Professional sports revenues are rapidly increasing because of the seemingly insatiable appetites for unique TV programs. Consider the pro position of the National College Players Association that paying college athletes is a civil rights issue. First, the average Cubs player earned over 6 million dollars in 2012. The whole system that allows professional athletes to just swim around in money is simply ridiculous, and it needs to stop. Subscribers receive access to the website and print magazine. An NHL Blackhawks player earned over 124 million dollars in 13 years.Why should athletes get paid so much to play a game? I am an editorial consumer intern reporting on sports and b-schools. This pay gap creates unnecessary tensions within sport teams and is unfair to teammates who sacrifice just as much but for less money. *Does not include designated players or targeted allocation money. As women and girls continue to fight for equal opportunity in the workplace, the fields, arenas and courts have been, and will continue to be, no exception. And pros in less popular sports make even less than that. In simpler terms, that means that despite currently being recognized as one of the biggest busts of all time, and even if he were to get injured tomorrow and never play again, he will still have $31 million in the bank. Do you think well-established minor-league systems would be attractive to high-school graduates and college athletes less interested in (or ill-prepared for) higher education? But, while the level of pay varies from sport to sport, a look at five popular American sports shows a common reality: female athletes consistently make less than men. While these may seem huge, so are the deductions from them. And under ordinary principles of antitrust law, it is not evident why college sports should be any different. In 2019, the average annual income for a US household was, The large amounts of money invested in professional sports in recent years has the potential to drain the true meaning from sports. In 2019, FIFA proposed doubling the womens prize pool to $60 million in the 2023 World Cup, and announced that they would spend $1 billion on womens soccer over a period of four years. In the N.B.A., the average annual salary was $7.1million. While compensation for women has improved over the past decade, the gap still extends to even the worlds highest-paid players. Sport Management Blog: Olivia Franks 4 Tips for Success, Male vs Female Professional Sports Salary Comparison, 2010 Mens World Cup: $420 million, $30 million winners share, 2011 Womens World Cup: $5.8 million, $1 millions winners share, 2018 Mens World Cup: $400 million, $38 million, 2019 Womens World Cup: $30 million, $4 million winners share. Its about $56,000for a schoolteacher and nearly $74,000 for an emergency room nurse. Male athletes receive more money through endorsements and personal branding initiatives, further widening the sports pay gap. This cycle goes as follows: the fewer women who have access to sports, the fewer women have interest in sports, the fewer women who will become professional athletes, the fewer fans, the fewer commercial opportunities for revenue, the less interest in ad buys and investment in women's sport, the less money there is for female athlete salaries, In 2010, golfer Tiger Woods made 124% more than tennis player Maria Sharapova. Other Division I schools had an almost $23 million collective difference between revenue and expenses. [11], Additionally, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a case (National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Shawne Alston, et al.) ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. There is still quite a ways to go to close this gap, but the NWSL is making changes to offer more competitive compensation. 3. The NCAA also does not prohibit schools from canceling injured athletes scholarships, leaving athletes without a sport or education. A sergeant with six years of experience made $32,814. And the few athletes who get that far have relatively short careersjust 5 to 10 years to earn a living, compared with 40 or 50 years for other jobs. Both mens and womens basketball used the unusual circumstances to play with online options and enhance the at-home fan experience, and the WNBA saw its highest draft viewership in 16 years during the 2020 virtual draft. To learn more about Adelphi Universitys Online Programs download a brochure, fill out the fields below or call us at 888.252.4110 to talk with one of our enrollment counselors. Tennis has made moves to increase equal pay between their male and female players, and today all four major tennis tournaments offer equal prize money. Midfielder Lindsey Horan celebrates with forward, Megan Rapinoe after scoring a goal during the 2019 Women's World Cup on June 20, 2019. In team sports, though, the picture for women is bleak. The U.S. womens soccer teams games havegenerated more revenuethan the mens team over the past three years, according to a review by theWall Street Journal. For example, fair market value for a University of Texas football player was $513,922. What message do you think U.S. Soccer is sending with this agreement, which Mr. Das writes is a tacit admission that compensation for the mens and womens teams had been unequal for years? Their hope is that by moving closer to a 50-50 split, common in other pro sports, they can increase salaries for all players, male and female. Women used to rank more prominently among the top-earning athletes, butover the past 25 years, media companies have spent billions on TV deals for live sports content. But do these athletes really deserve all that money? @Aussie7s champs at Sao Paulo, awesome signs on #RoadToRio. Whether professional players receive salaries or individual prize money from competitions, male athletes in basketball, golf, soccer, baseball and tennis make anywhere from 15% to nearly 100% more than female athletes. What do you think of U.S. Soccers pledge to equalize pay between its mens and womens national teams? What puzzles me even more, is how after holding out for weeks, and sometimes months, the owners give in and pay them what they don't deserve. Professional athletesare making too much money in a society where salaries and wages are traditionally based on the value of one's work. Divisions II and III of the NCAA followed suit and the changes went into effect for all three divisions on July 1, 2021. College athletes may also play a second sport professionally and be compensated, such as Clemson quarterback Kyle Parker who earned a $1.4 million baseball signing bonus from the Colorado Rockies in 2010 while still playing football for the Tigers. In 2019, little had changed: soccer star Lionel Messi made 125% more than tennis star Serena Williams. Sports teams know that to stay profitable they need to win, which is why they sign the best players available. Do Professional Athletes Get Paid Too Much Money? Professional athletes are making too much money in a society where salaries and wages are traditionally based on the value of one's work. If Alex Rodriguez earns the same amount of money as it would take tofeed the nation's poor for a year, he cant cheat and take steroids. Also, think about whod get the money if the athletes made less. Under the terms of the agreement, the women a group of several dozen current and former players that includes some of the worlds most popular and decorated athletes will share $24 million in payments from U.S. Soccer. Source: Forbes (men 2010, 2019; women 2010, 2019). 8, 2020, Steve Goldstein, Nine out of 10 New Jobs Are Going to Those with a College Degree, marketwatch.com, June 5, 2018, Gallup, A Study of NCAA Student-Athletes: Undergraduate Experiences and Post-College Outcomes, gallup.com, 2020, Greta Anderson, Study: College Athletes Have Better Academic, Life Outcomes, insiderhighered.com, June 24, 2020, Griffin Connolly, Wealth distribution is bad except when it comes to college athletes' money, top Republican senator suggests, theindependent.co.uk, Sep. 15, 2020, B. David Ridpath, A Path Forward for Reforming College Sports, jamesgmartin.center, Jan. 15, 2020, Molly Hensley-Clancy, NCAA Vows to Improve Conditions at Womens Basketball Tournament, as Outcry Continues, washingtonpost.com, Mar. Another argument is that women's national teams for sports like soccer have far more success than the men's national team. Team owners and the three big leagues rake in billions of dollars a year. Major League Baseball is a $10 billion-in-revenue giant while the NPF players make an average of $5,000 to $6,000 because of the league's low revenue. Being put through the kind. And, as John I. Jenkins and Jack Swarbrick, President and Athletics Director of Notre Dame University argue, We have been vocal in our conviction that student-athletes should be allowed to profit from their celebrity for one simple reason: Other students are allowed to. Why hasn't anything changed? Managers, owners and other administrators can have direct input in how much players get paid. [32] Discrepancies between mens and womens sports such as the weight room during the 2021 NCAA basketball tournament would only worsen. (Photo by Damien MEYER). SSI is devoted to the development of a better understanding of the role of amateur and professional sports in the economy and . As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. So if you think pro athletes make too much money, maybe you should stop watching them. Physical injury can leave professional athletes handicapped or disabled for the rest of their lives; NFL players who experiencemultiple concussionscansuffer from progressive degenerative diseasethat causes dementia and depression. Professional athletes salaries too high. In Praise of Athletes' High Are there other factors that you think should be taken into account? This is just one of the ways that professional sports are working to improve pay inequality. However, its not the athletes fault that their wages are so high. Which of these groups do you think played a role in pushing U.S. Soccer to equalize pay? Women can't compete on the world stage The Aussie Sevens women's team swept the World Series tournament, making them hot favourites for gold at Rio 2016. 1, 2021), Dan Murphy and Adam Rittenberg, NCAA Delays Vote to Change College Athlete Compensation Rules, espn.com, Jan. 11, 2021, Sarah Polus, NCAA Tables Name, Image and Likeness Vote after DOJ Warns of Potential Antitrust Violations, thehill.com, Jan. 12, 2021, Adam Liptak, Supreme Court to Rule on N.C.A.A. Chicago, Illinois 60654 USA, Natalie Leppard They save peoples' lives every day, should have more recognition than they are given, and deserve better pay. 31, 2021 as the NCAA March Madness tournament heads into Final Four games just days later on Apr. 20, 2020, Christian Dennie, Governor of Nebraska Signs Name, Image, and Likeness Bill into Law, bgsfirm.com, Aug. 28, 2020, Gregg E. Clifton, UPDATE: Michigan Joins Growing Number of States Granting Name, Image, Likeness Rights to Collegiate Student-Athletes, natlawreview.com, Jan. 1, 2021, Suzette Parmley, Murphy Signs Bill Paying NJ College Athletes and Allowing Them to Hire Attorneys/Agents, law.com, Sep. 14, 2020, Student Player, studentplayer.com (accessed on Mar. TM & 2021 Scholastic Inc. All Rights Reserved. Athletes are paid huge sums of money to play sports. At first, it was a great place to watch athletes play sports while making sure the rules were being followed. (While thats still a lot, its not nearly as much as their top-level teammates earn.) 1,217 will be draft picks, but only 791 will be drafted yearly, meaning about 9.9% of college baseball players will go pro, which is the largest likelihood in NCAA sports. In any other job, if you don't perform to your expectations, you're fired. However, players lived $778 below the federal poverty line and owed $3,624 in tuition. Proper citation depends on your preferred or required style manual. 1, 2021], Jessica Gresko, High Court Agrees to Hear NCAA Athlete Compensation Case, nsjonline.com, Dec. 16, 2020, Daniel Roberts, Poll: 60% of Americans Support College Athletes Getting Paid Endorsements, finance.yahoo.com, Oct. 8, 2019, NCPA, NCAA Refusal to Vote on NIL Pay Is Slap in the Face to Athletes, ncpanow.org, Jan. 11, 2021, Bloomberg, The NCAA Raked in Over $1 Billion Last Year, fortune.com, Mar. At both the start and end of the decade, the top female player in the United States made more than the top male player. But those arguments fail when . Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom. He is on a six-year $68 million contract, with $31 million guaranteed. Schools would not be allowed to pay students and no one could offer compensation for students to attend a particular school. Plus, making it to the pros takes years of hard work. Others also argue that. Team sport athletes represent 82% ofForbes highest-paid athletes list. Only a tiny fraction actually make it to the big time. But that will always be the case if women's sports aren't marketed properly Thu 9 May 2019 05.00 EDT. 1 overall pick in the '07 draft. players make about $500,000. Soccer is the most popular sport everywhere but in the US. In the 1997-98 season, NBA rookies made 176% more than WNBA rookies. For instance, during each season of any professional sport, there are away games that keep players from their families. People in the military leave their families at home to defend and protect the country knowing they may never return. Of the 73,712 NCAA football players, about 16,380 are draft-eligible and 254 will be drafted, meaning about 1.2% of college football players will go pro. It makes me sick to know that someone who is out fighting for our country gets paid significantly less than someone who simply plays a sport. They give out 13 scholarships. players had reached out to the American soccer players and their union for help as they sought better pay and working conditions. Consider that ten of the biggest outdoor sports stadiums in the world (excluding auto racing venues) are American college football stadiums. The top ten highest-paid women in 2019 were all tennis players when a decade ago the top-ten list included NASCAR, ice skating and golf. How do you think stakeholders, such as fans, sponsors, tournament organizers, politicians and athletes, should engage with the fight for equal pay in womens sports, if at all? Tennis players may earn up to $10,000 in prize money yearly while playing college tennis and college football players may earn up to $550 in bowl gifts. Limits on Paying College Athletes, nytimes.com, Dec. 16, 2020, Dennis Dodd, Breaking Down the NCAA's Forthcoming Supreme Court Battle with Its Big Brother Status and Amateurism at Stake, cbssports.com, Feb. 3, 2021, NCAA, 2021 March Madness: Complete Schedule, Dates, ncaa.org (accessed Mar. While I do understand that making it into the pros is not an easy thing to do, and thatit takes a tremendous number of hours of hard work and dedication every day to earn a job in professional sports, these people do nothing more than entertain the general public. While the pay disparity didnt change, there is one aspect of the Forbes top-ten list that did. Furthermore, police officers, firefighters, and doctors save lives while risking their own for a fraction of what sports stars make. The existence of world tournaments and professional leagues highlight the reason why female athletes should be paid less than their male counterparts. Each league and sports organization has its own structure of compensation and benefits. But one of the biggest moves was the WNBAs 2020 community bargaining agreement. As of June 10, 2021, 18 states have passed NIL laws; five more states have passed bills that were awaiting the governors signature to become law; 14 states have introduced NIL bills; and one state has a bill passed by the Senate and awaiting a House vote, according to the Business of College Sports. Are pro athletes overpaid? In 2019, 14 million people watched the U.S. Womens National Soccer team defeat the Netherlands to win the FIFA Womens World Cup10.5 million more viewers than their 2001 finals appearance. Explore the NCAA site and think critically about the organization as the governing body of college athletics. People argue that since women in sports work just as hard as men, they should receive equal pay. Professional sports revenues are rapidly increasing because of the seemingly insatiable appetites for unique TV programs.