Opinion: Money, Money, Mo-ney. In Sports It Never Seems Enough

PixabayPhoto byQuinceCreative

The French Media outlet, L’Equipe reported on Monday that PSG (Paris St. Germain) a perennial winner in France’s Ligue 1, was ready to accept a humongous offer from Al Hilal, a Saudia Arabia football team for PSG’s great striker Kylian Mbappe.

The transfer fee, in the neighborhood of $332 million would be followed by a wage packet (perhaps for just the one year, as Mbappe would like to play for Real Madrid in 2024), in the even pricier neighborhood of $775 million.

That’s millions of dollars. Combining for an outlay of over $1 billion.

For one player. Arguably the best, but still one. Not a team. Not an entire league but one player. Almost $15 million per week if it ends up being just one year.

That amount, though unconfirmed here, would probably still be far more than all the women’s professional teams’ payrolls around the world combined.

PixabayPhoto bycsamhaber

The average income in America for one person is under $50,000 per year. Not sure what it currently is in France or Saudi Arabia, but does it matter?

That would be enough money to pay 15,500 teachers making $50,000 annually right here in the States.

What should we make of this?

Do you think that any one person, even a very talented one, deserves to make that much money?

Moving back to the US, what about Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics basketball team who just signed a Super Max contract worth up to $304 million over five years? That’s just a tad over $60,000,000 per year or $1.153 million per week.

A week. Seven days.

At what point do salaries for athletes rise above the ridiculous?

Sports are entertainment. Athletes are fun to watch, whether dunking a basketball, hitting a 450-foot homerun, or scoring a hat trick on the soccer pitch.

There’s talent, there are years of training and dedication. There are ever-present injuries that might end an athlete’s career after just a year or two. There’s no denying that it’s worth the price of a ticket, for the most part, but up to what point?

Like paying $500-$1000 to see Taylor Swift or Bruce Springsteen, once. Is that a fair price?

Then there’s the question of where the offer is coming from. For Mbappe it’s from Saudia Arabia. How is it that a team, any professional team can afford to payout $1 billion for one player?

How do they become so rich and profitable in a world where many top teams are barely breaking even?

Not so many that we need to lose sleep over the issue but not every team could do this. Where do the funds come from to make this happen?

Great attendance? Dedicated fans? High-priced oil?

Not exactly sure what should or shouldn’t be done about this. After all, the two sides could make this deal happen in weeks with contracts signed and life would simply go on for all of us. No Change.

But at some point, regardless of how deep the pockets needed to make this happen, the money has to be paid back. Which would mean higher-priced tickets. That is what usually happens here with the Yankees or Dodgers or Dallas Cowboys.

Someone has to pay, right?

But with the Saudi teams maybe the math is different.

Maybe we’re paying for it - all of us. Every time we start up our car, heat our homes, fire up the electrical plants.

Funny, when athletes were getting $1 million a year it seemed great. We all cheered. Wish we could do that. Be that.

Then it became $10 million - still, that seemed fair for a great one. For a GOAT.

Now it’s $50 to $100 million. For someone who’s been playing their sport for 5 years.

Doesn’t seem okay.

But it could just be the math.