Thursday, June 26, 2014
I'M NOW WRITING FOR OREGON SPORTS NEWS!!!!!
I AM WRITING FOR OREGON SPORTS NEWS NOW!!! www.oregonsportsnews.com Look for me once to twice a week! Thank you all for the support, this is one step closer to my dream!! I will still try and post on here every once and a while, but my dedication is with OSN for now! CONTINUE TO READ !!
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Hello ALL!! I need to apologize. I have been on a hiatus from posting on the blog. I am in the process of moving into a new place, and internet is sketchy. At the end of the month. I will be writing for Oregon Sports News!!! I owe this opportunity to all of my readers, as they have helped me get recognized! I will be writing again soon. Check back in at the end of the month!!!
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Why You Mad?
Before I start, I want to apologize for the brief Hiatus. I have been moving into a new house this last week, and internet hasn't been set up yet, so I have to use it at work on my lunch break... and usually I use that for... well... eating lunch. Enough of my boring life, back to sports. This topic subject has been on my mind for a number of years, and was brought up again recently in a discussion, so I have decided to put my two cents in and see what y'all think about it.
The topic that has been burning my brain has to do with Professional athletes, primarily NBA players, their salaries, and how they are perceived by the general public ( I know Baseball players are paid higher amounts, but thats mainly due to the lack of a salary cap, I hear the most complaining about Basketball players so I'll stick with them ). What I really want to discuss is how much these players make, how the public perceives their salaries, and if the perception is justified. I could make some more witty remarks, but lets get to the topic.
I took the salaries of Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, and Lebron James, three of what I perceive as the most popular athletes in the NBA. After averaging their 2014 salaries out, the average salary for those superstars was about $23 Million for the year of 2014 ( this doesn't count endorsements, this is for their NBA contract ). Now, most people stop there and say " really... 23 Million dollars for someone who plays a game for a living?!... thats like $20,000 an hour, we should be paying firemen/policemen that much". Now, I understand this feeling, and I can get how someone would think that by simply looking at that figure... lets dig a little deeper though.
I decided to look at the businesses ( teams ) that these players work ( play ) for, the New York Knicks, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Miami Heat ( I realize that virtually everyone reading this article already knew what teams they played for... but what the heck ). I looked at these teams, and figured out what their revenue is on an average year. Why did I do this? Well.. I look at these teams as a business, and I look at the players as employees because, although the media doesn't play it out that way, that is exactly what these two things are. The Knicks 2012 Revenue was $243 Million dollars, the Lakers were at $255 Million, and the Heat were at $180 Million. This number includes many things such as food sales, parking, luxury seating, drinks etc.... but all of those things are directly related to one thing... TICKET SALES. If you sell less tickets, less people park, less people eat, less people drink, because, there are less people at your games ( see: Milwaukee Bucks ).
We now know what each of these businesses ( teams) make, and how much their top employee ( player ) earns as well. Lets look at the percentages.. Carmelo's salary ( $21.4 Million ) is 8.7 % of the Knicks revenue, Kobe ( $30.4 Million ) is earning about 12 % of his teams revenue, and Lebron ( $19.1 Million ) is at about 10.5 % of his respective teams earnings ( these may seem like just a whole bunch of numbers, but I promise it will come together ). I will now pose a question, if ANY of these three teams stayed exactly how they were, meaning they don't bring in other superstars etc, and lost any one of these three players, how much of a hit do you think their revenue would take? ( I know I would be much less inclined to go to a Lakers game without Kobe, this year was proof ). Obviously, we don't know the answer unless it happens.. but I would guess that it would be AT LEAST 8-12 %, and that is being modest.
What I am really trying to say with this whole argument is that these players are simply employees that bring in A LOT of revenue for their respective teams or businesses, if you will, and they get paid accordingly. As harsh as it sounds, if we wanted to pay public workers such as police and firemen upwards of $1 Million a year, where would that money come from? Would the tax payers support it? Because that is where their salaries come from. Instead of questioning these guys, we should really question people that sit on the bench and make $500k+ a year... because I guarantee those particular players don't bring in $500k+ worth of revenue a year ( who goes to a game to see Meyers Leonard?... most of you probably don't even know who that is ).
I must get back to my real job, but I will leave it at this. If you want to complain about how much someone is making, do a little research first, and see if your complaints are warranted. I will admit, no sports player should be making 30$ Million a year to play sports, but we continue to buy tickets, and continue to support these businesses ( teams.. for those who haven't got the point yet ), so complainers, whos really to blame here? Comment, Criticize, Complain! I love the 3 C's, I can't wait to hear your thoughts!!!
The topic that has been burning my brain has to do with Professional athletes, primarily NBA players, their salaries, and how they are perceived by the general public ( I know Baseball players are paid higher amounts, but thats mainly due to the lack of a salary cap, I hear the most complaining about Basketball players so I'll stick with them ). What I really want to discuss is how much these players make, how the public perceives their salaries, and if the perception is justified. I could make some more witty remarks, but lets get to the topic.
I took the salaries of Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, and Lebron James, three of what I perceive as the most popular athletes in the NBA. After averaging their 2014 salaries out, the average salary for those superstars was about $23 Million for the year of 2014 ( this doesn't count endorsements, this is for their NBA contract ). Now, most people stop there and say " really... 23 Million dollars for someone who plays a game for a living?!... thats like $20,000 an hour, we should be paying firemen/policemen that much". Now, I understand this feeling, and I can get how someone would think that by simply looking at that figure... lets dig a little deeper though.
I decided to look at the businesses ( teams ) that these players work ( play ) for, the New York Knicks, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Miami Heat ( I realize that virtually everyone reading this article already knew what teams they played for... but what the heck ). I looked at these teams, and figured out what their revenue is on an average year. Why did I do this? Well.. I look at these teams as a business, and I look at the players as employees because, although the media doesn't play it out that way, that is exactly what these two things are. The Knicks 2012 Revenue was $243 Million dollars, the Lakers were at $255 Million, and the Heat were at $180 Million. This number includes many things such as food sales, parking, luxury seating, drinks etc.... but all of those things are directly related to one thing... TICKET SALES. If you sell less tickets, less people park, less people eat, less people drink, because, there are less people at your games ( see: Milwaukee Bucks ).
We now know what each of these businesses ( teams) make, and how much their top employee ( player ) earns as well. Lets look at the percentages.. Carmelo's salary ( $21.4 Million ) is 8.7 % of the Knicks revenue, Kobe ( $30.4 Million ) is earning about 12 % of his teams revenue, and Lebron ( $19.1 Million ) is at about 10.5 % of his respective teams earnings ( these may seem like just a whole bunch of numbers, but I promise it will come together ). I will now pose a question, if ANY of these three teams stayed exactly how they were, meaning they don't bring in other superstars etc, and lost any one of these three players, how much of a hit do you think their revenue would take? ( I know I would be much less inclined to go to a Lakers game without Kobe, this year was proof ). Obviously, we don't know the answer unless it happens.. but I would guess that it would be AT LEAST 8-12 %, and that is being modest.
What I am really trying to say with this whole argument is that these players are simply employees that bring in A LOT of revenue for their respective teams or businesses, if you will, and they get paid accordingly. As harsh as it sounds, if we wanted to pay public workers such as police and firemen upwards of $1 Million a year, where would that money come from? Would the tax payers support it? Because that is where their salaries come from. Instead of questioning these guys, we should really question people that sit on the bench and make $500k+ a year... because I guarantee those particular players don't bring in $500k+ worth of revenue a year ( who goes to a game to see Meyers Leonard?... most of you probably don't even know who that is ).
I must get back to my real job, but I will leave it at this. If you want to complain about how much someone is making, do a little research first, and see if your complaints are warranted. I will admit, no sports player should be making 30$ Million a year to play sports, but we continue to buy tickets, and continue to support these businesses ( teams.. for those who haven't got the point yet ), so complainers, whos really to blame here? Comment, Criticize, Complain! I love the 3 C's, I can't wait to hear your thoughts!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)