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Hmmm, does NHL star Macklin Celebrini deserve $18.8 million per year?

I try not to pay attention to the salaries professional athletes make in this era. It disturbs me too much. But occasionally I feel compelled to delve into the controversy.

Celebrini just signed a new contract that makes him the highest paid NHL player. The details: a 5-year contract worth $94 million with an average annual salary of $18.8 million. He edged past Leo Carlson whose new contract comes in at an average annual salary of $18 million.

Last season Celebrini played 82 games and tallied 45 goals and 70 assists for a total of 115 points. Assuming my math is correct, if he matches those totals next season, he will earn $22,000 per game or $15,500 per point gained.

Celebrini’s contract is small compared to the highest paid baseball player. Shonei Ohtani earns $70 million per year. And it pales in comparison to the highest paid athlete in the world: soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo who earns $235 million per year. But $18.8 million per year is still a wad of cash.

The question is: Do these athletes deserve the huge amounts of money they are paid? I acknowledge that they are high performance athletes. They have honed their skills to the highest level and push their bodies to the maximum level of output. They deserve credit for that. But I still find it impossible to justify their salaries in the bigger picture.

Am I jealous of the amount of money they make? Honestly, yes I am. But jealousy is not the root of my objection. It is the relative scale of the equation that bothers me most.

For reference, the average annual salary in Canada is currently $69,300. Celebrini will earn that much in four games.

The minimum wage in Ontario will rise to $17.95 per hour in October. This equates to $718 per week and $37,380 per year – assuming the individual works full time hours which many do not have the opportunity to do. Celebrini will match their annual income in two games next season.

Does Celebrini deserve to earn 27 times more than the average Canadian? Or 49 times more than someone working at the minimum wage. No doubt some will answer: Absolutely, yes. But I have to disagree. In a society where the gap between the rich and the poor is ever widening – where growing numbers of people are homeless – Celebrini’s salary is off-the-charts excessive.

Have you heard of the rooted tree metaphor? It compares visible disparities in society to tree branches and fruit – showing that they are fed by deep, hidden historical roots of unfair policies and power dynamics. Nowhere is this more evident than in the salaries earned by athletes like Macklin Celebrini.

The sky is the limit in terms of how high athlete salaries will go. The historical roots of the rooted tree run ever deeper.

~  Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel (now out of print) which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .

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Tags:   athlete salaries · Cristiano Ronaldo · Macklin Celebrini · metaphor · Michael Robert Dyet · Shonei OhtaniNo Comments