The Million Dollar Athlete

Today's Topic: Professional Athletes

Kobe Bryant

Call them role models, hero's, people you admire or people that are just "sick" at whatever their chosen sport. Just don't call them poor and unfortunate, because in my humble opinion, they have the best job in the world.

Forbes magazine is great but also incredibly depressing for a lot of reasons. They tell you about all the people who are bigger, smarter and richer than you. In 2008-2009, Tiger Woods was named the world's richest athlete. In that year, Woods made $110 million. That was his salary, which breaks down to about $4 dollars a SECOND. Oh, did I also mention that he only played about half the year? Since his car crash and his lack of performance (no pun intended), he still remains the world's richest athlete raking in $75 million dollars last year by being the front man for Nike and Electronic Arts (EA Sports); two companies which have built an empire over the Tiger Woods brand. It leads me to a much deeper question, is Tiger Woods a bigger brand than Nike itself? And he's not the only one. Kobe Bryant made $24.8 million last year, 4 million more than any other player in the NBA. With his endorsements, Bryant brought home around $54 million last year. Who would have thought...20 years ago if you had have told someone that the two most successful and highest paid athletes in the world would be African-American, most would have laughed in your face, Welcome to the future, ladies and gentlemen. Lebron James, Roger Federer (Tennis), Phil Mickelson (Golf) David Beckham (Soccer), Ronaldo (Soccer), Alex Rodriguez (MLB) are some of the notable athletes that rounded out the top ten, not one of them when filing for their taxes files for less than $30 million. The highest payed hockey players you ask? Vincent Lecalvier, Roberto Luongo and Sidney Crosby, all of whom make $10, $10, and $9 million dollars respectively (not including any endorsement deals)

The one and only, Yankee Stadium

Yes, every player has their hand in the cookie jar. And the better you play, the more money you are worth. General managers and owners of sports teams have got it down to a science in terms of a players value and how much they are worth. And the agents that represent them? Well they just pat their backs, and tell them how great they are...at their job. If you are to step back and look at it, it really is a larger than life picture they are painting. Driven by the dollar and the thrill of the game, the world's best athletes sit high on a pedestal of luxury and glory, getting all the big breaks and all the best of everything, ever. The money that North American sports organizations sink into their sport every year is off the charts. With the exception of soccer and perhaps the PGA tour, which is categorized as a world sport, nearly 90% of sporting events take place on North American soil. When you put it in that perspective, it's no wonder we live in a society that is fueled by the rich and famous. Of course, it's fueled by us, the fans. Let's all go out to the ball game, and heck why not when you can go see the jays for a measly $12. Or take in the game in the nosebleeds of a Bills Game for $35. As long as you can get us through the gate, we are supporting every single athlete salary, every game. Without a fan, without that specific market, there would be no lap of luxury for the million dollar athlete.

This is not to say that I don't support sporting events or any sport in general, I really do. I have been to almost every major sporting event, with the exception of a PGA event (there's something about watching golf, and then watching golf live that just doesn't do it for me) I'll tell you this: The game is bigger than the athletes, the sport is bigger than the organization and the message and what we get out of it is bigger than any game. And it's only getting bigger.

Need I say more?

Athletes are a small class of citizens in a unique position to alter our lives and way of thinking, even if it's only for a split second. A classic, "Where were you when Sidney Crosby scored that goal?" is a staple of that statement. Take any given play in any given Superbowl, an event that is the biggest in the world of sports, and you travel down memory lane, taking in all the hair-standing-up-on-the-back-of-your-neck moments.  It's this awesome power that we give into, and we gladly do it because for brief moments, we forget about the stress in our life and the daily grind and struggle we incur to put food on the table. We become a God in our own arena, a statue and symbol of our own greatness. Athletes and fans have this unspoken understanding and passion that they share. I'll help you get paid millions, you entertain me while I cheer you on.

An athletes natural gift is potentially worth millions and that is what the entire sports community will have you believe. It starts when that little guy puts on his first pair of skates, that is when the dream begins to hoist the Stanley Cup (I get chills just thinking about it.) It begins on the court when you shoot your first basketball, or when you sign up for t-ball, or little league football, or score your first soccer goal; it all encompasses the world of self-achievement and fulfillment. You can't help but wrap yourself into it. And yes, the athletes are ridiculously over payed but as the sport grows, so does the salaries and the bank accounts of the world's greatest. It's a universal truth.

For some, the million dollar athlete is a symbol of something that they can never be, or somewhere along the line, they gave up on the dream of being the greatest. So we settle for a seat on the couch or in the stadium, and we scream all the top of our lungs for the pride we share in the passion of the game. Buying into the idea means buying into a system that can be fulfilling and frustrating. At the end of the day, and relatively speaking, we are all just pigeons on a wire, watching the greatest sports figures in the world carry out their day-to-day jobs.  

Game on.