Professional Athletes: Wage Gap in Sports

Introduction

In recent years, professional athletes have taken center stage when it comes to salary and wages. Many athletes have been seen winning large sums of money as a result of their efforts on the field. Despite the reality that men and women receive different sums, the difference between the highest earners and those who earn the least among both genders remains quite wide. Several factors, ranging from an athlete’s productivity to the prevailing economic status, influence the number of salaries a sportsperson is paid, resulting in a pay difference between athletes.

Why Players are Paid Differently

Part One

One of the major reasons for the existence of a wage gap in the sporting world is that there are varied revenue collection abilities among different sports teams. A sport like football, for example, has a huge part of its source of revenue being the amounts collected in stadiums during matches. Sporting activities that take place in larger cities have a high chance of collecting more revenues than those activities that take place in smaller cities, (Santo, 5). Consequently the ability of team players being paid is much higher in larger towns than in the smaller ones. This creates a state where the athletes who find the chance to participate in sports that take place in big cities get paid great amounts of wages than those who take part in sporting activities in the smaller towns.

Wage caps are an important aspect that influence what players and athletes earn. These caps limit the amount of cash that a team can spend on a particular player or athlete, (Santo, pg5). Such limitations mean that a sportsman or woman can only be paid up to a certain amount such that the limit set on that athlete is not exceeded. Since different athletes possess different features and capabilities, it implies then, that the limits for each athlete are different. This causes the differences in wages depending on each person’s limits regarding how much can be spent on them. Financial restrictions play a critical role in deciding how much a sportsperson is paid.

Part Two

Athletes have different abilities and skills and that make them different from one another, at least regarding the new feature they bring to the sport they participate in daily. This factor is crucial in influencing the amount of wages an athlete is paid. Sportspersons with unique skills and good experience in sporting activities tend to gain an upper hand in the payments they receive. A good example is the football sport where people with unique skills are highly paid in comparison to their counterparts. This is mainly because such athletes bring something extra to the team such that they would be held onto, at almost all costs. This explains why a wage gap exists because those athletes with basic skills earn much lower not because they are less useful but because of their contribution to the team using their skills. (Santo, 33-35).

Motivation is a significant aspect in any working environment. Similarly, an athlete requires motivation for them to improve on their performances on the pitch. The relationship that exists between a wage gap and motivation can be viewed in regards to productivity levels. When athletes work hard, their levels of productivity raise. This in turn is reflected in the achievements of the athlete. In essence, such a person is clearly entitled to a motivating factor that will keep them going so that they can even achieve more. This explains the wage gap issue because an athlete who performs to their best while putting in all their efforts attracts the attention of those who manage them. Increasing wages acts as a motivator to athletes thus making them work even harder. The levels of output of athletes, therefore, speak volumes when it comes to how much an athlete earns. (Srivastava & Kailash, 88-93).

Part Three

Success and good performance are usually major influencers of how much a player is to be paid. The hard work and excellent performances of a player often guarantee them success and hence they are often bound to being rewarded through salary increment. This helps people like club owners to know how much they can offer their players. For the athletes who deal with contracts it even becomes better when a person’s contract is close to ending while the team is actually performing well because they get to receive hefty wages as a result, (Hall, Szymanski, and Zimbalist, 157). The lowest paid players, however, get motivated when they see their counterparts receiving huge amounts of wages. This helps them work even harder for them to climb up the ladder as well.

Conclusion

It is of importance to understand that sportspeople do work hard and that is why their efforts are rewarded by lofty wages. Their productiveness coupled with skills usually help them gain an advantage concerning the wages they receive. The relationship between performance and wages is what explains why the productivity of a player matters when it comes to trying to figure out how much they should earn. Revenue collection equally plays a major role in influencing the amount of wages a sportsperson has to be paid. The gap, however, does not serve to victimize other athletes regarding how they feel about being paid less. It helps boost their morale so that they work extra hard and achieve the reward of an increment in their wages.

Works Cited

Hall, Stephen, Stefan Szymanski, and Andrew S. Zimbalist. Testing causality between team performance and payroll: the cases of Major League Baseball and English soccer. Journal of Sports Economics 3.2 (2002): 149-168.
Santo, Charles A. Beyond the economic catalyst debate: Can public consumption benefits justify a municipal stadium investment? Journal of Urban Affairs 29.5 (2007): 455-479.
Srivastava, S. K., and Kailash Chandra Barmola. Role of motivation in higher productivity. Management Insight 7.1 (2012)