Are NRL players severely over paid?

[Byron_Bay_Fan]

Now some players are receiving up to about $1.2M per year, which could be about 3 times as much as our prime minister receives for leading the country. If they play 30 games (guessing) does it work out about $40K per game, that is about $500k per minute on the field. An accurate picture would include all the training times, travel, guest appearances and promotions etc. . But a lot of other careers also involve free extras and are a lot more important in society. Yes players can be severely injured at any time but that should be adequately covered by good insurance.

 

[Sabre]

To be fair most sports people are severely overpaid.

 

[hobbo]

Agree sabre , especially soccer players .
The Priminister needs to take a pay cut IMO .

 

[Sabre]

Agree sabre , especially soccer players .
The Priminister needs to take a pay cut IMO .

100% this.
It's scary when you look at what soccer players get paid and what they actually do. Because at the end of the day it's just sport.

Especially when you compare that to people who actually make a contribution to society - teachers, nurses, firefighters, etc…

 

[Milky]

No, if anything, they are underpaid compared to other sports.

 

[wonka]

Performance per dollar half the NRL are overpaid especially our roster.

 

[happy_tiger]

Not a chance

When you look at NFL ,NBA ,EPL , tennis ,golf ,cricket etc these blokes should be on way more

 

[Byron_Bay_Fan]

Not a chance

When you look at NFL ,NBA ,EPL , tennis ,golf ,cricket etc these blokes should be on way more

Relatively speaking I agree but when the salaries are sending the club broke, if that is the dominant cause, then they should be limited to what can be afforded. The pokies have probably distorted vales over generations.

 

[Nelson]

Not a chance

When you look at NFL ,NBA ,EPL , tennis ,golf ,cricket etc these blokes should be on way more

Relatively speaking I agree but when the salaries are sending the club broke, if that is the dominant cause, then they should be limited to what can be afforded. The pokies have probably distorted vales over generations.

The player salaries are probably substantially covered by the NRL grant (I can't be bothered looking up what it is). What sends clubs broke is having people running them that have no business nous, or having too many ex-player types around trying to make a buck out of their old club (thanks Benny).

 

[hobbo]

The knobs who work in the Bunker are Massively overpaid …
What a Farce !

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Compared to other professional sports worldwide, especially with the amount of damage this game inflicts they are severely underpaid.

Compared to what the average Joe, severely overpaid.

 

[Nelson]

Now some players are receiving up to about $1.2M per year, which could be about 3 times as much as our prime minister receives for leading the country. If they play 30 games (guessing) does it work out about $40K per game, that is about $500k per minute on the field. An accurate picture would include all the training times, travel, guest appearances and promotions etc. . But a lot of other careers also involve free extras and are a lot more important in society. Yes players can be severely injured at any time but that should be adequately covered by good insurance.

You can't compare NRL players to public servants because their money comes from different sources. If you want all public servants to be paid more then everybody is going to need to start paying a lot more tax. The general consensus of the population will never be "yes, let's all pay more tax". Using this current, independently wealthy PM as an example of somebody who needs to be paid more is also a particularly bad way to make the argument. People don't pursue those positions (like PM) for money anyway, they do it for power. Look at Trump, who is a convicted Rapist and Felon for a caricature of that. He's haemorrhaging huge amounts of money to try to get his tiny, tiny hands on all that power that comes with the US presidency.

NRL players on the other hand are paid by clubs who are given grants by the NRL. The NRL makes money primarily out of the sale of broadcast rights. The players are the product. The NRL has to give them a decent slice of the profits to stop them going off and playing for rival codes (like French and Japanese Rugby) or in rival leagues like Super League. It's all market forces at play.

People will never be paid based on a highly subjective idea of what value they add to society. Money is not the only reason that people do particular jobs either. A lot of people would prefer to make 80K doing a job they love that is intrinsically rewarding to them as opposed to making 160K doing a soulless job that just makes them resent themselves.

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

Compared to other professional sports worldwide, especially with the amount of damage this game inflicts they are severely underpaid.

Compared to what the average Joe, severely overpaid.

I'd agree completely CB, an ordinary job cannot even close to needing the amount of hard work that goes into playing this game let alone the toll of having 3 or four Massive forwards belting you during games
Just the fact that is so hard to make a first grade team( Milone and Lovett excepted)
Shows that they're not even remotely overpaid.
Anyone who really thinks that , most likely has never played the game, but three or four minutes on a training field with full contact would make you reconsider that opinion

 

[Tony33]

Compared to what other sport athletes get paid, NRL players are severely underpaid.

NRL is the toughest competition and most physically demanding sport in the world. To be getting paid in one year what other atheletes make in one week is unbeleievable.

 

[underdog]

3 words.

LIMITED

EARNING

WINDOW.

Yes they are overpaid during that period of their careers.

But their careers don't last all that long.

 

[Tiger_Watto]

McDonalds don't have Caviar sitting in there coldroom, they have fries & burger patties that are relevant to their revenue.

Comparing NRL Players to EPL/NFL can only be based on the revenue each product produces.

Let's face it, Jason Ryles summed it up perfectly. The NRL is a pimple on the bum of world sports!

 

[Byron_Bay_Fan]

At the other end of the spectrum the local teams playing for peanuts, whom mainly do it for love of the game, receive remuneration that does not warrant exposing ones body to sometimes brutal punishment and injury. Because of the nature of the beast it makes it difficult to qualify.

 

[CocaCola]

Compared to other professional sports worldwide, especially with the amount of damage this game inflicts they are severely underpaid.

Compared to what the average Joe, severely overpaid.

Spot on.

TV/Marketing/Sponsorship deals have turned sport into the phenomenon it is today.
Elite athletes a generation or more ago had to combine work with their sporting careers to support a family.

It says a lot about todays society when entertainment value is rewarded far beyond those working in other fields, which in general contribute more to society. (eg scientists/engineers/teachers/physicians etc).

Society is now ruled by consumerism, It's a numbers game.

 

[Love_the_WestsTigers]

YES

 

[tig_prmz]

they do train insanely hard, they are in the system since probably 10 and work their way up. for every player that makes NRL, 10000 dont. they put up with us fans, mental coaches, money hungry media etc.

their fitness levels are insane, they spend 2 hours a day in the gym and have been doing so since early teens. it's not easy being an NRL player or any sport player really.

so nope, they are not overpaid.