In other sports performers get paid on how well they compete in tournaments. Examples are: tennis darts, pool, snooker and golf. For instance the winner of the Embassy Snooker Championship gets £260,000 but there are 127 other people competing for the prize. If you have a bad day and you get knocked out in round 1 you only get £2,250; it all matters on the day.
A sport for which athletes don’t get paid at all involves the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). Its hurlers and gaelic footballers put in large amounts of training and give up time in work for the sport they love. In most sports however this isn’t the case as sports stars have become very greedy. In National Hockey League (NHL) there is no tax on wages as the players wouldn’t agree and threatened to go on strike. In MLB last summer the players went on strike because they wanted more money. Another reason for sports stars becoming greedy is the performers’ agents who try to make the most money for themselves out of any transfers. Harry Kewell left Leeds United to join Liverpool for £5 million but the players’ agent made himself £2 million from the deal, which is shocking.
However there is only a tiny proportion of the population who have the skills generated by pro athletes at the highest level. The scarcity of highly talented players demands money competition to sign the best players. Sports stars also have short careers and their careers could be cut short at any time due to an injury like Norman Whiteside who damaged his leg in his mid-twenties and was unable to play again.
A lot of sports stars make most of their money through sponsorship deals. Golfer, Tiger Woods, who is the richest figure in sport at 24, is set to become the first sports star to be a billionaire. He earns in just one endorsement of many, $100 million over 5 years from Reebok. Real Madrid star, David Beckham, stands to make £200 million from all his sponsorship deals with Nike, Vodaphone, Police sunglasses and Marks and Spencers. Tennis star Venus Williams is on $40 million over 5 years with Reebok. In America NFL star Barry Bonds who plays for the San Francisco 49ers has a national contract with Kentucky Fried Chicken. Also, many baseball players have glove deals.
Sports stars, the select few get paid more than our emergency services. Doctors, nurses, teachers, policemen and firemen wouldn’t make in a lifetime what some sports stars make in a week. Vinny Arkins, who plays for Portadown, a semi-professional club in Northern Ireland earns £1,000 per week, which is more than the average £25,000 per year a fireman is on. This is wrong as a fireman saves lives whereas sports stars are doing something they like and are getting paid for it.
When sports stars get paid a lot some of them turn into spoilt brats and show no loyalty and only play for the money. Before Mark Bosnich was caught with hard drugs in his system he was earning £30,000 per week with Chelsea and was third choice goalkeeper but he wouldn’t leave. He was just going to run out the last year of his contract. While playing with Leeds United, Jonathon Woodgate and Lee Bowyer and a few friends viciously attacked an Asian man outside a nightclub but they got away with it getting 100 hours of community service each. Police in Cape Town detained five players from the South African Rugby Union team, ACT Brumbies, as after they went out celebrating they damaged a taxi, behaved violently and indecently exposed themselves. Not all sports stars are like this; most live a quiet life such as Newcastle and former England forward, Alan Shearer. There are so many sports stars that leave teams in order to play as much as they can no matter how much they are being paid.
In sports across the world wages have been blown out of proportion. A lot of clubs are paying out more than they are bringing in. Arguably the biggest club in the world, Real Madrid, are said to be £250 million in debt. Notts County F.C the 2nd oldest club in Britain have been giving 13 weeks to sort out their future after having been in administration for the last 18 months. If their financial problems are not sorted out in 11 weeks they will be removed form the football league. In the British Hockey league, Swindon Lynx are on the verge of bankruptcy, as their staff has not been paid in months. Just last year in the National Hockey League (NHL) the Buffalo Sabres have gone bankrupt and were thrown out of the league. In Italy two years ago Fiorentina who were relegated two seasons ago from Serie A to B, were put down a further four divisions to Serie C2B due to not having sufficient funds to enter Serie B. Over the years Fiorentina have had to sell prized assets such as Francesco Toldo, Gabrielle Batistuta and Rui Costa. Fiorentina only four years ago were playing Champions league football; this is a lesson of which all clubs should be aware.
Some sports have woken up and have introduced ways of solving their financial problems. Last year there were five NFL teams who were on the verge of bankruptcy and a few teams in the National Basketball League (NBA) including Boston Celtics who were also nearly bankrupted. So both sports introduced a wage cap and since then both the sports are financially comfortable. In Cricket there is a strict wage structure, which ensures the long-term future of the sport, and every club makes a profit. Even in soccer there is no salary cap but some clubs such as Rotherham have a wage structure which ensures every year they make a profit. They do not pay a player more than £8,000 per week. A lot of clubs need to follow their example.
Having looked in depth at both sides of the argument I still believe that sports stars are paid too much. I believe all sports should have a salary cap and the most players should be paid is £15,000 per week as salaries are spiralling out of control. Baseball, soccer and hockey should follow basketball and American Football’s lead and put a cap on wages to ensure the future of their game, to secure it for future generations.
