The term
“economics” is a word that seems very wide open. It has to do with money and
finances but can relate to anything that occurs in our everyday lives. One of
the more notable and even recent topics in economics has two key parts: equal
pay in sports, as well as collegiate athletes being compensated being paid for
participation in athletics from within their university.
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The
first part of economics to bring up is equal pay in sports. It is a hard topic
to discuss because of the number of athletes we have participating in sports,
as well as being paid because of their talent level. The top 10 athletes in the
world are as follows, according to Forbes: Barcelona star soccer player Lionel
Messi at $127 million, Juventus star forward Cristiano Rinaldo at $109 million,
Paris Saint-Germain star forward Neymar at $105 million, star UFC boxer Canelo
Alvarez at $94 million, star tennis player Roger Federer at
$93.4 million,
Seattle Seahawks star quarterback Russell Wilson at $89.5 million, Green Bay
Packers star quarterback Aaron Rodgers just behind Wilson at $89.3 million, LA
Lakers star player LeBron James at $89 million, Golden State Warriors star
Steph Curry at $79.8 million and Curry’s former teammate Kevin Durant, who is
now a player on the Brooklyn Nets at $65.4 million.
These
athletes just mentioned are all star players in their own respective sport.
However, a lot of other players that play in the same sport as most of these
athletes want to be paid around the same amount and even more eclipsing some of
these star contracts. Major League Baseball players are starting to request to
be paid more. For example, star outfielder Bryce Harper signed a 13-year, $330
million contract with no opt-outs throughout the duration of his contract.
There are other athletes coming up during this MLB offseason that are either
unrestricted free agents with their contracts ending, like Houston Astros star
pitcher Gerrit Cole, whose contract just ran out this season and also World
Series MVP Stephen Strasburg, who opted out of a contract with 4 years/$100
million remaining to seek a deal that pays quite a bit. “No player is worth
that much money like the contract Bryce Harper signed,” a fellow baseball fan
said.
Now that is not to
say these all these athletes mentioned are not talented. They absolutely are
some of the most talented individuals in their sport. However, there are some
that play outstanding in their sport that are not paid like some of these star
athletes that really want to be paid a lot. This topic has created quite a
controversy both in the sports world and politically and it has to do with
women not being paid up to the level as these male athletes. Abby Wambach, star
player for the United States Women’s Soccer Team, has continuously voiced her
opinion saying women need to be paid more than they are currently being paid
because of their talent level. Other athletes, including Washington Wizards
star players John Wall and Bradley Beal, are calling for women to be paid more.
Wall and Beal were in attendance during the Washington Mystics WNBA Final title
runs and they both witnessed firsthand how talented these players on the
Washington Mystics rosters are.
I feel that if
athletes are performing at a high level for their team, then absolutely, they
deserve to get paid. However, it really should not be in these ridiculous
amounts some of these other athletes have signed contracts, like Harper and
Machado for example. In 2012, the Los Angeles Angels were one of the first
teams in all of sports to sign a player to a crazy contract. Longtime first
baseman and future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols signed a 10 year/$240 million
contract and so far, he has not really lived up to it because of him not being
healthy throughout the duration of his contract, but that has to do a little
bit with him approaching 40 years old. On top of that, the Angels have not
really been a competitive team, but they will go into next season under high
expectations to compete and in order to do that, they need to pay some players
on the free agent market that can help them make their team better. Bottom
line, think long and hard about a particular player and their overall talent
level before you “back the Brinks truck up”.
Moving
on to another topic relating to economics in sports: the compensation of
college athletes. It has been a huge argumentative topic for many years that
can really be argued whether college athletes should be compensated or not for
playing a collegiate sport. According to NPR, it was just recently announced
that the NCAA would be compensated for using their name and image for
collegiate athletic participation. One former player that says that college
athletes should not be compensated in any way: former Florida Gators star
quarterback Tim Tebow, who played quarterback years ago and was a very talented
player in his own right also. On an interview with ESPN’s “First Take” recently, Tebow stated his
jersey was one of the top selling jerseys in sports and didn’t want to be
compensated for it because just the overall experience of being in college and
playing college football made him feel great and gave him such motivation to be
successful. He also says it is all about the team and not yourself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKpm4jwMi8o
The
topic of students being paid is an ongoing topic at universities around the
country, but the question is, is it significant here at George Mason
University? Ronald Shayka, the Associate Athletic Director at Mason, says that
this entire topic has not been a huge discussion so far but can be down the
road depending on how the media frames it. He added that if athletes become
paid to play in their respective sport, then they will become “employees” of
their respective university. If you think about it that way, then absolutely,
paying an athlete will make them an employee of the university, so that is
definitely something to consider down the road. "I believe paying student athletes is even
more drastic and may be the first step of bringing the whole house down,”
Shayka said.
In my opinion, I think it is crazy for a
university to even think about paying athletes for playing a sport while
attending school. The schools should stick to improving classrooms and paying
professors for doing one of the hardest jobs out there in the world today. You
can argue that a scholarship is actually paying someone and when you think
about it, it sort of does fall under that category. However, it is for a reward
for doing hard work throughout your education, so that should stay the way it
is. Shayka also stated if a university pays an athlete, then actually awarding
an athlete a scholarship can be delayed because of the compensation of an
athlete. In the end, schools need to focus on bringing in athletes that are
going to graduate.
In my eyes, I think overpaying athletes is a
huge issue when it comes to economics in sports, so be careful with the amount
of money you spend on an athlete. In regard to paying student-athletes, stick
to the scholarships. The main reason why someone attends a university is
because they want to graduate and get a degree, not only to play sports.
External Links
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2019/09/13/college-athletes-tim-tebow-speaks-out-against-paying-players/2312200001/
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/11/student-athletes-should-get-paid-college-students-say.html
https://www.marca.com/en/football/barcelona/2019/06/11/5cffe3d3ca4741537d8b4574.html
External Links
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2019/09/13/college-athletes-tim-tebow-speaks-out-against-paying-players/2312200001/
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/11/student-athletes-should-get-paid-college-students-say.html
https://www.marca.com/en/football/barcelona/2019/06/11/5cffe3d3ca4741537d8b4574.html
