NationStates Jolt Archive

Over the past decade or so, salaries in @@NAME@@'s professional sports leagues are spiraling out of control, with the average salary in all four major sports leagues at over a million @@CURRENCY@@s.

The Debate

1. "Obviously the leagues need to be forced to keep tabs on their athletes' salaries!" cries angry fan @@RANDOMNAME@@ after putting down fifty @@CURRENCY@@s for a ticket to a game. "I barely make thirty thousand, and I am tired of supporting a bunch of millionaire crybabies! Bring down the salaries to civilian levels!"
[effect]athletes all over @@NAME@@ have lost their homes after drastic reductions in salaries
[stats]economy decreases, government size increases, happiness increases, devoutness increases

2. "Now we're going to restrict what athletes can be paid?" shouts sports agent @@RANDOMNAME@@ from a luxury suite. "These people risk their bodies, their health, and their home lives, not to mention their livelihood at the hands of crazed fans and haters, just to keep us entertained! Let the owners pay players what they want to!"
[effect]athletes' salaries are pricing even many well-off families out of attending games
[effect]happiness decreases, not sure what else

3. "Come to think of it, a salary cap isn't half-bad," chimes in @@RANDOMNAME@@, a public defender in between bites of a stadium hot dog. "But it shouldn't be restricted to athletes. Corporate executives make a bit much for what it is they do, anyway. As do movie stars and, of course, sports agents. Set a hard cap of, say, a million and a half @@CURRENCY@@s for everyone across the board. Give the money they earn above that to public projects everyone can enjoy."
[effect]people earning seven figures are forced to contribute to public projects
[stats]economy decreases, taxes increase, health increases, rich-poor divide decreases

4. "Sports? Who needs them?" shouts picketer @@RANDOMNAME@@ from outside the stadium. "People waste their money on this mindless entertainment and wonder why they can't feed themselves. I say we need to outlaw sports on all levels and mandate 70-hour work weeks for all professions. Besides, with no sports to drain people's minds and spirit, they will all have more drive to work and make our economy great!"
[effect]parents hardly see their children anymore because of their long work hours
[effect]economy increases, happiness decreases, devoutness increases, civil rights decrease

Need some help setting state for Option 2 and maybe tweaking the others.

Nice issue -- a good variety of interesting options to choose.

For option 1, why would the economy decrease? More people can afford to go to baseball games and they'll have more money to spare when they get there, so sales of beer, snacks, programs, and team souvenirs will all go way up. Yeah, a few millionaire baseball players lose their homes, but we're talking, what, maybe 100 people out of a population of millions? Their effect on the economy will be nil. Maybe the population would become less cynical, too?

For option 2, I'd say the economy should decrease, for similar reasons as the increase in option 1. Since fewer people can attend games, then fewer beers, snacks, programs, and souvenirs will get bought. And the population should become more cynical.

For option 3, I think even 1.5 million is too high. How about making it an even 1 million? Also, the effect would be that only taxes for the wealthy go up -- everyone else's taxes would be unaffected. Size of government should probably go up, too, since they'll be able to do more public projects with the additional money. I would think the economy should go up rather than down, too; increasing government spending usually sends the economy up at least a little. And maybe civil rights or economic freedoms should go down, since you're restricting how much money people are allowed to make.

I have no idea why either option 1 or option 4 would affect devoutness in any way. What's your reasoning there?

For Option 1, keep in mind that we're not dealing with just a couple hundred people who lose their homes; thousands of athletes will suffer at least some form of a pay cut. Sure, more people would be able to afford to go to a game, but sports would be less of a big-money industry, and especially in a nation like the U.S., sports are huge. Though the point about cynicism is certainly a good one and I agree with it.

For Option 2, I left the economy alone because the economy would mainly be affected if sports got so far out of control that they collapsed completely. Fewer people would go to games, but teams would collect more money for each person who does. Though again, cynicism will be affected.

For Option 3, I am thinking average tax rate, which would certainly go up, even if just a bit. Government size would increase, sure, but I was thinking that economy woudl drop because people would have less money to spend. If I don't drop that, I will drop civil rights.

As for devoutness, I am not thinking of religion specifically but rather with how dedicated the population is to whatever. For Option 4, people become more dedicated to work. Not sure what I was thinking on Option 1; it probably works better as a decrease on Option 2.