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Comment by iambateman | Hacker News Reader

In 2000 years, someone will write this exact same essay about American football.

The sport is enormously popular but professional football players are poorly paid compared to baseball and basketball, especially when considering their much shorter average career and the physical damage caused by the sport. Further, football players are forced to spend years earning billions for the NCAA and its TV partners in exchange for college tuition, whereas the best baseball players and basketball players can earn a market salary by turning pro after high school.

I was surprised by your comment so I Googled it and it seems you are right: https://news.sportsinteraction.com/sports/how-to-make-money-...

Being the 6th man on a pro Basketball team is a generally a better move than being a starting Football player. Bonus is that you will probably have a longer lifespan.

Being the 15th man on an NBA team can be better than being a starter on an NFL team. The median NFL player only makes about as much as a 1st-round non-lottery pick NBA rookie. Moreover, for the most part, NBA contracts are fully guaranteed, unlike NFL contracts, that have all manner of byzantine bonus and base salary constructs.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/players.html

http://blog.futureadvisor.com/nfl-players-must-go-long-on-re...

Compared to the subject under discussion, their lot is not so bad: "After seven savage laps, those who managed not to be upended or killed, ..."

> best ... basketball players can earn a market salary by turning pro after high school

Not actually true, at least directly. They're currently required to play at least one year in NCAA, and the NBA commissioner is advocating for two years.

You're right for the most part, but there are a few exceptions for basketball which are becoming more popular.

International players can play professionally as early as 16 and then immigrate over. A few top US prospects have also gone overseas @ 18 for 6mo/1yr to bypass the NCAA restriction and start playing as early as 19.

It is funny, it was once true but the NBA added the year. As you get older the stuff you know becomes incorrect but you don't know it is wrong...factual atrophy.

I'm pretty sure the salary differentials between football, baseball, and basketball are better attributable to the fact that football teams are an order of magnitude larger than the other two, meaning while there's more pie to go around, more people want a slice.

Or NASCAR

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