Philip Rivers #17 on S.I.'s "The 50 highest-earning American athletes"

by tonik on Jul 24, 2010 12:11 PM PDT

2010 Fortunate 50

Philip Rivers

San Diego Chargers (NFL)
Last Year's Rank: NR
"In March, the Chargers' quarterback collected $13 million of his $19.6 million signing bonus from the six-year, $92 million deal he inked last summer; he'll get another $6 million option bonus next February."
(Salary: $25,600,000 / Endorsements: $250,000)

"Our findings consisted solely of salary, winnings, bonuses, endorsements and appearance fees. We consulted players' associations, tour records, agents and news reports. Our endorsement estimates for 2010 came from Burns Entertainment & Sports Marketing, other sports-marketing executives and analysts, and agents. Salary figures were based on current or most recently completed seasons (the upcoming 2010 season for the NFL). For winnings-based sports (auto racing, golf, tennis), we used the '09 calendar year. Boxing purses are from July '09 to June 2010. Candidates for the U.S. 50 had to be American citizens and currently active in their sports."

This FanPost was written by a member of the Bolts From The Blue community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Bolts From The Blue editors or SB Nation.

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Good for him.

"This is no ordinary honey!"
Bolts From The Blue - Heavy with the facts, slightly less heavy with the opinions.

by Zach (maestro876) on Jul 24, 2010 12:46 PM PDT reply actions

I love the Chargers and I love Rivers, but every time I see 92 million over 6 years I realize how unbelievably over payed star football players are. It’s just an amazing amount of money.

by ArksnBolts on Jul 25, 2010 9:56 AM PDT reply actions

There’s a better argument that they’re underpaid than that they’re overpaid.

Bolts from the Blue // "He looks like a catfish" - Nick Hardwick on Brandon Siler
Bloody Elbow // " looks like your comment violated rule #4. and it’s a heck of a rule, rule #4" - Kid Nate

by Richard Wade on Jul 25, 2010 1:20 PM PDT up reply actions

I'm game.

I’d prefer not to be an ignorant commenter on this point, so while I FEEL like they are over payed, if there is a legitimate argument that they are actually under payed, I’ll listen, and I’m curious.

by ArksnBolts on Jul 25, 2010 9:42 PM PDT up reply actions

The boost to revenue for a winning franchise has to be a consideration

The main consideration should be if the player is putting butts in the seats. The quickest way to do that is win. Oakland has seen their attendance drop off, and so has KC. A high impact position like QB has a huge impact on the outcome of the game. I can see paying the bug bucks to a guy that is gonna make the team a winner.

It is part of the reason I am down on paying major bucks to guys like Castillo, when their performance is statistically mediocre.

by Trendsearcher on Jul 26, 2010 11:14 AM PDT up reply actions

Yes, however, the problem is that the “big bucks” are outrageously high, and more and more people want to be payed that kind of money because it’s the accepted norm. What if the highest paid individual in professional sports was paid 40 million over 6 years including all medical covered? That is a crap load of money by almost any standards and less then half of what some big money contract winners are getting.

All of a sudden you have athletes happy getting 35 and 40 mil deals because they’re close to the top. Somewhere, somehow, along the way so much money started getting dished out that it’s absurd.

I know many people consider the argument about their bodies breaking down a good one, and this is paying for the rest of their life. However, we really need to keep it in context. Look at commercial deep water divers. Those are some of the most stressful situations mentally and physically to work under, most deep water contract divers make less than 100k a year and can suffer severe problems later in life.

Now, lets be real. I know they don’t compare in almost any way at all. I know professional sports is big money, but somewhere along the lines it got out of control and I’m not sure how you justify 100 million dollar contracts to play a “game”.

It seems that there is a seemingly disproportionate salary structure in sports compared to.. well.. mostly everything else?

by ArksnBolts on Jul 26, 2010 3:39 PM PDT reply actions

Your worth whatever someone is willing to pay you.

What a particular job is worth to society cab be debated but if someone is willing to pay you an amount to do a job than that is what you are worth to them. Any person is free to pursue any career they chose. If you are a deep water contract diver feel free to try and make it in pro sports, or acting or start your own band.
Some jobs do pay a lot more than others and it does seem a little crazy, but if people were not worth it they would not find someone willing to pay them.

by JeromeB on Jul 26, 2010 7:05 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

^^^ and ...

If more equvilent alternatives were avalible, the price would come down.

by Trendsearcher on Jul 28, 2010 11:17 AM PDT up reply actions

Also, I think it’s awesome that he’s #17.

Bolts from the Blue // "He looks like a catfish" - Nick Hardwick on Brandon Siler
Bloody Elbow // " looks like your comment violated rule #4. and it’s a heck of a rule, rule #4" - Kid Nate

by Richard Wade on Jul 29, 2010 10:27 PM PDT reply actions