Why athletes get paid so much
injuries, the NFL having the highest number of athletes with injuries (Ley). I recently e-mailed Paul Silvi with my interview questions for this paper. In one of his questions concerning bench players he replied with his view, “Some athletes do deserve big money. Michael Jordan, Shaq, Kobe, top pitchers in baseball, top quarterbacks in football. Yes, some guys deserve to get paid a lot of money, as long as it’s within reason.” I agree with Paul on this one. I think it’s totally fair for these bigger, better known players to get paid the amounts of money they get paid because they really deserve it. They go through so much, not just being an athlete but by having so many fans and having such a higher standard of what is expected from them. For example, with the Los Angeles Lakers, Shaquille O’Neal was not playing for a couple of games because of a sore toe and some other injuries, so Kobe Bryant had to be more dominant. It was the game against the Houston Rockets, a big game for the Lakers to win. The game went through two overtimes, and throughout the whole game Bryant was in a lot of pain because of sore knees and other little injuries, yet he played through it. Not only did he finish playing that night, but also he wanted to play for his team the next night, so they could improve their record. All of the pain and subsequent treatment proved his dedication to his team. Now, isn’t he worth a big salary? But then again, you come to those bench players. Basketball is full of them. They barely play during the season, but occasionally get some break out games once in awhile that gets them somewhat known. Are they really worth it to pay millions of dollars to see them sit on the bench? “The Sonics are a perfect example of bench players making too much money. Calvin Booth sits, but earns five million a season. Vitaly Potopenko, over five million, and he sits for most of the season. The salaries for bench players are out of whack,” said Paul Silvi.
There is some control over these athlete’s wages, even though it doesn’t seem like it. The big three leagues all have instituted a salary cap over the years. Though we still see a record of lockouts and strikes from all of these leagues. The latest lockout for the NBA was in 1999, the season after Michael Jordan retired. The lockout lasted for more than 50 games because of a dispute between owners and players. For baseball, they had a close call. The players had planned a strike to start on August 30th 2002, but many didn’t want that at all, so lawyers did as much possible to make it not happen. The new deal that the players and owners agreed on will run through 2006. With the deal, owners gained concessions from one of the most powerful unions [next page]