Athlete Salary Statistics

There is a lot of fascination expressed by sports fans on athlete salary statistics.  The salaries of the biggest major league superstars range from six to eight figures.  For the average fan, the salaries of athletes are so large that it fascinates people that there are actually athletes paid millions to play the sport that they love while competing against other athletes and performing for the fans.  Athlete salary statistics are measures that a die-hard fan should know to determine the true value of a certain player based on how much he gets paid by the team and with his performance on the court.

Fans would like to know how much salary a player gets paid from their favorite teams.  Overpaid players, or players who take so much money but do little on the field, can get the ire of many fans.  On the other hand, underpaid players are revered and praised for their hard work.  Fans are conscious of the players' salaries since it should follow that a high-salaried player should do more for the team.

The salaries of athletes are only possible with the salary cap rules set by their respective leagues.  In North America, the largest professional sports leagues have their own salary cap structure as negotiated by their respective players' associations.  A salary cap is a set of limits on the amount of money a team can spend on their players.  These limits could include individual caps and teams caps.  Other limits stipulated in the salary cap may also include maximum and minimum salaries, salary limits for rookies, limits for contract lengths and contract extensions, trading restrictions, and more.  The salary cap is the one document that directly affects how an athlete’s salary is structured.

Sports leagues implement salary caps to keep overall costs to run a team at a practical level.  The salary cap also ensures parity among teams, so a wealthy team cannot bid on top players any more so than other teams.  Salary caps also prevent excessive payment on top superstars and getting into vicious bidding wars with other teams. 

Although salary caps are good natured and well intentioned, the regulations in place serve to distort the market and disturb the balance of athlete salary statistics.  The salary cap is the main reason why players are not valued properly money wise. 

An athlete’s salary is a big component in building a franchise.  With only a handful of superstar players capable of leading a franchise, coupled with the fact that teams are willing to add a premium to sign them, it is no wonder why top athletes can demand tens of millions of dollars.

Top superstars getting $30 million per year may be paid more or a lot less, but we actually do not know their real value because they are not negotiated under open markets.  If anything, athlete salary statistics serve as good trivia for knowledgeable sports fans.

Baseball Salary Statistics

Baseball salary statistics are a special case compared to other major leagues.  Major League Baseball implements a luxury tax instead of a salary cap.   A luxury tax is required from teams whose payroll exceeds a certain figure.  This structure does not restrict teams from paying superstars top dollar figures, but it discourages teams from paying players because of the tax it entails.

CBS Sports (http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/salaries) has a database of baseball salary statistics.  From the team salary table, you will easily find that the New York Yankees have the largest payroll for the 2008-2009 season with $209 million.  This figure is more than $70 million larger than the next highest paying team, the Detroit Tigers.  USA Today (http://content.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/) has sortable information for individual player salaries, team payrolls, and median salaries.  From the sortable player salaries, you will find that three of the four highest players in the league are from New York Yankees.  Manny Ramirez, who just got a large contract from the Los Angeles Dodgers, has a starting salary of $23.9 million dollars.  Although he got a rainfall of earnings, it still pales to Alex Rodriguez’ $33 million per year.  One other useful website for viewing baseball salary statistics is Baseball Guru (http://baseballguru.com/bbsalary.html).

NBA Athlete Salary Statistics

The NBA salary cap is calculated as a percentage of the league's revenues.  Since the NBA only has 15 paid players on the team compared to the much larger teams in the MLB and the NFL, its players are paid the most in terms of average salary.  The salary cap for 2008-2009 season is $58.7 million.  The NBA has a "soft cap" where teams are allowed to exceed the salary cap to retain its players and prevent them from jumping ship.  The soft cap is important for teams because it is the only league where a player's individual talents can consistently affect the performance of the team, given that there are only five players on the court per team at the same time.  Aside from the soft cap, the NBA also has a luxury tax to prevent wealthy teams from stockpiling talents.  

Insidehoops (http://insidehoops.com/nbasalaries.shtml) has a reliable database for athlete salary statistics in the NBA.  Hoopshype (http://hoopshype.com/salaries.htm) also has a complete list of athlete salary statistics for the NBA.

NFL Athlete Salary Statistics

The NFL has a hard cap and a hard floor, which are the maximum and minimum limits for a team's payroll.  The hard cap and the hard floor rarely deviate from each other.  In 2008, the hard floor is 86.4 percent of the cap.  Unlike the MLB and the NBA, NFL contracts are not as guaranteed since teams have the right to cut a player even before their contract ends.  This is the reason why superstar players negotiate for bonuses in their contracts instead in order to secure their financial future even if they are cut. 

The highest paid NFL player for the 2008-2009 seasons is Peyton Manning, who earned $18.7 million, followed by his rival Tom Brady with $14.6 million.  You can view athlete salary statistics by team and position at Sports Illustrated (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/salaries/2008/all.html).  USA Today (http://content.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/salaries/default.aspx) also has a comprehensive salary database for the NFL much like the MLB.