OT: Some perspective regarding athletes' salaries

[drew4008]

Just read an interesting article and thought the readers over here would want to hear about it... particularly since a bunch of us have been going over the money issue in the Peyton/Vinatieri thread.

Albert Pujols new contract with L.A. ($254 million over 10 years in total) is back-loaded to pay him approximately $30 million per-year near the end.

This works out to just under $200,000 per GAME.

Furthermore, when worked out, that's right around $1,000 per MINUTE of each game.

I know football players don't have salaries in this range, and they work harder for their money (with the physicality and thus much higher risks, as well as shorter careers). But wow, when you break it down like this... it's hard to fathom how much money elite athletes are making.

 

[Armchair Quarterback]

Just read an interesting article and thought the readers over here would want to hear about it... particularly since a bunch of us have been going over the money issue in the Peyton/Vinatieri thread.

Albert Pujols new contract with L.A. ($254 million over 10 years in total) is back-loaded to pay him approximately $30 million per-year near the end.

This works out to just under $200,000 per GAME.

Furthermore, when worked out, that's right around $1,000 per MINUTE of each game.

I know football players don't have salaries in this range, and they work harder for their money (with the physicality and thus much higher risks, as well as shorter careers). But wow, when you break it down like this... it's hard to fathom how much money elite athletes are making.

Any football player making over $3.2 million makes over $200,000 per game, of course baseball plays 10x more games.

 

[BaltimorePatsFan]

The NBA is definitely the worst when it comes to this.

Guys that only play 15 minutes a game are getting paid millions of dollars...and how about Greg Oden and his new 1 year 9 million dollar contract even though he's only played in 82 games in 4 years? It's absolutely ridiculous.

 

[fnordcircle]

I'm more worried about the how and why the megarich are paying a lesser income tax rate than me than how much they overpay their employees.

 

[sbpatfan]

I'm more worried about the how and why the megarich are paying a lesser income tax rate than me than how much they overpay their employees.

Post of the year.

 

[drew4008]

I'm more worried about the how and why the megarich are paying a lesser income tax rate than me than how much they overpay their employees.

Key word there is RATE. Why should they pay a higher rate? I'm jealous as hell of the mega-rich, so I'm not one to complain about wanting to tax and tax and tax... there's enough taxation and I know how pissed it makes me to see money taken off of any paycheque I or others in my family make. More taxes isn't the answer.

IMO, everyone should pay the exact same rate/percentage across the board. Look up the FairTax program.

But I digress... this isn't a political thread lol

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

I'm more worried about the how and why the megarich are paying a lesser income tax rate than me than how much they overpay their employees.

If a football player CEO makes $10M salary he pays taxes at the highest % rate. Graduated income tax.

If that CEO or you or anyone instead of salary buy a stock that goes way up (stocks more often go down these years) and hold it for over a year you only pay taxes at the 15% capital gains rate. Also, the CEO has something most of us don't have, stock options to buy at a low price and then after waiting a year take the gain at 15%.

If that CEO or you or anyone buys municipal bonds, the income interest from those bonds are tax free.

A business owner like Kraft can offset profits with losses and pay little or no tax that year. Doing this indefinitely has bad consequences however.

That's how.

My detailed opinions why I feel the current complex tax system is dysfunctional and counterproductive belong in the political forum sewer.

 

[upstater1]

Key word there is RATE. Why should they pay a higher rate? I'm jealous as hell of the mega-rich, so I'm not one to complain about wanting to tax and tax and tax... there's enough taxation and I know how pissed it makes me to see money taken off of any paycheque I or others in my family make. More taxes isn't the answer.

IMO, everyone should pay the exact same rate/percentage across the board. Look up the FairTax program.

But I digress... this isn't a political thread lol

Are we really going to have this discussion on a football board?

Your salary and paycheck is fungible. There is no inherent value in it. It's only as strong as the region and country in which you make your money. if your region and country is getting weaker, it doesn't matter how much in taxes you're paying. Because you're making less money regardless.

People focus on taxes so much without taking into account the big picture. Taxes are practically irrelevant if we're all making a lot more money (which is also part of the logic for taxing people with means more). There is a point in which you need a base amount of taxes in the economy and you should never go below that (because every economy needs a surplus recycling mechanism to operate without creating unhealthy imbalances) but any tax rate above that should largely be geared toward the nation's interests and strategies (infrastructure, investment, research, development, defense, social welfare).

 

[upstater1]

Bringing this back to sports a little bit, I have no idea why taxpayers are subsidizing pro athletes and owners with business entertainment write-offs. My brother who works for a big corporation gets prime comped tix all the time (and he avoids getting luxury box passes because he likes sitting in the crowd). It's a joke that he gets this perk for free and there's a business writeoff. Meanwhile, you have people eating great meals and writing off the luxury box expense as they watch a game. This is pure entertainment, and worse, it drives up the market for regular football fans who have to compete for tickets with corporations taking tax write-offs.

I well realize that this would put a dent into businesses that aren't involved in sports but surely you can make regulations that both limit the amount of deductions for a business lunch (i.e. no caviar, $100 a person max per dinner) and disallow deductions for luxury boxes.

 

[scout]

You can't compare salaries from one sport to another as the post would be pages long. Just the fact that if a baseball player in the first year of a mega-million $$$ 20 year contract gets cut, he still gets paid the entire contract.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

Key word there is RATE. Why should they pay a higher rate? I'm jealous as hell of the mega-rich, so I'm not one to complain about wanting to tax and tax and tax... there's enough taxation and I know how pissed it makes me to see money taken off of any paycheque I or others in my family make. More taxes isn't the answer.

IMO, everyone should pay the exact same rate/percentage across the board. Look up the FairTax program.

But I digress... this isn't a political thread lol

Actually the rich pay a lower tax rate on much of their income. The working for the most part get their income as regular income which is taxed at a higher rate than capital gains, the way the wealthy make their money.

As Warren Buffet pointed out he pays a lower tax rate on much of his income than his maid.