Being a professional athlete comes with many perks that go far beyond the sport itself. Players in the fields of basketball, baseball, hockey, and many more, have been known to make a lot of money. Some probably make more in one year than many of us will ever make in our entire lives.
             These high payoffs are the cause of many heated debates constantly taking place, both by sports teams and the general population. Some people view it as a problem and others don't.
             At the end of August, 1998, just as we were coming back to school, Michael Jordan was putting his signature on a ONE year 35 million dollar contract.
             This is only the tip of the iceberg. Just that year's endorsements earned Jordan 40 million dollars. The Flyers just stole center Chris Gratton away from the Tampa Bay Lightning at the bargain figure of 15.5 million dollars over 5 years plus a 9 Million Dollar signing bonus and they still have to re-sign Eric Lindros. Good Luck! Where is all this money coming from?
             The answer is sports fans like you. We pay for the tickets, T-shirts, and apparel of these teams. They can afford to sign new players when they're charging anywhere from $45 to $55 dollars a seat for football and anywhere from $25 to $125 for hockey games. We are part of the cause. The other is big corporations buying stakes in these teams, bringing in big money. Companies like Comcast Spectacor (Flyers), Blockbuster Video (Florida Marlins, Miami Dolphins), Ericcson Cellular (Carolina Panthers) and so on. They keep salaries up.
             Another problem is the threat of moving. Stadiums are big business today. The Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore, the Hartford Whalers moved to Carolina, the Los Angeles Raiders moved to Oakland, the Houston Oilers moved to Tennessee, and way back when, the Minnesota Northstars moved to Dallas. These teams then build enormous stadiums sometimes with taxpayer money and keep the profits. They force you to buy
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