Monday, February 7, 2011

Taking the piss

If you competed in Formula 1, you'd expect to be highly paid, right? I mean 19 events all over the world, racing at 170mph, putting yourself at risk, doing publicity etc etc. And you would be right. Lewis Hamilton earned $16.5M last year. Not too shabby. Now let's put that in perspective: adulterer and alleged golfer Tiger Woods earned $90.5M last year. That's taking the piss. He hits a ball with a stick and gets 8 times as much as the world's top paid racing driver? It does seem a little unbalanced especially when you compare the workload. Methinks Tiger Woods needs to be taken down a peg or two. He's not worth $90,000 let alone $90M, not by any stretch of the imagination.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Ok lets put this in to perspective again. A F1 driver doing 17 events around the world makes 16.5M, Tiger Woods makes 90.5M a E-5 in our Military makes about 30K per year. I can guarantee that both the F1 and Golfer do far less for a lot more and don't get shot at, spend months maybe years away from family. So you really can't compare what people contribute to what they get paid.

Chris said...

Well yes, but I was talking about sports personalities. You could argue the same thing with firefighters and the police but they're also not in commercial sports.

Paul said...

The same can be said about a high end Ferrari. You're paying mainly for the name, nothing else. It's all about supply and demand.
You're obviously not a lover of the game of golf (and Tiger Woods) but it is a game of high skill. Not to mention a huge following worldwide. For the record, no I don't play golf. In fact I've never played the game, but I do appreciate the skill involved.
Is Tiger Woods overlaid? Of course he is, as are most CEOs and all movie stars.

Paul said...

That should read "is Tiger Woods overpaid?"

Bloody automatic spell check! Or was it a freudian slip" -)

Chris said...

I think 'overlaid' was probably right :-)

Klaas said...

Adding insult to injury, there's quite some sports that require a lot more skill, training, technique,... and have a greater professional and amateur following than eg. Golf, still even the world top earns peanuts when winning a tournament or even World Championship. Leave alone the fact even the worst F1 pilot can just run it for two years and earn enough for the rest of his life, while only the top 10 o so of say badminton, table tennis, field hockey,... can actually make a living out of it.

Don't even mention the world of soccer. I woudn't even pay them to do my garden as they would just lie down crying claiming some plant tackled them.

Paul said...

Incorrect regarding the "worst F1 pilot". Most of the drivers from the lower teams have to pay for the privilege to drive.

Klaas said...

They have to pay the team (at least to get them in the car, there are bonus arrangements for points etc.), but they still will earn money through the sponsors (that they have to bring in) etc. Admittedly, if they are indeed unlucky enough to be THAT bad to not get anything, they probably don't need the money either way as daddy or uncle Businessman will have it covered.