Yes, but those are very great and valuable players (and inevitably wags will say they actually get things done). How about this: Even including the benches, MLB players make a median salary of about $1.5 million, from a minimum of about $720k, according to AP News. The NBA has a median salary of about $4.6 million, from a minimum of $1.1 million. The NFL has perhaps the largest range: A modest median salary of about $900,000. But due to outrageous top-end salaries, the NFL average is about $2.9 million.
Sources vary on the details, but the numbers are very high and have increased many times faster than my income. If you reach this level, you’re automatically a millionaire regardless of star status, or whether you even get off the bench.
Credit: Submitted Photo
Credit: Submitted Photo
The point is that it’s becoming unaffordable as middle class entertainment. Guess I’m limited to TV — I wish! A recent game suddenly stopped with a message that my free trial had ended. So later I watched an anticipatory pre-game complete with the national anthem which was followed by … nothing. I apparently need some Sunday ticket or special pass to see what used to be everyday fare. My grandkids will probably never attend a game, but I hope they’ll at least be able to see one on TV.
I hope Curry, Ohtani and sideline-strolling Burrow are satisfied. I love our American free-enterprise system, but, in my opinion, it has corrupted sports from its original family entertainment.
These players should make a lot, of course. They’ve worked hard since childhood on their skills and persevered through grueling challenges. But when their salaries price out the average family from games, it’s too much.
(As an aside, I’d like to know how many of the seats are bought by corporations … the same corporations that are continually raising consumer prices because of alleged “higher cost of doing business.”)
Thankfully, we in the Dayton area have exciting alternatives. Our family-friendly Dayton Dragons open today, April 5, and they have great multi-game family plans with fun benefits. It’s more than a ball game; I can attest that a Dragons game is an entertainment experience. And parking downtown is reasonable. Great value, but it is bittersweet because the players are paid only a small fraction of their median MLB counterparts.
And Southwest Ohio hosts at least six great universities with nationally-recognized energetic and enthusiastic basketball and football teams.
I actually find it more exciting to watch these talented low-paid and amateur ballplayers playing their hearts out, rather than their more egocentric and overpaid counterparts in the upper echelons.
David Shumway is a retired WPAFB engineer now enjoying writing and travel with his wife.
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