Big Salaries Don 't Make Everybody Happy
Celebrity Net Worth noted that on just the first day of the NBA 's free agency period, the league agreed on $1.4 billion in contracts. Two of these deals were Anthony Davis ' five-year, $145 million contract and LaMarcus Aldrige 's sweet signing for $80 million. The players are happy with the large payday, and the fans are happy that their team got a big-name player. So, whose unhappy? Players in other leagues, like the National Football League, who don 't command comparable salaries even though their league brings in way more money.
The most outspoken NFL player has been Duke Ihenacho, a safety for the Washington Redskins. He tweeted, "All this guaranteed money NBA throwing. Meanwhile the NFL, which generates the most money won 't even make the league minimum $1M." He added later, "Yes $1M minimum. That means every single player 's salary in the NFL
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Not everybody in the NBA gets $80-100 million contracts either. The league minimum is $525,000 and a ten year vet gets nearly $1.5 million. While they are not the giant salaries that get front page press, both numbers are higher than those in the NFL.
The NFL has an annual revenue stream that is greater than any other league in the world: $11.2 billion. The NBA brings in less than $5 billion. What is the discrepancy? Celebrity Net Worth point out that an NBA team roster has only 14 players on it, and the NFL team roster has 53. If an NBA and NFL team both started with the same amount of money and divided it equally among the players, the NBA players would make more every time due to simple math. Even though the NFL team salary cap is larger than an NBA team 's, with so many more players to pay for, you are not going to arrive at pay equity.
In the end, NFL players will not all make $1 million each unless the owners agree to take a smaller piece of the pie. NBA players have a smaller pie, but less people to share it with. What happened to playing for the "love of