league. In football there a some clubs that in one moment of their history got big fundings from f.e. Saudi Arabian prince and all of the sudden they become really good like Paris Saint Germain of Manchester City.
That is great point. Lot of people don't understand how hard it is to be a proffesional sportsman. Also how dangreous it is and how much work you need to get to the top level. Therefore there is nothing weird in their salaries.
Charities are a thing that more and more sportsman do. Of course those that are supported by footballers get the most attention but still the fact that rich people (which top sportsman definitely are) are willing to give their money to other people is heartwarming.
Unfortunately but also naturally level of sportsman doesn't always define how much they are getting paid. Also level in football and propably in many more team sports (unless you are top player) is something hard to define. One person might say that this footballer is amazing and other might say they are not. It is not as crystal clear as in individual sports like tennis, swimming or chess.
2) As I have said earlier - if someone is popular that means their impact on people is very big. Lewandowski has once said that it is actually a very short career and whatever they earn now has to ensure that they have money to survive their retirement on. Let's say that 12 years is a very long football career. If you want make it big in the first few years you might have fincancial problems later in life.
3) I don't feel the need to change that. Those people are not just people - they are brands. Every brand has it's value. You would have to change the way any other popular person earns money not only sportspeople. Then only politicians and businesspeople would remain as wealthy and popular. I don't think we can do about that.
I know that salaries in football are very high. Of course, if we are talking about a world class. Compared to athletes, they earn much more. I think this is due to the number of sponsors and, at the same time, the number of viewers.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
It's hard for me to answer this question unequivocally. On the one hand, they earn a lot of money because they have a huge audience. High viewership attracts sponsors who show their advertisements and thus the football market grows. I know that every world-class athlete dedicates his life to be the best, but on the other hand, in everyday life, they also often devote themselves to work, which is underappreciated and unnoticed.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
I think this question is very similar to the previous one, so my answer will also be similar. If someone pays someone that much, I would not want to forbid someone from it. More than a ban on earning a lot of money, I would focus on paying more attention to those that are not appreciated and their work is badly needed
I personally do not mind if sportspeople earn that much, amount of time that they spend for trainings and to keep the current shape is huge. When some people may think that sport is healthly way of spending time, the professional sport is completely opposite. Being on the verge of physical capacity for a long period of time can cause some health problems.
I think most sportspeople are chosing their discipline not driven by money but by personal preferences, and they are aware of consequences - for example working a part time job if the discipline which they picked is not so profitable.
On the other hand the situation when sportspeople for example are representing a country to which they belongs in international competition and the earnings are so low that they are not enough to even live on - there should be a proper response from ministry of sport. They should receive sufficient grants.
Nowadays, earnings in sport are largely dependent on the recognition(fame) of a person. Earnings of football players are huge due to the high amount of people who watch it. A lot of sponsors invest in this sport because it is watched by a lot of people.
I am not surprised that the best footballers earn a lot, but football is not the one sport where players earn a lot of money.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
This depends because there are many athletes who earn better money than footballer players. For example, one of the most famous boxer Floyd Mayweather earned about 300 million dollars for his last fight. He is the most famous boxer, this is a reaseon why the stakes are high. There are boxers in the world who have more achievements than Floyd Meyweather and do not earn even half of what he does. Famous actors earn a lot of money too because they have more fame than others.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
No, in my opinion, they earned that money with their sporting achievements or recognition. If there are people who want to pay them, and people who watch them, it's all ok. The differences in the earnings of athletes most often depend on the discipline they practice, but nowadays there are many TV shows in which celebrities earn a lot of money for e.g. show matches or fights on TV.
Definitely salaries in sports are too high, but earnings are as high as the amount of interest that a given athlete will generate. For example golfers they just walk in the field and hit the ball with a stick that's all... but one of the best earned sportsman ever was golfer Tiger Woods. Why? Because a lot of people like watch the golf and he is an expressive personality.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
The obvious answer seems to be that athletes earn too much. Their involvement was no greater than for example that of a PhD student in mathematics, but the difference in their earnings is huge. Manual workers on a construction site spend much more health than sportspeople to earn per month as much as sportspeople for a few minutes. It's very unfair.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
I would change this fact but it's hard to say what we "normal people" can do. Maybe there will be a universal fashion for sharing your wealth with poor people. We can't force them to do this but we may suggest that this should be done. Hard work of sportspeople should be rewarded but such extreme values show that we are lost as humanity.
So the answer for the second question is not simple because football players earns a lot of money because this is the most popular sport especially in Europe so their salaries must be high because of many things like sponsorship contracts, popularity of the player etc. But are these players put the same effort in their job like for example MMA fighters? I don't think so. Nevertheless their salaries are probably to high if you compare them to the other sports.
I wouldn't change it because the market has defined these salaries. It is the same scheme like in your work. There is a employer and employee if the employer wants to pay that kind of many to the employee how he could possibly refuse?
It is probably the well-known fact, that people that work in professions that matters, and are contributing to well-being aren't always well-paid. I think that soccer stars shouldn't be paid as much as they are. Unfortunately, we are deciding who would get the most, by the fact who might entertain us the most.
Please refer to certain sports, maybe compare them.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
Fair? They are getting as much as somebody is willing to pay for them. I don't believe it is unfair. Unfair would be, artificial income increase of, for example, hockey players in Poland.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
Well, it would have to be done from the bottom of this issue, which is popularity and demand for this type of entertainment. Decreasing popularity of such unnecessary area of peoples' focus. It all comes down to education, like many other current problems.
I think that salaries in sports are overall too low. The few people that are in the top 1% of highest earning athletes are more of a celebrity then actual sportsman, so I wouldn't count them, and yet the people that tend to pursue a sport professionally require to give in a lot of hard work so they should be paid a little more then they earn now.
2.
I wouldn't call it fair, but that's how it is. Football as well as the other big team sports like basketball or American football have the biggest audience are easie to follow and can induce big emotions. So the advertisers flock around them meaning more money is in this sport.
3.
I am not sure if I would change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much, but more try to change that ordinary sportspeole earn that little.
Second question is about fairness. I don't really see anything unfair here. Of course in a perfect world we would pay more to doctors/nurses/teachers, but here, the market regulates players salaries.
I don't really understand third question, how would I lower sportsman salaries?
If I'd be living in a perfect world where I have an unlimited power, I'd transfer part of sportsman salaries to some of neglected branches by our goverment. I'm not much of socialist myself, but I believe those branches (and many more) are neglected because effects of their work are hard to analyse. For example, except standarized tests, it's hard to forsee what effect on a country underpaid teachers can have.
I think that they are proper to the incomes. Business is business, doesn't matter which kind of sport, if people want to watch and support it, they are going to pay money. Moreover, years of training and sacrifice to be on top are rewarded in huge amounts of money. Simple equation.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
Football is the most popular sport all over the world, so yes, I think it's fair. Why is it so popular? I don't have a simple answer to this question, but I played in my hometown club for 10 years and I love every minute that I have spent at training and matches. Emotions, beautiful teamwork, fans, and a lot of other factors make this game beautiful.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
No, if someone wants to pay them a lot of money, it's not my business. Some actors, musicians, writers, etc. have huge salaries because they are the best or most popular in their industries. Nowadays the world is full of commerce, so if you can sell yourself, you can be wealthy, that's all.
2 / I don't know how fair this is. But every work must be paid ...
3 / Yes, I think I would equalize their average earnings a little.
Please refer to certain sports, maybe compare them.
They are high, and it's okay. This money isn't from the local budget or something similar. These clubs are commercial, and they have contracts with companies which need advertising and if they can and want to pay so much - they're welcome.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
Yeah, people of other professions could choose to be footballers, try hard and have a high chance of not becoming new Messi. It's the way with high risk and high outcomes in case of success. That's how risk works at all. Another thing is that people define the demand and the demand defines those guy's salary, so how people can complain at all?))
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
No. We should be sure that all people (if they work) have enough money to live a good life, but that is called the minimum salary. We shouldn't have a maximum for it cause what is the reason? Someone wants to pay them so much, does it and also pays taxes from such a big salary. Where is the problem? Jealousy?
Please refer to certain sports, maybe compare them.
For the absolute top sportsmen the salaries are too high. They should be divided between all sportsmen fairly equivalently.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
No, it is not fair at all. As a country we shouldn’t sponsor football players. In fact we shouldn’t sponsor any players or any sports. There are so many areas in the country that are underinvested, that we shouldn’t focus on such non important things like sports or art. For example medical doctors are underpaid, so they are eager to leave the country for better pay.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
I certainly would. I would introduce some law to provide some maximum salary the players could earn. If they exceed the value, they would need to return the part of salary in form of taxes.
Please refer to certain sports, maybe compare them.
I dont think that the salary is relevant to what we get from sport. Sport is fun, thats right and it's meant to provide fun and emotions. But every time i think about that average sportsman (from pro leages) earns a bunch of times more than a nurse that helps people every day or more than firefighter that can save my house is very sad to me. I dont want to take the glory from people doing sports but id dont think that they earn relevant to what they are doing. Thats too much for me.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
As i said in point 1. i dont think so. Entertainment is important but there are so many areas much more important that entertainment that sport gives us that i dont considere it relevant to what sports give us and how much people doing much more responsible jobs earn's percent of what sportsman earn.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
I dont belive that we can create fair system of how to manage money between sport and third parties. Nobody likes when money are taken from them. And now we have this system that sportspeople earns so much that they will not allow lowering their payments to be lowered. I dont also think that strict regulations will help also. Of course financial menagers will find a way how to not pay taxes or something. There is no good way of how to get out of that situation.
In my opinion a bigger problem is the difference between amount of money in different sports, while it makes sense a more popular sport should have more money in it, but the difference shouldn't be as drastic compared to other sports with respectable follower bases.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
To some extent, yes. When considering this question one has to bear in mind, that the amount of money a particular football player makes is directly related to the popularity of the sport, which is also related to the amount of competition. For example let's say that an average professional volleyball player has to be better than 10,000 amateurs in order to play at a level sufficient for championships. Now, assuming football is 10 times as popular, theoretically an average professional footballer should have about 10 times as much people competing for his place. It would only makes sense for him to earn more money since it was much harder for him to become a pro in the first place. The issue however is that difference sports is not that small and definetely not linear (assuming we could get arbitrary "popularity data"), often resulting in professional football players earning as much as tens, hundreds or even thousands times more than other professional athletes, which for me is a little bit unfair. It might be harder for an average football player to get on and maintain a high enough level to play professionally, but there are thousands other athletes devoting their whole lives to sport, often struggling to make ends meet.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
I would try to limit it to some extent, perhaps corellating amount they earn from their clubs/prizes to the money they earn from advertisements. For example we could enforce professional players to donate some amount of their advertisement money to sport prizes (which they could get back if they win) or charity if, for example, their ad revenue exceeded their contracts+prizes twice.
Each sport is different and demands different sacrifices from athletes. Some require the right equipment, others the experience of coaches and gathering the best team. Such football doesn’t seem to stand out with anything special among team sports. Basketball or handball should theoretically generate the same profits, which should translate into the earnings of sportsmen. However, this isn’t the case, and because it’s related to the corresponding popularity of each of these games. It’s difficult to judge whether it is fair or not.
It isn’t my money, so I can't decide about someone's earnings. I can think that this is a bit unfair and seems to be illogical when comparing the salaries of teachers, nurses or other such professions. However, setting top-down restrictions won’t be a good solution.
Of course this amount which we hear from different magazines and media is to high for regular person but if we will think about pain/power/time which sportsmen’s invest in their dream to became a famous footballer/basketball player/etc it should be paid like that. They provide kind of entertainment which i can call „peaceful”. So for me it’s ok with their salary.
Is it fair that developer earn more that doctor in public clinic?
Is it fair that Junior QA earn more than factory worker?
Today we can see a lot of unfair situation with salary and value of hand work, so this sphere is also another example of this unfair topic. Another view of this topic it’s «Charity». For example LeBron James open a school in his home city which is totally free for families with low salary.
A lot of sportsman invest in charity organizations or open their own charity organization which are helping different group of people. So as for me, it’s more than fair.
I wouldn’t like to change it, because of fact charity organization which provide a lot of this people.
2. No, it is not. I don't understand why athletes earn so much money and doctors, who are really needed today, earn so little. This is a great injustice that should be fought.
3. I understand that they are the face of big and wealthy corporations. We have a free market and we should not interfere with the wages of others. Instead, we should strive to increase people's wages paid from the state budget.
I think that they are definitely too high. I belive that earning so much money (that they don't need, no person can spend that much of money) is simply immoral when we have like half of Earth population poor and starving. Of course I am talking about sports like football, tennis, golf etc. where there is humongous amount of money from advertising. To be clear, I belive that sportsman and especially sportswoman from less popular sports earn not enough.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
I think that it's not fair. As far as football is indeed the most popular sport globaly, it is deefienietly not more popular 123456789 times and not more 123456789 times entertaining than other sports. And it's simply not fair compared to essential workers such as doctors, nurses, teachers, medical lifeguards, scientists etc.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
I'd personally change that but to be fair I don't know exactly how to do that to be fair for everone. Some ideas that comes to my mind is executing paying taxes in they country, not running away to "tax heaven" countries and blurring they money in fictional companies. We're often hearing from football players how much they love to play for their country. If so, why they don't want to pay taxes in their homeland (which i consider patriotic, but being patriotic is another topic which I don't want to discuss now).
In my opinion, earnings of any industry should not be regulated. The rules of the free market, more precisely consumers itself determine what money is at the disposal of athletes and their sports clubs.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
As I mentioned above, if someone wants to pay a footballer such money, I do not see any contraindications.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
No. I explained in the first point.
1. I think that these salaries are adequate to size of the business they are in and their popularity.
I feel that stunt performed by Usain Bolt could deserve an even higher pay, because it is as
spectacular as football to me. I'm quite amazed by the size of Manchester Utd players salaries.
They might as a bit out of place.
2. I think it is not easy to compare salaries in sports to those in other professions, given
all the aspects that go along with them, but from global perspective they seem a bit unfair.
There are numerous issues that could be financed from this kind of money.
3. If I could do such thing I would decrease these salaries and the funds from club's withdrawing
Them would be allocated in programmes mobilising young people to engage in sport activity in their
areas, building sport facilities and encouraging people fascinated by sports to focus on
taking care of their local environment.
I think that if someone wants to pay them what he pays them, then who am I to prevent them from doing it? As long as they pay taxes everything is fine.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
I don't think that average football players earn "that much". I guess you are talking about top level players and when it comes to them I think that depends on what we think are the criteria when it is fair that a job is high paying. If we think about things like importance of that job for society then the answer is no. But if we consider aspects such as the number of people who are able to perform at the top level, competitiveness, popularity etc. then the answer is yes.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
I don't think the problem is only with the athletes, but the rich in general. I think that they richest are too rich and the poorest are too poor, but this problem doesn't seem to have a simple solution.
On the other hand, I think that’s fair that football players(on top) earn that much money. They do their job well, they play on the highest level, and also entertain people. That’s the most important fact. Football is one of the most popular sports, if not the most popular. That made it clear that most people want to watch football, not volleyball for example. And if you have half of the world football fans, money is earned automatically.
I’m not sure if I would like to change the fact that popular people earn that much. It’s not only in sport. If you take a popular actor, he signs advertisement contracts when he is popular, and then, he can stop acting, and still can use his face in adverts. It's a common order, and in my opinion it’s not changeable.
Big money comes when a face is popular. Popular face is very important in earnings in sport.
Sport itself doesn't pay much who achieve a lot and sport is not popular a good example is the earnings of volleyball and football in Poland
2. I think it is fair, football is very popular not only in Europe but also in the World.
3. I wouldn't change that if an athlete has a chance to play in advertising and get a lot of money why should we ban him.
Jakub Kisiała
Yes it is fair because this players make for companies big money so they earn a lot of. When someone don't like it, don't watch games when nobody will watch it footballers won't have money.
When companies think that it is okay to pay this money to sport people and it is investment for them I don't want to change foundations of capitalism. This is the way how our world works so I don't have influence for this.
As for the second question, one would have to define "fair" in this specific context. Should one person earn as much money as the other simply based on the hours worked? Yes? Why? There are more and less important jobs. Compare a waiter to a surgeon, for example. No? Then what should influence those salaries? As of right now, it's primarily based on demand of the viewers (extreme example being football). I feel that it's wrong and it certainly does not contribute in a good way to society and to the evolution of the civilisation, but well... that's how things are.
Yes, but this is just a result of my opinion that the money is being spent extremely poorly in our society. I do not have a feasable solution, even to ponder about.
Please refer to certain sports, maybe compare them.
I think salaries in sports are reasonable, many people enjoy watching these sports and some can impact the lives of many that’s why I think their salaries are not too high.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
Yes, this is fair because like I said football is enjoyed by many people around the world so we have to give back to them.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
No, I wouldn’t. I believe they deserve it.
1. It is difficult for me to answer this question, but personally I think these amounts are rather too large. I understand talent, sponsors, media, but there are other professions that should be better paid, e.g. doctor, surgeon.
2. Football is probably the most popular sport on the world. The stakes in football are really above absurd I think. But what can you do...
3. Rather, democracy reigns everywhere, so if the government, media, sponsors sponsor it and can afford it, let them do it. Why limit it? Another point is that we don't have to agree with it.
Your article splits salaries into two buckets - salary for the work itself and commission for recognition (i.e. acting in commercials, brand deals etc.). Whereas wages in commercial sound astronomical and beyond my imagination, but their 'job' salary seems to be reasonable.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
I'm in favor of self regulated market. If someone can still benefit from paying that high then yeah, why not :) The top performers sport field is so competitive I could imagine their high wages are justified.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
No, I'm perfectly fine with it. I'm hoping in the future esport players will earn much more than they do now, I think this field is underpaying theirs top performers. It might be exploitation of very young players who lack of experienced career managers.
They are literally too high. And everyone knows it yet does nothing to change it. I'd like to leave my opinion like that as the money is always not the topic i enjoy talking about. Sorry!
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
It is certainly not fair at all. Some players are training like 2 times a week for 4 hours, earning money that normal citizen has to work hard 8hx5d a week for month to get at least 10% of what player gets.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
That is not my goal to fulfill, yet i believe that it might change someday. Its just a silly little dream of mine.
Sports are a kind of an extreme type of a job, that's why salary of a sportsperson can't be too low, it would just be not worth for many people. Answering your question, I'm fine with salaries in sports, they are not too high or low for me.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
Of course it's fair. Football is the most popular sport in the world, so it's much harder to achieve something in this field with all the competition. If something is popular, there is a lot of money involved in it, so naturally football players will always earn the most.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
I'm fine with them earning so much. Being one of the best in some sport involves a lot of sacrifices, risks of injuring yourself etc. Also, around the age of 30-40 the career of a person doing sports often ends Their reaction time is worsening and body growing weaker. They need to earn a lot during their prime time to live comfortably for the rest of their lives after retiring.
in other, little-known, these wages are not high, and in some cases negligible.
2) I think it is fair as it is a compensation for the effort, they had to put in to get there. An athlete's career is not easy, it often requires sacrifice and a lot of effort, so in my opinion it is a fair compensation.
3) I wouldn't change anything because I think how much they earn is their private matter. Each of us has a choice and I think it is fair, because the same disproportion occurs in other professions, e.g. it is logical that a person working as a programmer earns more than a saleswoman in a store and it is very fair, because a programmer after graduation has a huge knowledge and had to spend a lot of time to get there, so that's fair. The same applies to the famous athlete and to any other human being, it corresponds to the path we have taken in life.
2. Football is probably the most popular sport in the world, so like I said earlier, I dont find it unfair that footballers earn more than other professions.
3. I wouldn't. People who decide to become a sportsman usually need to devote their entire life for that. They choose trainings instead of spending their time with friends or families. They know that they have to be the best in their profession, still improving themselves. They're working hard for it and all that hard work and sacrifice is in danger of injuries, that can exclude them from doing their job forever.
It depends on sport I think. Because football players earn a lot money because their sport is the most popular but when you take archery then this sportsman probaly earns a little money. So you can't say really.
2. Is it fair that average football players earn that much compared to other professions?
Well, considering that you have to retire before you finish 40, I don't think that it's unfair. Sports players have to earn more because they have less time in their job. You have to make money for the rest of your life as a sportsman so I don't think
that they earn too much.
3. Would you personally change the fact that popular sportspeople earn that much? If so, how would you do that?
No. It takes a lot to be a top sportsman, you have to sacrafice your whole life, so no, I won't change it.