how does NFL, NBA & MLB generate so much money, i mean the top players earn more than world soccer players

just interested!

TV contracts and strong unions in sports. My favorite sport other than boxing is baseball. I watch it everyday and can't get enough of it.

I would probably say American football (NFL) is the most popular sport over here. But like the other poster said its definitely because of TV deals/ players unions and I"m sure some other things.

Well America is a very highly populated country AND before Obama took over the United States was the bastion of capitalism which is probably why we're able to produce top product and get solid returns on them.

We're inclusive as well, Yao Ming, various Latin American Baseball Players, Ichiro, Dice-K, huge sports hubs New York, Las Vegas, LA, etc.....we've diversified so much it's a sports buffett over here. We have the BEST Baseball, Basketball, Football, (pro and college for those previous sports) and Ice Hockey and we've got boxing, MMA, AND most importantly the businesses to invest in such ventures and help market their products.

Why blame Obama?

We're inclusive as well, Yao Ming, various Latin American Baseball Players, Ichiro, Dice-K, huge sports hubs New York, Las Vegas, LA, etc.....we've diversified so much it's a sports buffett over here.

I don't see that as much of an argument as to why they get paid so much or as something to really brag about, surely that should be expected in all sports?

We have the BEST Baseball, Basketball, Football, (pro and college for those previous sports) and Ice Hockey

To be fair, they are predominately only played in America, and Japan for Baseball, so its not hard to have the best quality for them.

most importantly the businesses to invest in such ventures and help market their products.

That's the kicker, the likes of Nike are the ones who vastly inflate the earnings of sportsman. And its starting to happen more and more in football, rugby etc. End of the day, no-one is worth the amount of money that top sportsman are paid, but its a fact of life.

Originally Posted by Master

Why blame Obama?

Really? People blamed W for everything....well it's Obama's party now and I'd say racking up as much debt as he has in the short amount of time that he's been in charge he can start taking the blame.

But back on topic....

Another aspect to consider is the number of games: In Hockey, Basketball or Baseball, how many games are played per year? A lot more than soccer, so more games means more money for T.V copyrights and it means more money at the gate, too, if you have 3 games per week versus one, it makes the hell of a difference at the end of the year. This doesn't apply to football but again, footballers are not paid as much as baseball or basketball on a general scale (we,re not talking the players of exception here and even there, the 15 millions contract per year of Manning, the highest in the game, is kinda low if you compare to the 23 millions a year of Manny Ramirez, 20+ for Lebron James etc)

thanks for the posts everyone, NFL is kinda strange to me in the way that they play hardly any competitive games a season?

i knew basketball teams play many games (didnt know 3 a week tho) so that kinda makes sense.

at a guess manchester united played abt 70 games this season? this would be 38 games in the league prob abt 5 for league cup another 5 in fa cup & abt 12 in champs league?
NBA teams play 82 games in a regular season?
NFL teams roughly 16?
MLB is 162?

anyone who was most expensive transfer in american sports? cos i think its a lot more than ronaldo's move from manchester united to real madrid.

Honestly I can tell you as a former football player, it takes at LEAST a week to get over a football game. 16 is a lot of games when you're playing football.

I know Daisuke Matsuzaka was "transfered" and the fee the Red Sox paid just to be able to discuss a contract with him was $51,111,111.11 and THEN they had 30 days to sign him and they signed him to a 6 year $52,000,000 contract....so that's $103,111,111.11 so not quite what it cost to buy Ronaldo.

cheers lyle, that is a big transfer for sure.

i can imagine NFL takes alot outta a player but our rugby plahers must play over 20 games a season on top of international duty.

i really think that USA misses out on competing against other country in there main sports, understand NHL play canadians but nothing can compare to the soccer world cup, the hype & feeling of england playing against argentina or germany, nothing for me comes close not even man utd vs real madrid or barcelona.

Originally Posted by Lyle

Honestly I can tell you as a former football player, it takes at LEAST a week to get over a football game. 16 is a lot of games when you're playing football.

I know Daisuke Matsuzaka was "transfered" and the fee the Red Sox paid just to be able to discuss a contract with him was $51,111,111.11 and THEN they had 30 days to sign him and they signed him to a 6 year $52,000,000 contract....so that's $103,111,111.11 so not quite what it cost to buy Ronaldo.

Who did you play for?

Oh I didn't mean to imply I played for anything other than high school, by the time I got done I was too small and too injured to continue...of course I didn't start out very big considering the positions I played. Mainly I was a pulling guard, although I did play every position that doesn't get the ball....well other than center, I played that too. And at my peak I was 6'1 230, so I maybe could have played LB somewhere but when I ended high school I was 6'1 195-200...I lost 46 pounds in a little less than half a season, I went from 230 to 184...still had to block 300+ pounders though.

Originally Posted by Drago

cheers lyle, that is a big transfer for sure.

i can imagine NFL takes alot outta a player but our rugby plahers must play over 20 games a season on top of international duty.

i really think that USA misses out on competing against other country in there main sports, understand NHL play canadians but nothing can compare to the soccer world cup, the hype & feeling of england playing against argentina or germany, nothing for me comes close not even man utd vs real madrid or barcelona.

That is all another thing I agree, football is kinda THE international sport to say so and an international and universal window over the world, plus it's not very expensive to play compared to hockey or American football where you need a few K of equipments to play. Thus said, maybe ambiance wise it,s all something else (I agree on that but once again, England is another world for ambiance, I've never seen such thing) but sport/strategy wise, american football is very difficult to beat and that's an aspect why I love this sport so much.

Originally Posted by Nameless

Originally Posted by Drago

cheers lyle, that is a big transfer for sure.

i can imagine NFL takes alot outta a player but our rugby plahers must play over 20 games a season on top of international duty.

i really think that USA misses out on competing against other country in there main sports, understand NHL play canadians but nothing can compare to the soccer world cup, the hype & feeling of england playing against argentina or germany, nothing for me comes close not even man utd vs real madrid or barcelona.

That is all another thing I agree, football is kinda THE international sport to say so and an international and universal window over the world, plus it's not very expensive to play compared to hockey or American football where you need a few K of equipments to play. Thus said, maybe ambiance wise it,s all something else (I agree on that but once again, England is another world for ambiance, I've never seen such thing) but sport/strategy wise, american football is very difficult to beat and that's an aspect why I love this sport so much.

problem with american football is it takes like 3 hrs per game, & with time difference in UK can be in early hrs of the morning. my sister lives in LA & i gotta say i loved spending the whole day watching it on tv cos of all the different time zones. plus monday night football @ the local bar with chicken wings now that was fun