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Over the past decade salaries, prize money and endorsement income has exploded in professional sports.
Average players now make the salaries of superstars a decade-ago. And the star players are
setting new records every season in salary negotiations. A look at the salary histories of
the top four spectator sports in the U.S in recent years tells the story.
Increase in Average Pro Salaries By League
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Base Year
|
Sport
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% Increase '99
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1994
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NBA
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123%
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1994
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MLB
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33%
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1994
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NHL
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114%
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1994
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NFL
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100%
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Source: Paula Kagan Associates, 1999
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Average Pro Players Aren't Average Earners Anymore
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Profession
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Average Salaries
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Basketball
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$2,800,000
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Baseball
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1,400,000
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Top Officers/top 500 US Companies
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1,300,000
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Hockey
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1,200,000
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Football
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1,000,000
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PGA
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800,000
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Physicians
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1,300,000
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Source: USA Today, 1999, BusinessWeek 4/19/99,
NYTimes 1/12/99. *Top 100 players
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Even the least compensated athletes today make salaries that exceed the average physicians annual income. In the top team sports in the U.S. the lowest compensated players earn at least $150,000 per year.
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League
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Salary Minimum
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NFL
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1st Year
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$175,000
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NFL
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2nd Year
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$250,000
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NFL
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3rd Year
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$325,000
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NBA
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$261,360
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MLB
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$200,000
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NHL
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$150,000
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While an average career in the NFL is still relatively brief - 4 years - other sports have grown in popularity and can now boast long tenures that have significantly increased the lifetime earning power of their players.
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Sport
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Expected Career Years
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PGA
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35
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NASCAR/Auto Racing
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20
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NHL
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9
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MLB
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9
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NBA
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5
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NFL
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4
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Source: SportsBusiness Journal Research Dept. 1999
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Expected Lifetime Earnings of Average PRO Players Signing In 1999
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Leauge
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Expected Lifetime
Winnings (millions)
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MLB
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16.4
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NBA
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14.3
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NHL
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13.9
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NFL
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5.2
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Source: SportsBusiness Journal Research Dept. 1999
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Product endorsements have become a routine part of many Pro players agreements. In fact the top 25 Pro endorsers garnered more than $200 million in endorsement contracts or over a quarter of the total endorsement dollars in 1998.
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Source: SportsBusiness Journal Research Dept. 1999
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Yes, sports and entertainment have much in common. Both are characterized by youth, wealth and the most public of lives. But, when it comes to size of the luxury market, therešs no comparison. Compensation for all 5,000 working members of the Screen Actors Guild, (SAG) in 1998 was $ 225 million or $45,000 per SAG member. That represents only 6% of the $4 billion in compensation earned by athletes in the top four U.S sports alone (football, basketball, hockey and baseball).
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Source: SAG 1998
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Within America's Elite Class of Wealthy Households
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Percentage U.S. Hlds w/Net Worth $2.5 million
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1%
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Number with $2.5 million
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1 million
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Percentage of the Elite Hlds Under 40
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70% or 70,000
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Average Age of Pro Athletes
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28
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Number of Active Athletes In All Sports Who Qualify for Pro
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11,580
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Number Who Qualify By Playing In The Last 5 Years
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15,000
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TOTAL
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26,580
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Athletes Making $1 million+ in 4 Major Sports in 1999
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1,421
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Readers with projected lifetime earnings more than $ 5 million
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* 3,250
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More than $ 2.5 million
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5,160
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More than $ 1 million
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9,906
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Sources: SportsBusiness Journal Research Department, 1999 Management Resource Group, 1998
* Estimates based on projections of PRO athletes earnings lifetime based on compensation levels and average career spans using a base year of 1995.
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