Making a career as a professional athlete tends to be the dream of thousands of people across the planet, and only a few manage to realize it. Even though the physical demands of professional athleticism are quite intense, players good in their games can earn extremely lucrative salaries. Menos Hiras points out that in addition to the major professional sports like football, hockey, basketball, and cricket, leading athletes in certain individual sports like tennis, golf, horse racing, gymnastics, and auto racing also generate high incomes and lucrative endorsement deals.
In addition to the thrill and popularity involved, the lucrative salaries are among the key elements that attract people towards professional sports and encourage them to try and make a career in it. Menos Hiras points out that modern players often earn a lot through endorsement deals, apart from the actual sport played by them. However, money does not come as easy as it sounds to these players. They have to train intensely to maintain their performance. In case their performance slips, so can their remuneration levels.
Here are some of the highest paid professional sports in the world, as underlined by Menos Hiras:
- Basketball: There are many more aspects involved in competing as a professional basketball player, in addition to simply playing scheduled games. Successful basketball players have to maintain extremely rigorous exercise and weight training regimens to be able to achieve the performance level and conditioning needed in this fast-paced sport. Most basketball players regularly practice with their teams, as well as work on individual shooting and ball handling skills with the assistance of their coach. The NBA season includes more than eighty regular season games, as well as multiple rounds of playoffs for winning teams. Hence, while the NBA players do earn a good sum of money, they are also subsequent to the high physical demands of the sport and a challenging travel routine.
- Football: National Football League (NFL) players have to engage in one of the most physically intensive and strenuous sports, where the athletes often collide with each other at high speed. Football is an extremely popular sport, and hence its top players do earn a handsome sum of money. However, it is important to note that football often does exceed many of the other major sports in terms of complexity. Hence, football players often have to study and master extensive playbooks and game plans to prepare themselves for various types of potential game situations, in addition to engaging in typical field practice.
- Hockey: This sport especially enjoys a high level of popularity in the United States and Canada. Pro-hockey players need to maintain commendably high levels of conditioning to compete in games, which usually are highly taxing. They must also consistently hone their skills in practice drills, especially in regards to puck handling and shooting.
According to Menos Hiras baseball, tennis, and cricket are some of the other highly paid sports in the world.
