[ejw9wudhdh]

Why do you think that athletes and entertainment people get paid such high salaries? How did society come to a point where important civil jobs get paid pennies compared to stars and where some people earn wages that are barely enough for them to get through the month?

[hexrun]

I think the general argument that I heard from someone else is why aren't teachers getting paid as much as football players when teachers are more important for the society than football players.
Well, it's not about what's important or good for the society. It's really about risk and reward for the individuals who are making the career choice.

It's easier to become teachers than to become football players. So, if you have an aspiration to be one or the other, a teaching job would have less chance of failure (much much less). Imagine spending all that time training and not making the cut. What the hell are you supposed to do now? I know a guy who became a bouncer after not making the cut then a gym trainer. Not exactly the glamorous life that he envisioned for himself.

Also, teachers have more job security than football players. I believe teachers have unions and pensions in some cases. In other words, sure, teachers make less money than athletes but the trade off is job security. I think the average career of NFL players is less than 5 years. A lot of them go bankrupt way before the retirement age.

Lastly, teachers do not have to risk their health for the job. Football players get a all kinds of health issues in a short period of time. Concussion and side effect in the aftermath, torn ligaments, broken bones, etc. Personally, I have some sports injuries from school days and I am feeling it as I get older. It sucks I tell you. I can't imagine what the athletes have to go through when they get old.

At the end of the day, if civil workers want more money, they should pick a different career path. I would like to think that civil service is a calling not a job but I know that is not always the case.

[nicejobman!]

They get paid the amount of revenue they generate. Stars earn a lot because they're influencers who people pay to influence consumers.

[pcone01]

the argument really is that, being an athlete doesn't really guarantee you earning a lot or any & that's a risk. people always say that athletes are overpaid but in reality is. top tier professors & researchers also get huge sums of money. the media is just dumb & elusive about that topic.
you need to compare top tiers to top tiers in order to get a good view if the differences. also athletes are "idols" people who look up to. they only reason why they earn that is because of sponsors & stuff. the number of athletes is relatively low compare to the number of teachers etc. that alone is a huge factor everyone wants to be one but not everyone succeeds. also opportunities if those people who become teacher were given an opportunity to become athletes some of them might become better than the ones we have to day. & i've seen a lot of that when i was in Formula 4, there's a lot of good kids out there who are way better than drivers at F3 but they don't have a solid team & have financially stable which forced them out of the light which is saddening

[antedeguemon]

I'd say it comes down to Supply & Demand, but this isn't even the case here. The thing is that most people only see the most "successful" athletes and the rest is considered non-existent. For example, the most famous soccer players (Neymar, Messi, CR7 etc) gain millions per year, but no one sees the thousands of professional - yes, professional - soccer players that gain a minimum wage playing for local clubs. It's natural that people don't see them; the media doesn't highlight them because they don't generate much revenue, and there's nothing wrong with that. You could say the same about company owners: "Why do company owners get so much money? Look at Jeff Bezos, he makes trillions of dollars per second", but in reality, the owner of the nearest grocery store is also a company owner, and probably he can barely make ends meet, and there are millions of them around.