Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sports

Feed the greed?

Sports, capitalism joined at the hip

Nick Laham/Getty Images
Alex Rodriguez reacts to a play during the first inning of the All-Star Game last Tuesday.

By Chris Renaldo

I don’t watch a lot of baseball; I’m not really a baseball guy. Oh, I might catch a game at the Ted if family or friends are in town, and I did take in a game at Yankee Stadium during a recent trip to New York City. But all things considered, I don’t find MLB action all that entertaining. I know what a double-switch is and I loathe the DH, but I’ll never be confused with George Will or Bob Costas.

That said, here’s my midseason take on Major League Baseball: I don’t like paying $4.25 for a bottle of water; I don’t like paying $9 for a beer; and there should be a law (in Georgia) against charging $6.50 for a bag of peanuts. And don’t get me started on the “no backpack” scam they’re running at the House that Ruth Built.

I offer this because I recently read an online screed by some social critic bemoaning the inflated salaries of oil company executives. For example: ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson’s annual salary is just over $21 million. Chevron top dog David O’Reilly’s salary is $15.7 million. James Mulva of ConocoPhillips earns about $15 million. And those figures just reflect base salary. The real money lies in bonuses and stock, which are not salary and are usually tied to the performance of company stock (Bob Nardelli and Home Depot notwithstanding).

When you compare these salaries to, say, the top three Braves—Tim Hudson ($15.5 million), Chipper Jones ($15 million) and Mike Hampton ($15 million)—as crazy as these numbers seem to average Joes like you and me, those oilmen might want to talk to Scott Boras.  

I don’t have a problem with Mike Hampton’s or Rex Tillerson’s W-2. Let’s face it: Chipper is on his way to Cooperstown, and Hudson has been the bell cow of the Braves’ rotation and by all accounts is a stand-up guy. As far as Hampton goes, I’m not going to pile on him. The Braves signed a contract, and both labor and management know that injuries are a part of baseball, especially for pitchers.

The thing is, we can’t have it both ways. We can’t keep driving SUVs and buying gasoline, but then complain when speculators drive the price of crude oil to more than $150 per barrel. Subsequently, we can’t complain when the executives who manage oil companies benefit from our gluttonous consumption of their product.  

The same is true for our consumption of professional baseball. We can’t pay $75 for box seats, $4 for a bottle of water or $9 for a beer and then scratch our heads when A-Rod signs a deal for $300 million. I’ll take capitalism over the alternatives any day of the week, at the gas pump and the stadium. SP

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 Big Talent, Big Bucks

So, does it pay more to be a top athlete or a high-grade CEO?

An Associated Press calculation this year showed the average compensation of the top 50 athletes in 2007 was $23.4 million, and the median salary $19.4 million. Meanwhile, the CEOs of the 386 companies in the S&P 500 earned a median salary of $8.3 million.

Yahoo Inc.’s Terry Semel led the way with total compensation last year of $71.7 million, according to the AP formula used to analyze salaries, bonuses, perks, above-market interest on pay set aside for later, and companies’ estimates of the value of restricted stock and options awards.

Then again, combining salary and endorsements, Tiger Woods raked in a tidy $112 million last year. So it appears to be more lucrative to be at the top of the game in the world of sports than in the world of business.

But while that might be true, both career fields pale in comparison to the worlds of film, television and music. After all, despite weakening ratings and magazine circulation, Oprah Winfrey earned $275 million before taxes from June 2007 until last month, according to Forbes magazine. And while the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez banked $28 million last year, Johnny Depp made $72 million, much of it earned on the back end of “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” which grossed more than $950 million worldwide.

And considering Will Smith brought home more than $80 million, including an estimated $20 million for the critically panned “Hancock,” it’s no wonder Miami Dolphin All-Pro defensive end Jason Taylor, whose salary is set at $8 million this year, is so eager to leave football and dance his way to the considerably more significant riches that await in Hollywood.—Fulton Shelley