I knew my journal on Adam Smith would come in handy one day. Just replace "hockey" for any other profesional sport and you get a POSSIBLE reason for high salaries. Plus it will open it up for debate.
Journal 1
The five following are the principal circumstances which, so far as I have been able to observe, make up for a small pecuniary gain in some employments, and counter-balance a great one in others: first, the agreeableness or disagreeableness of the employments themselves; secondly, the easiness and cheapness, or the difficulty and expence of learning them; thirdly, the constancy or inconstancy of employment in them; fourthly, the small or great trust which must be reposed in those who exercise them; and fifthly, the probability or improbability of success in them. (Smith p. 202)
In this journal I will attempt to explain, using Smith’s five observations on the calculation of wages, why is it that professional hockey players get paid the amount of money that they do (the average player in 2003 made $1.79M ). Thus I will go point by point to see if hockey players, even pro athletes of any sport, are entitled to such amounts of money. Smith explains that the pleasantness, ease and cheapness or their opposite, consistency or inconsistency, the trust placed on the employee and the odds of success in the job are what calculate wages.
Everybody enjoys playing sports and most of us engage in them as kids for fun, but some people decide to do them all their lives. Sports are a lot of fun and being successful at them causes great joy. I think it is safe to say that sports are enjoyable, thus it is an agreeable job to engage in. Smith says that a butcher’s job is very dirty and thus undesirable and therefore is paid more than most common trades. This tells me that sports players shouldn’t make so much money since it is so enjoyable and “clean”. However there are other factors to take into consideration. The second factor is how easy/cheap or difficult/expensive a task is to learn. Hockey is a very expensive sport given the equipment involved. Compared to soccer where a player only wears cleats and shin guards for protection, a hockey player wears shin/knee guards, protective shorts, elbow pads, chest protector, gloves, mouth guard and a helmet (goalie equipment is even more expensive as it must offer more protection). Because of this not everybody can engage in this sport. Many families go into debt buying their children skates and sticks, driving them to hockey practices and games into big cities (I’m using Canada as my example) just to see if their kids might make it big one day. Skating on ice is no easy feat either. Most people eventually learn to skate, but few reach the level of skill required to play the game at professional level. A player must be able to skate at top speeds and be able to maneuver the puck, fend of opponents either checking him or pestering him with their sticks and still be able to keep control of the puck and manage a shot or a pass, be able to switch from skating forward to backwards without losing momentum and of course stopping on a dime when necessary. Thus hockey is an expensive and a difficult sport to learn. Add to that the time spent in practice and in the gym. A player must stay fit and the average person only gets exercise when s/he walks from the couch to the refrigerator. The effort put in keeping their bodies healthy is also rewarded.
The third point Smith draws our attention to is the consistency or inconsistency of work. Most careers, given one has a college education, are not begun until one is between 22-25 years of age and continue working until 65-70 years of age. That is around 45 years of constant employment. Some blue-collar jobs can begin even younger. The average age of an NHL rookie is 20 (personal observation done by watching and studying the game for the past 10 years of my life) and most players retire after only a couple of seasons and either go down to minor leagues or quit all together, good players put in 8-10 seasons and great to elite players go for an average of 15, (there are rare cases of players playing for 20 or more years). Thus the job is by far not a consistent one. A pro athlete works for 8 years while a mechanic may work for 40 or more. Thus their pay must make up for all the years they will be out of the workforce.
The issue of trust is important for Smith as he explains that jewelers earn more than any other workman (Smith, p. 207) because they are working with very precious and valuable items. This leads not so much to the discrepancy between an athlete and a non-athlete, but between the athletes themselves. Every team has at least one “star” player around which the team is built around to increase success. These “star” players are usually forwards with the scoring or playmaking touch that are trusted to make the key goals or plays at the right time to ensure the success of their team. The trust placed upon them is much greater than that of the enforcer/instigator player whose job is simply to beat up or annoy the other team, while important his role might actually lead to negative results. This is why elite players can make up to $8M-$10M while a teammate may be getting by with $680,000.
The very last point Smith mentions is the probability of success in the work one is pursuing. He says, “The probability that any particular person shall ever be qualified for the employment to which he is educated, is very different in different occupations. In the greater part of mechanic trades, success is almost certain; but very uncertain in the liberal professions.” (Smith, p. 208) Many people learn how to ice skate, many of them learn to play hockey, the number of children and teenagers that engage in the sport is tremendous, however only few get to the NHL (there were 916 in 2003-2004 ). And once they are there a successful career of at least 10 seasons isn’t always guaranteed. Not being ready for that particular level of play, injuries, economics (payroll) might all play a role in lengthening or shortening a player’s stay in the NHL.
Therefore, I believe, the pay professional hockey players or any athlete deserve the pay that they are awarded according to Smith’s assessments on the calculations of wages. For while hockey is an enjoyable activity it is difficult to learn, expensive to engage in, the work is inconsistent with a season extending six months of the year (if the team makes the playoffs, also worth mentioning hockey has the longest season in pro-sports) and if the player is lucky he’ll do it for at least 10 years. The trust placed by the organizations on their player varies, but those expected to perform at a higher level are rewarded accordingly as success for the team (regardless of what sport) translates to success for the city (jobs are kept or created, revenue and taxes help local economy as well). And finally superstardom in pro sports, in this case Hockey, is very unlikely. Thus the difficulty and expense in learning the sport, the inconsistency, the high trust placed on players and the uncertainty of success translates into high wages for hockey players and pro-athletes in general.
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