Pay Differential in Sports Based on Performance
The salary gap between genders has been a predominant issue in the sports arena. Women are continually paid less than their male counterparts, but men experience pay differentials between each other in some sports. In male dominated sports, such as hockey, baseball, and basketball, there is a variation in an individual’s salary that adversely affects the team’s performance and vice versa.
In a capitalist society, everybody is paid what their work is worth. Sports such as hockey, basketball, and baseball are pay-for performance sports, in that the players are paid what their skills are worth to the team. The less common a desired talent is, the more money an athlete will make because of it. There has been a continuous debate about how athletes should be paid. Is a defensemen in hockey who can score as valuable as a forward or more so? Is a catcher in baseball who can hit multiple homeruns in a season as valuable as a star pitcher? Many researchers use economic theories to analyze “Pay-For-Play” or the idea that athletes are paid better for a better performance. In order to examine athlete’s salaries certain definitions need to be established beforehand. Overpaid athletes are not athletes are not players who are paid more than what they are worth, but rather are the top earners in their sport. Underpaid athletes are athletes who are paid less than the average player. It needs to be acknowledged that the success of a team is not just dependent on salary, but also coach and managerial input that are often omitted from research papers. The following examines the idea of pay-for-performance in hockey, baseball, and basketball. The correlation between a team’s performance and the individual salaries of the players are examined. Whether or not being a free agent or having a signed contract and the influences these may have on an athlete’s effort exerted are also looked at. Hockey, baseball, and basketball are all pay-for-performance sports where the best performing
In a capitalist society, everybody is paid what their work is worth. Sports such as hockey, basketball, and baseball are pay-for performance sports, in that the players are paid what their skills are worth to the team. The less common a desired talent is, the more money an athlete will make because of it. There has been a continuous debate about how athletes should be paid. Is a defensemen in hockey who can score as valuable as a forward or more so? Is a catcher in baseball who can hit multiple homeruns in a season as valuable as a star pitcher? Many researchers use economic theories to analyze “Pay-For-Play” or the idea that athletes are paid better for a better performance. In order to examine athlete’s salaries certain definitions need to be established beforehand. Overpaid athletes are not athletes are not players who are paid more than what they are worth, but rather are the top earners in their sport. Underpaid athletes are athletes who are paid less than the average player. It needs to be acknowledged that the success of a team is not just dependent on salary, but also coach and managerial input that are often omitted from research papers. The following examines the idea of pay-for-performance in hockey, baseball, and basketball. The correlation between a team’s performance and the individual salaries of the players are examined. Whether or not being a free agent or having a signed contract and the influences these may have on an athlete’s effort exerted are also looked at. Hockey, baseball, and basketball are all pay-for-performance sports where the best performing
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