Last MLB Market and NFL Season

In the last Major League Baseball market, baseball player Juan Soto rejected a contract worth 440 million dollars with the Washington Nationals. In the NFL, facing its new season, we find a salary cap of 50 million, where Aaron Rodgers, the Green Bay quarterback, has the honor of earning the record figure.

CNN reports that in 1990 the average MLB player earned, considering inflation, 1.4 million dollars, and that currently the figure is three times higher at 4.4 million dollars. In the NBA, the gap is five times higher considering that the current average is 9.6 million dollars. While in the NFL, they went from earning 790 thousand dollars to 3.3 million dollars in the same time frame. For example, Joe Montana, the legend of the San Francisco 49ers, who was making a conversion of 7.4 million dollars in 2022 per season more than 30 years ago.

In the NBA, the case of the highest paid player is different, as expected, as Michael Jordan was earning almost 60 million dollars in 2022 in the 90s. That means he was the highest paid athlete in the history of US sports leagues. Currently, Steph Curry has the highest salary after signing a 215 million dollar contract extension for four seasons.

It is a fact that the trend of record figures in earnings for athletes in the United States has continued to grow in the last three decades, but this does not mean that they are receiving a larger share of the total pie. The value of sports franchises has also increased considerably, going from costing between 200 and 300 million dollars to fluctuating between 2 and 3.5 billion dollars in the three major leagues. Owners have seen their finances grow 10 times more.

JR