AsylumGuido

The average fan doesn't pay the salaries. Billionaire owners pay the salaries with less than half the revenues they receive from mostly broadcasting rights. After limited taxes they pocket the rest. Players deserve every last penny they can get. They are the ones putting their bodies on the line for our entertainment and billions into the pockets of the owners. One could rightly argue that they are vastly underpaid. I honestly can't understand why any fan would have a reason to begrudge what any player gets paid any more than what any other person would begrudge whatever those of us are paid. It's none of their business as far as I can see, just as it's not really our business what the players get paid. At least that's the way I see it.

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

AsylumGuido

And, yes, ticket prices keep increasing but that has nothing to do with what players are getting paid. It continues to increase because we as fans are willing to pay more, not because it's needed for player compensation. That comes from the skyrocketing broadcast rights. More and more broadcast entities are getting into the fray wanting a piece of the live audiences. The bidding will continue to drive up the revenues even if tickets were free.

SmashMouth

You are correct... but for this discussion of the previous point, your point is irrelevant. A fan is entitled to have his/her viewpoint, regardless of what the owners make, players make, etc... Good for Peat to have earned what he earned, but his was not a compensation commensurate with his pears that played at a higher level. No one is taking about Willie Roaf or Jarhi Evans in the same light, for example. Peat was a turnstile for much of his career as a Saint, less so last year, but still a turnstile nonetheless, an expensive one. But he got his.

Good for Brees to have earned what he earned too. But comparing Brees and Brady and their salaries showed a difference in self sacrifice in terms of compensation of their close teammates. This is a different discussion also for the purpose again of the previous point.

NBA players are overpaid too, and they continually violate and are allowed to violate the rules of the game. So many players walk, hand palm, and other non-called penalties. I mean three or more steps to a dunk or a pass takes away from the enjoyment. And it's no longer basketball if you can take five steps or palm the ball to a dunk or layup. Same goes for the NFL when players are allowed to OPI/DPI sans consequences, as an example. And it could be argued they put their bodies less at risk today in light of how the rules are crafted, and how the equipment has given them the overconfidence to hurl themselves during plays, thereby having fans say they deserve everything they can get. NFL is less fun today than yesteryear's version. I would argue yesteryear's players deserved more than what they were compensated. Do you remember Brees' first contract as a Saint? Compare that to today's QB contracts. It's gross what some of these overpaid QBs are. Cousins with the FailClowns. LOLZ. NBA and NFL aren't individual sports like tennis or golf where those athletes truly deserve what they earn. Sometimes one could say the same about baseball if referencing a shutout pitcher of a crazy good homerun hitter. Relying on a teammate to perform to elicit a team breaking contract is what we've seen. Brees made his OL appear much better then they deserved, Same goes for Mahomes and Brady. Messi in a team sport like soccer can put a team on his back with his crazy good accuracy and speed. Soccer is almost the one sport combining great individual skill like in golf and tennis yet with teammates.

On a whole different discussion, one could also argue that gambling interests have now made the game closer to a WWE product. So those said same bloated salaries for a now tainted game take away from the game, the same way we're now witnessing the slow but now accelerated demise of college football with the runaway unregulated NIL system. Yes gambling is in there too. We're witnessing players not getting developed or not getting better by hopping in the portal for a better payday. Are those players that jumped in to Colorado NIL any better off today than players coming out of Bama or GA? We'll see this year, IMHO, the first wave of NIL era players in the NFL fail flat on their face, all for having got paid with NIL in college. Good for them to have gotten that NIL deal, but they better not spend/waste it.