Amidst $18,300,00 Mind-Blowing Fact About Elite Sports, US Legend Shares Saddening Reality About Track Athletes

It’s a fact that US athletics isn’t the biggest money-churning sporting industry in the country. Despite the numerous track and field legends it has produced over the years, it remains under the shadow of major sporting leagues such as the NFL, NHL, MLB, and the NBA. At least that’s what many of the former track and field legends believe. One such legend, an Olympic gold medalist, has always voiced his opinion on the matter. More recently, he has yet again compared and contrasted the salaries of a track athlete to that of a player in any of the big leagues, and pointed out the gross indifference.

A tweet collated the average salaries of hockey, baseball, American football, and basketball player, which together amounted to $1,830,000. Former Olympian Michael Johnson added an additional info to it, as to why professional track athletes range nowhere near those numbers.

Track and field lags behind other sports financially in the US

A tweet by Jacob Turner went, “Average salaries of the four major sports leagues”. They stand at $8,320,000, $4,030,000, $3,260,000, and $2,690,000, for NBA, MLB, NFL, and NHL respectively. Turner continued the tweet thread in order to explain the 3 outside factors, he believes, that impact these numbers. They are “Revenues”, “Number of players per roster”, and “Collective bargaining of agreement (CBA)”.

As Turner further explained each point in meticulous details, Michael Johnson found it intriguing enough to point out that the same factors can be applied to athletics, but it doesn’t amount to much. He tweeted, “Track is different but the 3 factors that determine earning power are the same 3 reasons pro track athletes earn so little: 1) Revenues. Minimal sponsor & TV revenue. 2) Number of athletes. Too many mouths to feed reduces per-athlete income. 3) CBA. No union = no earning power”.

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Johnson’s take on why track athletes earn so little comes on the heels of taking a jab at another NFL player, who called it the “Only Real Sport”, just a few days ago.

Johnson isn’t happy with the pay-dispute

Recently, a back-and-forth debate on Twitter ensued between Michael Johnson and Robert Griffin III, a quarterback most well-known for his time with Washington Redskins. Johnson fiercely pointed out that if track and field is supposedly the “Only Real Sport”, then how come, athletes who are in it, earn so little? The verbal duel went a little bit farther, but Johnson was mainly looking for an answer, rather staunchly, for the pay dispute between various sportspersons from different fields.

While Johnson has pointed out the reasons in his latest tweet why the dispute exists, his intentions are for them to change and for the gap to be bridged. As Johnson himself has earned 4 Olympic gold medals in his career, he knows the effort required and the value of being an International track and field star.

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