Sometimes, when reading the headlines, one has to sit back, cross their arms and say "Really?"
Last I read, Payton Manning is being offered up to $60 million...to play a game. Yes, he plays it well. Yes, he is much sought after. Yes, he may donate time and money.
But what does it say about our culture when a grown man is offered $60 million to play a game, that MANY athletes, actors and rock stars are paid exorbitant amounts of money for performing or playing?
One man is being offered this, and will no doubt accept that offer or one close to it. Multiply that by the many "superstars" in all the various fields who are paid vast sums of money, and you have a sum of money that is unbelievable.
Just for kicks, I looked up the annual total salary paid out in the NFL. Note that I am not adding in any other sport or field, like music or Hollywood, just the sport of football. Can you even guess what the estimated annual payroll is for one year for grown men to go play a little catch and beat each other up?
$3,200,000,000
Don't blink, you read it right. $3.2 Billion Dollars.
I was stunned, I knew it would be high, but over THREE BILLION DOLLARS????
And think about this, that doesn't include any money earned from endorsements, that is strictly salary from the teams.
When are we Americans going to wise up? When will we stop contributing to this? We complain about overpaid CEO's, and how they receive millions in bonuses even when their companies are failing. We also complain, just as I am doing tonight, about the highly overpaid sports "heroes", and yet WE are the cause of this, WE pay their salaries.
If we didn't buy terribly high priced tickets, if we didn't buy $150 Nikes with some basketball player's name on the sole or jerseys with our favorite stars names emblazoned across the back, the teams wouldn't have the revenue to support such outrageous paychecks.
I know there is the argument of paying what the market will bear, or paying for performance, or the generation of income from superstars whose presence lures more fans to pay ever increasing ticket prices. I get it, I really do. I just don't like it, and I don't see how anyone else can either.
Let's say we cut those salaries in half...not take them completely away, but make it a mere $1.6 billion per year. What could be done with $1.6 billion dollars?
A lot of mortgage payments could be made. A lot of schools could have new technology and afford to hire the best and brightest teachers. Job training could be offered, health care could be provided, and mouths could be fed.
Oh, I know I am oversimplifying it, and I know that any money saved by keeping salaries at a more reasonable level would not mean that money would be transferred to such things.
But still, it makes you wonder, where exactly are our priorities as a nation? Why do we all continue to "feed the machine"? Why does a police officer earn...say...$175,000 over a 5 year period while Payton Manning can collect, potentially, $60,000,000 for throwing a ball around?
Now I am not knocking Payton Manning personally, and like anyone who is offered such a deal he'd be a fool not to take it. But wouldn't it be amazing if sometime an athlete rejected such ridiculous offers and demanded something more reasonable...say...a million a year instead of twelve million? Wouldn't that just restore your faith in humanity?
Crazy, I know.
Guess I'll go back and see if I have any coins under the cushion of our couch :-)
But what does it say about our culture when a grown man is offered $60 million to play a game, that MANY athletes, actors and rock stars are paid exorbitant amounts of money for performing or playing?
One man is being offered this, and will no doubt accept that offer or one close to it. Multiply that by the many "superstars" in all the various fields who are paid vast sums of money, and you have a sum of money that is unbelievable.
Just for kicks, I looked up the annual total salary paid out in the NFL. Note that I am not adding in any other sport or field, like music or Hollywood, just the sport of football. Can you even guess what the estimated annual payroll is for one year for grown men to go play a little catch and beat each other up?
$3,200,000,000
I was stunned, I knew it would be high, but over THREE BILLION DOLLARS????
And think about this, that doesn't include any money earned from endorsements, that is strictly salary from the teams.
When are we Americans going to wise up? When will we stop contributing to this? We complain about overpaid CEO's, and how they receive millions in bonuses even when their companies are failing. We also complain, just as I am doing tonight, about the highly overpaid sports "heroes", and yet WE are the cause of this, WE pay their salaries.
If we didn't buy terribly high priced tickets, if we didn't buy $150 Nikes with some basketball player's name on the sole or jerseys with our favorite stars names emblazoned across the back, the teams wouldn't have the revenue to support such outrageous paychecks.
I know there is the argument of paying what the market will bear, or paying for performance, or the generation of income from superstars whose presence lures more fans to pay ever increasing ticket prices. I get it, I really do. I just don't like it, and I don't see how anyone else can either.
Let's say we cut those salaries in half...not take them completely away, but make it a mere $1.6 billion per year. What could be done with $1.6 billion dollars?
A lot of mortgage payments could be made. A lot of schools could have new technology and afford to hire the best and brightest teachers. Job training could be offered, health care could be provided, and mouths could be fed.
Oh, I know I am oversimplifying it, and I know that any money saved by keeping salaries at a more reasonable level would not mean that money would be transferred to such things.
But still, it makes you wonder, where exactly are our priorities as a nation? Why do we all continue to "feed the machine"? Why does a police officer earn...say...$175,000 over a 5 year period while Payton Manning can collect, potentially, $60,000,000 for throwing a ball around?
Now I am not knocking Payton Manning personally, and like anyone who is offered such a deal he'd be a fool not to take it. But wouldn't it be amazing if sometime an athlete rejected such ridiculous offers and demanded something more reasonable...say...a million a year instead of twelve million? Wouldn't that just restore your faith in humanity?
Crazy, I know.
Guess I'll go back and see if I have any coins under the cushion of our couch :-)
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