The Wall_Spring 2023_Issue 9

sponsors Chelsea and Emirates are a sponsor for Arsenal. Nike provides money for Chelsea football club to improve the amenities and the stadium that the club plays in.The sponsors also provide kits for the players, which will publicise that brand to the spectators. Athletes also get sponsored, however it is on a much smaller scale. These companies get to be publicized at events, however in comparison to football matches many The Economist researcher Richard Duhautois states that not every footballer earns a lot of money.Around 50% of football players earn under $1,000 a month. Even in the European Big Five, there are at the moment very few players who earn a lot of money and it is what we call “The Superstar Effect”. The more talent a player has, the more value they bring to the team, this would increase their salary. Players will also earn much of their value to the team through popularity. If they are popular their recruitment into major companies will subsequently cause them to earn more. I believe that this is a fair course of judgement of value as they get what they bring.This effect has not spread to other sports because of the difference in media coverage. For example, Usain Bolt was earning around $4 million a year by the end of his career, compared to the footballer Cristiano Ronaldo who earns $36 million a year. The media coverage of football is so much higher than any coverage of athletics events, this also has a major effect on the salaries of the athletes. Athletes are sponsored with smaller endorsements than the long term sponsors of football clubs. Ultimately, more recognition and the further spread of athletics as a sport would create more opportunities for athletes to be paid more. of these athletics events are not broadcasted to the same scale.

It is a remarkable fact that the average professional athlete earns £29,318 a year, whereas the average Premier League footballer earns just over £60,000 per week, more than £3 million per year. Moreover, there is fact that major football stars such as Messi earn £960,000 a week. Camille Marinof (she/her), S10, explores the way money is handled in sport specifically, football and the ethics of spending so much in one sport. Being a professional athlete requires at least 5-6 hours of training a day, 6 days a week. Most athletes started that sport in secondary or even primary school and are incredibly passionate about it.Therefore, they are willing to devote much of their time to training and then competing.This dedication is essential for an athlete to become successful. Depending on the sport, a professional athlete’s career is not particularly long, with the peak of an athlete’s career usually being 34 years old. In comparison, a footballers career is not too different. It similarly requires 5-6 hours of training a day with time at the gym in addition to that. Passion and dedication is essential to their role and most professionals would begin their journey into football at a very young age, averaging at around 8 years old.A footballers career can quite often start at an earlier age than most professional athletes, however the peak age of a professional football player is usually at around 25 years old. So the obvious question is that if football players devote a similar or sometimes shorter amount of time to their profession, why are they paid almost twice that of the average athlete?

It is important to put the differences of the football industry and the athletics industry into perspective, football is a £27 billion industry. It is one of the most popular sports in the world, estimated to have over 3.5 billion fans. It is one of the most popular sports in the world, estimated to have over 3.5 billion fans. It is projected through the media all across the world, making it an incredibly popular form of entertainment, as well as being a popular sport to play. Conversely, athletics does not have the same media attention except for at big events, for example the Olympics. However, these only come round once every 4 years. Moreover, football clubs and players make the majority of their

money through this continuous representation in the media and sponsorships. For example, Nike

Artwork: Melis Buberka, UVI

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