We've all heard the stories of the outrageous amounts of money paid to professional athletes. But, is that amount too much when considering baseball salaries?

When considering how much is too much salary for a profession one of the first things to consider is the source of the money to pay the salary.

The first thing to consider is that baseball is purely an entertainment business. The money made by a baseball team comes strictly from ticket sales and advertising revenue. Increasing this revenue is clear justification for increasing salaries paid for by the team. And, if the revenue isn't available, there is no money to pay team salaries.

Unlike CEOs or other corporate executives where it is nearly impossible to determine their direct value to an organization, the source of the income to the team to pay a players salary is fairly clear. A single, popular player can substantially increase the revenue to the team from both sources. Just like a single movie star can make or break the box office in a production, the same can happen with a baseball player. And for the same reasons. Even if there isn't a specific superstar player to attract the crowds, a strong team can also increase total revenue, which means those players have earned their income.

Baseball fans are the reason for the high salaries. If you pay the ticket price to go to the stadium for a game, or if you just buy something advertised on television during the game, you are paying the player's salary, and providing large profits to team owners on top of that. Without revenue, there is no money to pay salaries. Of course, without salaries there would be no revenue.

If you are not a baseball fan you can take comfort from the fact that baseball player salaries have no impact on you. Whether salaries are high or low shouldn't matter to you because it's really costing you nothing. All of the money comes from the fans that watch baseball.

If you are a baseball fan and feel that salaries are too high, you can do something about it. Stop watching games. Don't go to the stadium. Without your money and attention salaries would have to come down. And, if you still can't stay away from baseball, consider following your local minor league team, or college or high school.

Baseball is big business, with big money involved for the players at the top of their game. But, if that spending didn't result in greater revenue and profits, it wouldn't happen. If you're a baseball fan that thinks baseball player salaries are too high and are looking for someone to blame, you should consider just looking in the mirror. As long as the money being earned by those players is high enough to cover their salaries it's not reasonable to say they're being paid "too much".

Learn more about this author, Keith Hamburger.
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