So in the light of an apparent 100 million euro bid manchester united are (apparently) about to offer Juventus for Paul Pogba, plus 20 million extra for pogba's agent, a question that has been around for a long time, and is only growing is brought back up:

Is there too much money involved in sports? This by the way, isn't just a question about football (Soccer) but more about all of these sports where a LOT of money is involved, Sports like American football, Basketball, and of course regular old football. (And probably another sport fits in to this category that i'm forgetting, sorry)

I would say I'm somewhere in between.

Something in me says that it's a little ridiculous how much money is involved, but something else in me says that it really shouldn't be that big of an issue.

Your thoughts?

Nope, the amount of money used in sports is only comparable to the amount that people put in, so the more people go to games and watch games on TV, the more money there will be. Sell out just one baseball game and the team makes a couple million dollars just from tickets alone.

If they didn't offer so much money to players, coaches, and other big organizations, all that money would stay in the hands of the owners of the teams and companies, and each guy will make a billion a year, so if there's to be less money involved, people would need to stop going to games and watching tv, otherwise this is the normal amount for the number of people who watch sports.

There's a ridiculous amount of money used in sports. Like totally ridiculous. Some may say it's justified because the income promoters get is so damn high that they can offer higher prizes and/or salaries to the players. While I can see that in effect in some sports, it's not that way in others.

Soccer, for example. I don't know how clubs are doing outside of Spain (though I've read about the machinations of the head of Bayern Munchen and the many issues in Italy with match manipulation) but here all clubs are so indebted that some of them have started to merge or directly disappear. FC Barcelona, for example, has a debt five times higher than what Manchester United has offered for Pogba.

Formula One is another example. Ecclestone places an excessively high price to host races, which has its consequences in the price of the tickets. I've seen prices rise for 40 euros in just three years all because the circuit owners struggles to get profit. This, coupled with the changes in rules, have made that the audience to the F1 GP have dropped by tenths of thousands, which obviously is of no help in going through these hard times.

And well, what about NBA buying players at any price from European leagues because they have several times more money than some leagues together... It even poses a threat to the survival of our leagues and a great obstacle in keeping them at a high level because our best players decide to cross the puddle.

I wish money wasn't that important for the people in charge of making these sports funny and accessible to the people. The day where they care more for the fans and their public image rather than their own pockets will see the true increase in interest from the fans.

Well, as for why it's that way, Zander pretty much summed it up. If that many people are willing to shell out the money to see the sports, then that much money will end up in the hands of someone (the owner, company, players, etc). I'd much rather see the players get paid big over the owners just sitting on their butts and raking in the cash. 

Do I like that it's this way? Not really. I'd much rather see people play simply for the love of the game, and not the love of the pay check, though I realize many of these players are passionate about the sport. Palen also summed up some of my thoughts on this. It's gotten to the point that certain franchises, or even sports as a whole, are unable to compete because of how much money the competition has to spend, or for other external reasons (like the F1 hosting point made). 

I really don't like the fact it's this way, but there's not much that can be done about it. Money tends to corrupt, and I think that's been occurring in sports as well. But as they say, "Money makes the world go round." so I guess we're stuck with it.

When you think of all the stuff that goes into a pro team or sport,like trainers,staff,coaches,doctors,equipment,training,stadium space,etc. it gets pretty expensive. Plus there are tons of people behind the scenes that make it work. Now,I do think that players can be very greedy and petty,same for owners,but a small team has a shot against a large team if money is spent wisely. Even if you are a no-name on a sport team,you still make a decent living,not a great as a superstar,but you cannot complain. Where most of these athletes go wrong is not thinking ahead and getting caught up in buying expensive crap that they do not need.

Yes, I think there is too much money involved in sports. I'm not saying sporting events shouldn't generate a lot of revenue, because they should with all the spectators attenting the games/ matches. However, a lot of athletes make decisions that are inflluenced by money, rather than the more important thing in sports, winning. The NBA showcases a lot of these superstar athletes who play on garbage teams and never make the playoffs, but they still make 25 million dollars a year and endorsement money as well. I don't blame the athletes because, hey, you only get to be a pro athlete for 10-20 years max, but your money is there with you until you die, (if spent wisely). A lot of NBA players would rather get a lot more money and ruin the possibility of getting a good free agent tk come in, than putting their ego aside and taking a paycut for the good of team. A few players, namely Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, and Dwayne Wade (before he signed with Chicago) sacrificed their own possible money so that they had a better chance of winning championships, winning 9 among the 3 of them. It's a shame that a lot of athletes value money way more than winning, because let's face it, even if you take a paycut, you're still making more money than 99% of people in the world. If you're a superstar, you're still going to get loads of money from endorsements.

EX Palen : If I have to agree with someone here, I'll agree with you.

Zander's argument can be correct for certain sports but for others its really not the case. Especially football.

For me it's really just another part of sport but I will admit it's a little ridicilous

RDay13 : Yeah. Honestly I'm not very up to date with the NBA although my brother does update me, I've heard of sever players leaving their teams to make more money recently in the NBA. It's something that happens a lot in our football as well.

Yes there's definitely way too much money involved in sports. When the highest paid player in the NFL has a contract worth $140 million, you know there's too much money being given to athletes.

I personally feel as though there is too much money involved in sports. I feel as though if half the money put into sports went into something like research for diseases we don't have cures for yet, some of those diseases would have cures. Also it's crazy to me how someone can get paid in the hundreds of millions of dollars to kick a ball around but someone who on the daily saves lives  makes significantly less. But to put things in a better perspective of how there is too much money in sports look at Rio hosting the Olympic games this Olympics there putting all this money into a stadium at the peoples expense and tax money when the people there for the most part live in poverty or have really low incomes and low standards of living, not to mention the lack of infrastructure in the country. 

gamerforlifeforever : The quick answer is: Those players are betting their lives and well-being every game and they're making owners billions of dollars, so making millions is fair for them, no doubt. No one else is going to take care of them, not the NFL or the NFLPA once they have concussions or get broken. A player gets cut from the team from injury and they don't get paid any more, unless there's guaranteed money. Most contracts don't have guaranteed money.


I think there are two sides to this:

1. Yes, there is too much money involved so now every city in the United States with more than 100,000 people has a sports team. The NBA is so depleted with talent and skills because college players who are 19 or 20 leave the NCAA and play in the NBA because they can get paid. The talent is diluted and there are now one or two great players per team and all the other guys. The quality of the game is terrible because no one develops in college since they want the money. I don't blame them but no one can tell me a team, top to bottom, is competitive now compared to earlier teams, especially the 80s and 90s.

Also, since there are teams in Milwaukee, Minnesota, and other places that will never win championships, more players get spread around, making the guys who are good either join one team, like Miami or Boston a few years ago, or go to Golden State. You have four super teams and everyone else. There's no parity. And it's not as fun as it used to be. Games aren't worth watching in regular season and the play-offs are okay. Only the finals draw attention.


2. No, money isn't a big deal in sports. The fans are willing to pay the exorbitant prices and drive the costs up because fans are suckers. We keep shelling out dollars, Euros, pounds, whatever, and they keep taking whatever they can. It's a business like any other business. McDonald's isn't killing people because people keep going back to spend their money. No one holds a gun to F1 ticket buyers and makes them buy tickets.

The other cool thing is the constant improvement of the experience. Think about ESPN, which provides sports at all times if we want. The video games, the entertainment value, the fun provided by the competing business to get our dollars makes the fan experience extraordinary. We can access anything at any time, see all the replays, get the fun of the game and the added bonus of other 'fun' things. Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, has beer gardens, pitching machines, speed guns to test pitch velocity, a carousel, an observation deck, fountains, a ferris wheel, and more.

The cost to do business means it's a whole day experience. That's awesome. And those guys are generating a ton of money for the owners so they should get paid. Let's be honest: Anyone can go to school and be a teacher. There's only one LeBron James.

tornadocam : tell me about that stupid strike. The Montreal Expos would have made the playoffs, and maybe even the World Series with their dream team. The strike made them "unaffordable" and destroyed their team. I have since lost interest in that sport.

However, "too much" is a subjective wording. Too much compare to what? Considering that crowds are still paying the price to watch the games, I would say that demand is still there.