Damn, how overpaid are NBA players

[Admin]

Did the players have to invest their hard earned money into a team like the Owners did? Did they take a HUGE risk by doing so? Hell no they dont. Owners of any business deserve whatever money they are able to make because they have taken great risks to become successful business owners in most cases. These players arent doing anything but skipping or quitting college early and just getting an enormous paycheck off of their God given abilities. Granted I know that they work hard, but they dont work as hard as most soldiers, construction workers, truck drivers, etc. and are paid outrageously more. I dont blame them for trying to get paid because hey why not, if we are willing to pay it then someone should reap the benefits of it.....however, just remember that these grown men are being paid a fortune to play a kids game for a living.

[Diesel]

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Owners of any business deserve whatever money they are able to make because they have taken great risks to become successful business owners in most cases.

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I would agree with you, however, this is not true when it comes to the NBA. The NBA owner can be any smuck with money. There's no great risk taken because of the league. Let me explain.

The product is basketball. The consumer is the fan. The owner really does very little to promote basketball. Basketball is promoted by the league. Basketball has always been a business. I was watching an interview with David Stern. He said that his favorite time in basketball was the Jordan years. NOT because of the competition that the Bulls faced or the great series they had (because they didn't when you compare the Lakers vs. Celtics or even the bad Boys of Detroit) but it was because Jordan was a player that the LEAGUE could market to the consumer.

That's how ownership in the NBA works now. Stern has made it so that the Players are marketed to the consumer. The owner is just some joker who is in the right place at the right time and not some guy who takes a great risk. Why do you say that Diesel...

Because in Basketball, teams acquire great players by a draft that is overseen by "The League". Since Ewing went to the knicks, the Draft lottery has been a sham. Even last year... Cleveland gets Lebron... Look at the Finances behind that. Just like this year, Atlanta will get Howard.

The league makes itself MORE competitive by arranging certain players to go to certain teams and by putting in rules on FAcy that stops players from moving without Financial risk....

So, what does the owner do?

Not much. The owner sets the atmosphere that he wants for his team. However, Stern is no fool. Stern knows that he has to keep up certain markets no matter what. So Atl Spirit automatically walk into a good situation because the league is strong. There will be profits for the owners.

From the players side...

These are the guys that the league is built on. Your KG, Iverson, Shaq, Kobe are all guys who the league is making money on. Because of that, they deserve a part of the earnings too. You can't own a company and not invest in the product. At this point, the players are no longer mere workers. They are the product that the consumer is looking to buy. Therefore, the league has to do everything it can to ensure that the product is still valuable to the consumer.

As I was looking at the league, I'm sure that Stern is praying that Kobe goes to Atlanta. That would make the product so much better. NOT just the Atlanta team, but the whole product...

If Kobe went to Atlanta.

He would have a built in rivalry with:

Lebron James in Cleveland.

Tmac in Orlando

VCarter in Toronto

Pierce in Boston

and

AI in Philly.

But most of all, he could set the table for a running fued between Shaq and Kobe to be finished in the finals.

This is what the league has been missing. A real fued between 2 players that the whole league is captive to like Magic Bird or Dr J Bird.

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Granted I know that they work hard, but they dont work as hard as most soldiers, construction workers, truck drivers, etc. and are paid outrageously more.

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Again, there are 2 types of Jobs....

White collar and blue collar.

I wish that teachers, soldiers, and secretaries could get paid more and that Sports stars, entertainers, and CEOs got paid less, but this is the way it is.

[AHF]

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My point was that NBA players are overpaid in relation to the other major sports.

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Actually, I think that basketball players should be paid the most of the athletes in any sport because they have more impact on the game than athletes in any other sport. Look at the impact of the following players by themselves:

Tim Duncan

Shaquille ONeal

Alex Rodriguez

Barry Bonds

Peyton Manning

Ray Lewis

If you put the best two players in the game, say offensive and defensive POYs Manning and Lewis, on the same team in football and surrounded them with crappy fill-in players they would be terrible because football is a team game where the best total team with the best system wins. If you took ARod and Bonds and surrounded them with crappy fill-in players you'd basically get the Texas Rangers (ARod played with several good offensive players over the last few years like Palmeiro, Blalock, Gonzalez, and Everett last season and standouts like Ivan Rodriguez in previous years).

If you took Shaq and Duncan and surrounded them with crappy players you'd call them NBA champs.

Individual players have more impact in the NBA than in any other sport. Accordingly, NBA superstars deserve a bigger piece of the pie than superstar players in other sports, IMO.

[Weez]

ahhh...finally, the discussion resumes on an intellectual level. If that's the approach you want to take, then you're going to ahve to factor in fan seating. Fanbase is out as there are approx the same number of teams in each of the major sports, with approx the same distribution, give or take. However, Football and Baseball seat at least twice, if not thrice the number of fans per game (don't know the luxury box numbers between arenas) and therefore draw more revenue.

One thing I'd be interested to see is this - jersey/merchandise sales between the respective leagues? which is higher, football or basketball (it aint' baseball).

[cyman3]

ur right...

DUNCAN + SHAQ + 3 other NBDL starters = championship

[Plainview1981]

It boils down to the stupid fans paying to go see the games. If the fans where smart they'd stay away until the players get

a MAJOR salary reduce.

And no basketball players don't deserve more than football

players because:

1)THe basketball product is TERRIBLE right now and boring.

2)Basketball is weaker than football

The point is that it's rather lame when basketball players

whine claiming they need those extra millions to feed familes.

Give me a break.

[cyman3]

heres one arguement...

NBA players PLAY MORE GAMES than football games in a season.

AND, NBA players have to play both DEFENSE + OFFENSE... so they play more

[AHF]

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ahhh...finally, the discussion resumes on an intellectual level. If that's the approach you want to take, then you're going to ahve to factor in fan seating. Fanbase is out as there are approx the same number of teams in each of the major sports, with approx the same distribution, give or take. However, Football and Baseball seat at least twice, if not thrice the number of fans per game (don't know the luxury box numbers between arenas) and therefore draw more revenue.

One thing I'd be interested to see is this - jersey/merchandise sales between the respective leagues? which is higher, football or basketball (it aint' baseball).

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As pointed out below, the attendance figures can't be looked at in isolation. Football seats more people but basketball plays five games for every football game. MLB clearly leads in total attendance figures. However, you can't ignore the costs in maintaining and operating these venues either.

It really just comes down to net income from all sources - attendance factored by price, other stadium revenue (food, etc.), TV contracts, endorsement deals (for the league and/or teams), clothes sales, etc. minus all operating expenses (running stadiums, paying insurance, paying benefits, etc.) - prior to player salaries.

I don't know that the numbers are but a star in basketball deservers a significantly higher proportion of those dollars than in other sports due to their more substantial contribution to the outcome of each game as noted above.