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As a sports person I understand it, but am still conflicted by it. There's something unsettling about teachers and police officers getting paid a sliver of what

As a sports person I understand it, but am still conflicted by it. There's something unsettling about teachers and police officers getting paid a sliver of what a pro athlete does and in some way I have contributed to this. But it's also a source of joy and inspiration for many people, that has to be a good thing.

komali2 7y ago
Interesting thought though. Why do NFL players get paid so much? Where's the money actually coming from? I don't know too much about this industry but it seems their NFL salaries come from ticket sales and TV licensing deals, and the TV companies can pay them because of advertisements, which they can sell because people watch football thus tv thus ads. Must be why NFL, NBA etc get so fuckin salty when people upload highlight reels and stuff to youtube. I can't think of anyway to similarly monetize teaching and I really don't think anybody should go down that route, it sounds terrifying. But how do you convince a bunch of people watching football, which kinda costs them either nothing or like 90$ a month for their cable subscription, that they should also spend a % of their income on teachers?
- reroute1 7y ago
  Yes that's right, that's what I meant by me contributing in some way, via ticket sales, merchandise, it all adds up to some athletes being mega millionaires. Although nowadays the big stars have lots of advertising deals and make big $$ outside of their regular paycheck also. I don't know how to fix the teacher's pay. It's just unfortunate that by comparison they make pennies.
- iamatworknow 7y ago
  >Must be why NFL, NBA etc get so fuckin salty when people upload highlight reels and stuff to youtube. For what it's worth NBA has actually taken the opposite stance from the other leagues in terms of highlights online. See https://www.businessinsider.com/adam-silver-nba-ok-highlights-social-media-twitter-gifs-2018-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/adam-silver-nba-ok-highlight...
- unapologetic 7y ago
  If we can pass 718B for the military then we can afford to pay teachers more. Without even a cent in extra tax.
- munificent 7y ago
  > Why do NFL players get paid so much? Because their labor can be very cheaply duplicated by broadcasting the game to millions of spectators. *> Where's the money actually coming from? Ads, merchandising, and ticket sales, like you note. Professional sports players are, economically, in the same category as musicians and actors. They produce media and the digital era means media can be duplicated at virtually no cost, so the value of their labor can be easily multiplied by a very large constant. Police, doctors, and teachers provide their labor to individual humans in realspace which is much harder to scale so, unfortunately, their salaries reflect that.
  - reroute1 7y ago
    Maybe teachers can scale with technology? Maybe we see some of this with online courses, MOOC's? If that were monetized in a way to give the proceeds directly to the teacher maybe that could work? Although some teaching does not lend itself well to that environment, in some cases classrooms and 1 on 1 interaction is something that cannot be substituted. I agree for all the examples you give, there's nothing clear like there is for athletes and artists.
unapologetic 7y ago
Pro atheletes are part of the rare group of workers who get paid close to value of their labour. At the low end NFLers are underpaid if anything. They get a good salary but only for a few years and then they are in their mid 20s with a joke degree and not a whole lot of other skills. Don't lump cops in with teachers. If you want a dangerous job pick roofer or garbageman or something else that's more dangerous than being a cop.
- reroute1 7y ago
  Being dangerous isn't the only qualification for a high paying job and not why I chose those 2, they are both in my opinion underpaid. Obviously for different reasons at face value, but they both provide a public service and get paid poorly historically. But you are right about athletes only having a short viable career and that helps lower the gap, I was referring more to the high end athletes making millions. Even considering their short careers they make far more than an average teacher can hope to ever in their lifetime. On average I'm not really sure, that does depend on the individual sport and athlete.
lotsofpulp 7y ago
>There's something unsettling about teachers and police officers getting paid a sliver of what a pro athlete does Price has to do with supply and demand curves. If there's tons of demand for people hand sewn clothes for hamsters, and very few people who are willing or wanting to do it, then the price will be high, even though one might think there is very little utility to society. Similarly, there's very few people able and willing to provide the entertainment that an NFL player can, but very high demand for it, therefore, very high pay.

komali2 7y ago

Interesting thought though. Why do NFL players get paid so much? Where's the money actually coming from? I don't know too much about this industry but it seems their NFL salaries come from ticket sales and TV licensing deals, and the TV companies can pay them because of advertisements, which they can sell because people watch football thus tv thus ads. Must be why NFL, NBA etc get so fuckin salty when people upload highlight reels and stuff to youtube. I can't think of anyway to similarly monetize teaching and I really don't think anybody should go down that route, it sounds terrifying. But how do you convince a bunch of people watching football, which kinda costs them either nothing or like 90$ a month for their cable subscription, that they should also spend a % of their income on teachers?

reroute1 7y ago
Yes that's right, that's what I meant by me contributing in some way, via ticket sales, merchandise, it all adds up to some athletes being mega millionaires. Although nowadays the big stars have lots of advertising deals and make big $$ outside of their regular paycheck also. I don't know how to fix the teacher's pay. It's just unfortunate that by comparison they make pennies.
iamatworknow 7y ago
>Must be why NFL, NBA etc get so fuckin salty when people upload highlight reels and stuff to youtube. For what it's worth NBA has actually taken the opposite stance from the other leagues in terms of highlights online. See https://www.businessinsider.com/adam-silver-nba-ok-highlights-social-media-twitter-gifs-2018-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/adam-silver-nba-ok-highlight...
unapologetic 7y ago
If we can pass 718B for the military then we can afford to pay teachers more. Without even a cent in extra tax.
munificent 7y ago
> Why do NFL players get paid so much? Because their labor can be very cheaply duplicated by broadcasting the game to millions of spectators. *> Where's the money actually coming from? Ads, merchandising, and ticket sales, like you note. Professional sports players are, economically, in the same category as musicians and actors. They produce media and the digital era means media can be duplicated at virtually no cost, so the value of their labor can be easily multiplied by a very large constant. Police, doctors, and teachers provide their labor to individual humans in realspace which is much harder to scale so, unfortunately, their salaries reflect that.
- reroute1 7y ago
  Maybe teachers can scale with technology? Maybe we see some of this with online courses, MOOC's? If that were monetized in a way to give the proceeds directly to the teacher maybe that could work? Although some teaching does not lend itself well to that environment, in some cases classrooms and 1 on 1 interaction is something that cannot be substituted. I agree for all the examples you give, there's nothing clear like there is for athletes and artists.

unapologetic 7y ago

Pro atheletes are part of the rare group of workers who get paid close to value of their labour. At the low end NFLers are underpaid if anything. They get a good salary but only for a few years and then they are in their mid 20s with a joke degree and not a whole lot of other skills. Don't lump cops in with teachers. If you want a dangerous job pick roofer or garbageman or something else that's more dangerous than being a cop.

reroute1 7y ago
Being dangerous isn't the only qualification for a high paying job and not why I chose those 2, they are both in my opinion underpaid. Obviously for different reasons at face value, but they both provide a public service and get paid poorly historically. But you are right about athletes only having a short viable career and that helps lower the gap, I was referring more to the high end athletes making millions. Even considering their short careers they make far more than an average teacher can hope to ever in their lifetime. On average I'm not really sure, that does depend on the individual sport and athlete.

lotsofpulp 7y ago

>There's something unsettling about teachers and police officers getting paid a sliver of what a pro athlete does Price has to do with supply and demand curves. If there's tons of demand for people hand sewn clothes for hamsters, and very few people who are willing or wanting to do it, then the price will be high, even though one might think there is very little utility to society. Similarly, there's very few people able and willing to provide the entertainment that an NFL player can, but very high demand for it, therefore, very high pay.