4 ms·
((This is also why NBA players earn by far the highest salaries among U.S. athletes - basketball allows for much more player/fan connection than any other major
by twoodfin 10y ago
((This is also why NBA players earn by far the highest salaries among U.S. athletes - basketball allows for much more player/fan connection than any other major sport.))
I agree with much of your post, but it seems to me that NBA players make the highest salaries because the structure of the game and the level of competition put them in such high demand relative to supply.
NBA rosters are small, and only 5 players are on the court for each team at any time. There's also a huge drop-off in competitive performance[1] as you move down the bench from the elite players. Unlike the NFL, which has a substantial reserve of "replacement level" talent from college ball, there aren't that many folks who could play basketball at an NBA level and not be totally exposed. That's similar to baseball players, who are also among the most highly paid, even though there are more positions and rosters are bigger: There just aren't that many athletes out there who can bat above .200 against Major League-class pitching.
[1] http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2016_leaders.html http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2016_leaders...
- Aelinsaar 10y agoBasketball is pretty unique, in that essentially relies on abnormally tall people. When you put that as a requirement in front of the many others you need to be successful in the NBA, it becomes clear why the field is so thin. You see a few other places with similar fields though, like the absolute bleeding edge of traditional ballet, or some gymnastic events.
- wldcordeiro 10y agoThe classic case I always hear is jockeys too. It's not that odd, every sport is getting very specialized in athlete selection, in fact there's a great TED by David Epstein[0] talk about this kind of thing. [0] https://www.ted.com/talks/david_epstein_are_athletes_really_getting_faster_better_stronger?language=en https://www.ted.com/talks/david_epstein_are_athletes_really_...
- mitchty 10y agoGymnasts as well have similar size limitations in some cases. I know my one friend growing up was pretty much devastated when she grew to 5'8" (~170cm if my head conversion is close) She said that being too tall made the balance beam harder as you had more chance to hit your head. I think been a while so anyone can correct me.
- WalterBright 10y agoThe taller you are, the much much harder it gets to rotate the body end over end.
- wldcordeiro 10y agoI'm not even that tall and I learned that growing up, learning just how to do a front flip on a trampoline was tough being a "lerpy" kid.
- xxs 10y agoMore like 172... another issue are the longer limbs that require more strenght to balance the body
- jessaustin 10y agoJockeys are an interesting example, because women compete successfully alongside men, at very high levels. In that sense horse racing is among the least sexist of professional sports.
- thrownblown 10y agoBritish Olympic medal winning cyclist Victoria Pendelton is now competing as a jockey. At London 2012's Olympics she set a world record in the Team Sprint, got silver in the Match Sprint and gold in Keirin. The irony here is that Olympic Keirin is derived from a Japanese/Korean betting sport, which is basically horse racing. But with people.
- zd4akaq85a 10y agoThis explanation sounds believable, but I think it's important to mention the basic math of the salary cap: NFL salary cap is $155M across 53 players = $3M/player NBA salary cap is $95M across 14 players = $6.7M/player. But actually it is a soft cap so the teams can spend a lot more in extreme cases. MLB has no salary cap.
- twoodfin 10y agoSure, but the salary cap (or lack thereof) isn't decreed from on high, it's the result of a nominally market-based negotiation between each players union and the corresponding league. If NFL players thought they could push the salary cap to $200M without killing the golden goose, they'd do it.
- zd4akaq85a 10y agoI have a hard time calling the result of negotiations between the single cartel of teams and the single (probably less-skilled) cartel of players a market.