Sport

The salaries given to American athletes and other sports personalities have always attracted a lot of heated debates among the Americans. Americans of all walks of life always talk about the big salaries paid to sports personalities. Some people have complained that the sporting personalities are paid large sums of money which according to them is not justified. However, the big question has always been whether these arguments are valid. Moreover, if the arguments are not valid and the sportsmen are justified to receive these high salaries, where does the money come from For example, a sportsman such as Alex Rodriguez, a baseman with the New York Yankee received about twenty five million dollars per season while Michael Jordan receives much more. Some of the arguments against these high salaries for sportsmen have been the contrast that other individuals such as teachers who have contributed more to the society are not paid as well. However, those who support the high salaries for the sportsmen have argued that the sportsmen are offered those attractive salaries and cannot turn them down. Moreover, if the owners of these sportsmen are wiling to pay them these huge sums of money, it means they are earning even more (Anderson, pp 8).

Athletes High Salaries
Almost all the people in the United States have some interest in sports. Sporting activities such as athletics, basketball, American football and soccer have evolved into a major source of entertainment in America and other parts of the world. People around the world are wiling to pay large sums of money to watch sporting activities either live or on the television. Moreover, sporting personalities have attracted a lot of admiration from people all over the world. But the big question has always been who is responsible for the big salaries that these personalities receive at the end of the season The correct answer to this question is the fans. Anybody interested in what an athlete earns has some interest on the game and spends some money to watch the sport which contributes to the huge salaries the sportsman is earning. If the public is obsessed by a sporting personality, more revenue is collected which translates into higher wages for the sportsman. In other words, the sport fans are responsible for the huge salaries received by the athletes and other sportsmen in the world.

The same fans who are disturbed by the huge salaries outstanding athlete receive and always grumble about them are the ones who set these salaries. This is because like any other economy, the price assigned for each factor of production is determined by the market. The choices of the customer on what they are willing and able to buy are one of the main determinants of the price of the product. The producers on the other hand meet the cost of production which is included in the product prices. If the producer has to make any profit and stay in business, the customer must be willing and able to buy the product at a price that covers the production cost and leave the producer with some profit. Otherwise the producer will not be willing to produce the product if the consumer cannot pay for them. The ability of the producer to accurately forecast the expected gains in the long run is more likely to stay in business longer (Anderson, pp 8).

The case is not in any way different in the sporting economy. The large salaries paid to athletes today are partly as a result of the voluntary choices the fans are willing to pay for. The large salaries is chiefly because of the large number of fans who are willing to pay to watch these sportsmen play. Therefore, if the general public is disturbed that the sportsmen are earning much more than anybody else in the world, then they have themselves to blame. The public have the powers to determine what the athletes earn. If the public stop paying so much to watch the games live or on television or buying expensive tickets and redirect the funds somewhere else, the athletes will earn much less than they earn today. However, it is in doubt whether this change in priority is possible if the obsession of the public with sporting activity is anything to go by. The public allover the world is becoming more dependants on sports as a source of entertainment with the loyalty to certain sporting activity increasing.

However, it should be noted that the fans are not fully responsible for the huge salaries because other factors also play a part in the determination of the salaries. There are several interest groups such as managers of big multinational corporations who are able to use their influence to lobby for restrictions that favor them. These corporate managers have been able to use the sporting personality to market their products due to the great obsession the general public have had with prominent athletes. Owners of some of these players have received huge sponsorship from big companies which is enough to pay the athletes without the support of the central government. The corporate involvement in the sporting activities is also a major factor that contributes to the large salaries given to athletes. This factor is also dependent on the choices made by the fans. If the sporting activity has large number of fans, it is likely to attract more corporate managers to sponsor the activities. The loyalty of the public to athletics and other sports is therefore the main factor contributing to the huge salaries paid by sportsmen.

Teachers and other professionals have complained that despite the value that is given to education, their earning compared to sportsmen is not comparable. However, it is evident from these complains that the American society does not give as much value to education as to entertainment accrued from sporting activities. The Americans should therefore not complain about educators being paid less to educate their children than the athletes. The Americans are willing to pay athletes more than they are willing to pay for their childrens education. For this reason, a prominent athlete today is capable of earning in one season more than most of the highly learned professionals are likely to earn in their lifetime. Despite the high number of Americans attending athletics event allover the country and adoring great athletes, some of the athletes have been surrounded by many controversies. The behaviors of some of the professional athletes outside the field which has been published by media to the fine details leaves every body wondering whether these personalities are worth being considered as role models to the young American generation. The undesirable behaviors have been directly attributed to the huge salaries these young professional athletes receive (Schneider, 2001).

Despite the large increase in the salaries received by professional athletes in the last few decades, many people have come out to defend the athletes huge pay. The high pay has been considered a positive trend which indicates people in America are becoming more prosperous. The pay rise should not be analyzed by considering the negative aspects of the trend towards other professionals or as a dangerous surge in the profession.

Economists have used the increased salaries paid to professional athletes to analyze the economic power of the American society. This analysis has been useful in the past in the analysis of the alleged declining living standards among the American society. The increasing salaries among the professional athletes indicate that the American society is better off in terms of their economic strength. Despite the declining living standard, the American society has the economic ability to pay the athletes. The society imputes a higher marginal value to their entertainment through sporting. It is also wrong to argue that the Americans are spending more on sports than other important aspects of the society such as education. It is also wrong to conclude that based on the huge pay awarded to the professional athletes, the American society values professional sportsmen and sportswomen than other professionals. For example, the education in the United States spent up to 532 billion dollars while commercial sporting spent a total of 13.1 billion dollars in 1995 (Callahan, p 8). The amount spent on education is therefore not comparable with the amount of money spent on sporting activities despite the huge salaries. The disparity of the salaries received by the professional athletes compared to other professionals is explained by the principle of diminishing marginal utility.

There is one dominant factor that cannot be denied whatsoever. The abidance of professional athletes who have the physical abilities to participate in the rigors activity is very low compared to professionals in other fields. It is relatively easier to train teachers as compared to training athletes. Moreover, one professional athlete has the ability of attracting thousands of funs in the arena and thousand of others in the mass media. Even the best teachers in the world cannot effectively attend to a fraction of such number of students. Most teachers can effectively handle at most twenty five students at a time. This is true for other professionals. The number of professional athletes in the United States is very few compared to the number of individuals joining other professionals every year. For example, while only about forty rookies qualify for to the national basketball association in the country, over forty thousand individuals are awarded PhDs in the United States. The number of professional athletes may be even less. This is a basic reason why there is a large disparities between the salaries paid to the professional sportsmen relative to other professions (Callahan, pp 8).

Conclusion
It is not in doubt that sporting personality including professional athletes receives huge salaries. There has been heated debate on whether the American society has it priorities right by paying huge sums to athletes rather than other professionals such as teachers and doctors. However, the fans are to be blamed for the huge salaries. Despite this, the huge salaries are justified.