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Paid To Play Games

By Robert Sullivan

In 1930 the great New York Yankee Babe Ruth was asked to justify his new annual salary, $80,000, which he was paid to hit baseballs a long way. How could he earn that, people asked, when the President of the United States was making only $75,000?

"I had a better year than he did," Ruth replied. The country was sliding into a rough era called the Great Depression at the time, so when people looked at the job President Herbert Hoover was doing, they didn’t really argue with Ruth.

Times have changed. The President, who was voted a raise by Congress in 2000, now earns $400,000 a year. In December the highest-paid ballplayer, shortstop Alex Rodriguez, signed a contract with the Texas Rangers. He makes a shade more than $25 million a year. So the paychecks for those two jobs are no longer in the same ballpark.

When The Price Is Right
After Rodriguez signed that contract, worth $252 million over the next 10 years, critics were indignant. "It’s obscene to pay a guy that much money to play a game!" they cried. Are they right? It depends on how you look at it.

In a perfect world, perhaps the President would be paid more than any athlete. Doctors would earn more than movie stars. Your teacher would be paid more than Britney Spears. But our world is far from perfect. Athletes get whatever folks will pay.

Rodriguez’s contract redefined what an excellent shortstop is worth. In February his friendly rival Derek Jeter signed a 10-year, $189 million contract with the Yankees. Only a year earlier, the team had refused to sign Jeter to a seven-year, $118.5 million deal. Do the math to see how much that cost the Yankees and how much Rodriguez’s deal raised the pay scale.

Shortstop Alex Rodriguez will earn $25,200,000 each year for 10 years!

Colorado Rockies pitcher Mike Hampton will get $15.1 million this season. If he gets as many men out as he did last year (653), he will earn $23,162.33 an out—about what a rookie teacher in some states will earn for a whole year!

With spring training in full swing, the talk is about baseball. But other sports’ top earners are doing O.K. too. NFL quarterbacks Drew Bledsoe of New England and Brett Favre of Green Bay have each signed contracts that will pay them about $10 million a season. Shaquille O’Neal is earning $120 million over seven years to shoot hoops for the L.A. Lakers, while Jaromir Jagr is paid $9.4 million a year to play hockey for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Those figures don’t include bonuses, endorsement deals or commercials. Ka-ching!

Athletes aren’t the only entertainers accused of being ridiculously overpaid. Actor Harrison Ford will earn $25 million for 20 days’ work on his next film, K-19: The Widowmaker. That’s $2,500 a minute. Is that really so outrageous? Not to movie producers. Ford’s 28 films have made $5.44 billion—more than any other actor’s. Moviemakers feel certain that they will get their money back when fans buy millions of tickets to see his movies.

The same goes for Rodriguez. The Texas Rangers will sell many more tickets now that they have him. If he plays well, the Rangers will be able to increase ticket prices and the price they charge broadcasters to put the games on TV. A-Rod, they figure, is a good investment.

Should Fans Just Say No?
Everything about sports events is getting more expensive. It costs a whopping average of $266.61 for a family of four to attend a pro basketball game (tickets, parking, sodas, hot dogs, programs). What if the high price of big-time sports leads fans to stop buying tickets? What if it turns them off so much that they stop watching sports on TV? If, 50 years from now, America no longer cares for basketball, the players of tomorrow will be paid much less.

In 1789, when George Washington became President, his annual salary was $25,000—big bucks in those days, much more than any sportsman was making. But since he was already a rich landowner, the father of our country wouldn’t take that money. As we said before, times have certainly changed.

Next: Less For The Ladies?