1. An In-Depth Look at American
Professional Sports

2.  There are roughly 122 major professional
sports teams in America
 Each team brings in between 200 and 300
million anually
 That would mean a rough combined revenue
of $30,500,000,000 a year

3. Why Are They Paid So Much?
MRP (Marginal Revenue Product)
Ticket Sales
Individual performance
Salary caps
What is decided between the Player’s Union and
League Officials

4. Who is Paid the Most?
1. Tiger Woods-Tennis-$78.1M
2. Roger Federer-Golf-$71.5M
3. Kobe Bryant-Basketball-$61.9M
4. Lebron James-Basketball-$59.8M
5. Drew Brees-American Football-$51M

5. ARE ATHLETES PAID WHAT THEY DESERVE?
 Public is willing to pay high ticket prices
 Public encourages the growth of ticket sales
 Athletes are paid according to market and job
demand
 There is little competition for jobs
 Not all athletes are paid millions

6.  People in the business world are typically forced to
take lower salaries just so they can have a job
 Athletes don’t have to deal with that seeing as how
they each have a specific skill set and talent
 If there was the same amount of revenue for a
police department as the revenue for an NBA
team, then the police officers would also make
millions of dollars

7. ATHLETES ARE STILL PAID TOO MUCH
• The millions of dollars the public spends on tickets
and memorabilia could go towards a charity
• 76% of NFL players and 60% of NBA players go
broke 5 years after retirement
• If athletes weren’t paid so much they might not
squander their money and get into legal trouble
• Less money in sports could mean more money in
other areas of the economy

8. The Consumer is the Solution
 The public needs to force ticket and merchandise
sales down
 The athletes need to realize that they aren’t any more
important then the next person
 The coaches and league officials need to say enough
 Finally, each team needs a committee to set a hard
salary cap and direct extra funds to charities