by Tad Wesley

Created on: October 23, 2006   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Football player salaries are determined in exactly the same way as my salary/wage is determined, or yours, or your mother's.

Football players have unique physical skills which can not be easily learned by others. If they could, I would play football now. Nobody but Barry Sanders could run like Barry Sanders ran, so he was irreplaceable.

On the other hand, the guy who scooped up your french fries at McDonald's for lunch today has a skill set that could be learned quickly by almost anybody, therefore he is very replaceable.

Another thing to remember about football players is that they have very limited careers, due to the physical nature of their profession, and the high risk of injury.

Finally, the revenue these players generate is immense. Professional football is an industry that generates hundreds of billions of dollars, and all of it is based on what these guys do on the field. Beyond just the teams and the league themselves, they generate tons of money in their host cities, in terms of hotel, restaurant, concessions, and merchandising income by fans who come to see the games. Why shouldn't the players get a large chunk of this money?

If anything, players salaries are currently below market value due to the salary cap. If not for the salary cap, owners would be bidding the salaries of players higher than they already are, the cap is in place to artificially limit those salaries.

These people bring entertainment to millions of fans, and billions of dollars of revenue to the league, the teams, and the home cities. How is it unfair that they get their piece of the pie?

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