When Magic Johnson and a group of investors bought the Los Angeles Dodgers for an astounding $2.15 billion last March, it became the most expensive purchase of a franchise in the history of professional sports.
After a successful 2013 season in which the Dodgers won the National League West Division and made it to the National League Championship Series before being eliminated by the St. Louis Cardinals, the Dodgers made headlines again this offseason.
Clayton Kershaw signed a seven-year extension last week worth $215 million. That deal made the 25-year-old Kershaw the highest paid pitcher in the history of Major League Baseball.
Kershaw entered the league in 2008, after just one year in the minor leagues and since then he has taken the MLB by storm. From 2011 to 2013 Kershaw won two Cy Young awards and made three consecutive all-star appearances.
There is no doubt that Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball, and he deserves the biggest contract for that reason, but $30 million a year is a contract that no professional athlete deserves, regardless of the sport.
If we break down his salary we find that he makes more than $84,000 each day during a given year.
Breaking it down even further, Kershaw has appeared 33 times in each of the past four seasons. That means that 33 times per year he takes the mound and does what he’s paid for, but he doesn’t take the mound the other 332 days of the year, meaning that every time Kershaw takes the mound, he makes about $1 million.
If those numbers don’t seem outrageous enough, let’s talk about his signing bonus.
Kershaw’s deal included an $18 million signing bonus payable in three equal installments in April, July and September.
If Kershaw suffers some type of serious career-ending injury — something quite common for a starting pitcher — he still walks away with $18 million, which is more than most people make in a lifetime.
I am in no way trying to say that being a professional athlete is easy, or they do not deserve proper compensation. What I am saying is it is absurd that some athletes can make this much for playing a game and providing entertainment, but people in the armed forces and police officers make a small fraction of what star athletes make.
Athletes’ contracts should be getting smaller, not exponentially bigger.
Christopher Miller is a sophomore studying broadcast journalism and a writer for The Post. Email him at cm001111@ohiou.edu.
