Unlike most of the Big 4 leagues in the USA, AFL (Australian Football League) contracts aren’t released to the public. Therefore a lot of speculation is created as to who is making the big bucks. Fox Sports has compiled a rough guide through research in the industry as to who are the highest paid athletes in the game. Of course, there a few surprises.

Only 2 players broke the the magic $1 million dollar mark for 2008- Chris Judd and Jonathan Brown. Chris Judd is one of the most recognizable players of the game, and his 5 year deal was the largest contract signed in AFL history when he moved to Carlton at the end of 2007. Jonathan Brown has been a Brisbane player all his career, despite offers from his home state of Victoria.

There is a gap of about $200,000 to the next group of players, which include some of the best Key Position players of the game.

Of the players making over $500,000, most are Key Position players, and are approaching or over 30 years-old (despite the top two being in their mid twenties). If a player is over 30, he can be classified as a veteran, which means only half of his salary counts towards the salary cap, which stands at just over $7 million.

Looking to the future of who will be earning some serious cash, Luke Hodge’s current deal expires at the end of this year, and he will certainly command somewhere in the $700-800K range. Forward Lance Franklin, 22, will be earning over $500,000 next year, and is touted as one of the most promising players in the game. Expect a deal near $1 million a year for his next contract. Other players with higher earning potential include Gary Ablett Jnr., Daniel Kerr and Nick Riewoldt.

The AFL operates on a rookie pay scale similar to the leagues, so the initial starting salary is around $40,000-60,000. This is quite small considering the average Australian wage is about $50,000.

In comparison to overseas sports these players earn very little, but in terms of Australian sport only Super 14 or cricket players would command higher salaries.

Read the full article here.

Football

• Clark Judge of CBSSports.com thinks that Tom Condon has a chance at being the next NFLPA Executive Director [Next union leader would be wise to learn from Upshaw's legacy].
• Matt Ryan leads the list in terms of guaranteed money [2008 NFL Draft - First-Round Selections - Contract Terms].
• The 33-day holdout is over [Harvey's deal with Jaguars could be worth $30 million].

Basketball

• New Carnival of the NBA with lots of pics of the Joker [Carnival of the NBA #59 : We're all Jokers].
• Another player jumps overseas…for his shoe deal [Jason Kidd Leaves Nike - Signs with Peak].
• Something just seems awfully wrong with looking at Marbury’s name sitting at #2 [NBA - Top Player Salaries For 2008-09 Season].

Olympics

• I would have put Lezak higher than #25 [Beijing Wrap-Up: The 25 Most Marketable Olympians].
• Michael Phelps will be making a cameo appearance on Entourage [My Michael Phelps All-Access Day].

Baseball

• True Religion is TOTALLY cooler than Seiko [Giants' Zito has new role: male fashion model].

When beginning my search I noticed that Sports Law Blog did a similar comparison with salaries and success, but I could not find other comparisons after 2006.  I will attempt to continue their analysis for the first half of the 2008 season.

To start, I will analyze the top salaries, which includes 2/3 of the top AL East teams, the Red Sox and the struggling Yanks.  As many of you know, the Yanks are the most expensive team in baseball, spending a total of $209, 081,577 on their 2008 roster according to USA Today.  The next team on the list is the other New York team, the Mets, spending $71,288,201 less than the Yanks with a total of $137,793,376.  The Red Sox are fourth on the list spending $133,390,035 on their roster after winning the World Series last season.

The surprising Rays are second to last on the list, spending a mere $43,820,597 on their total roster this year.  That roster has earned them the best record in baseball. The Rays are 53-32 so far and are currently in first place by 3 games over the Red Sox, proving to the league that a low salary does not mean low quality players. Evan Langoria is having a Rookie of the Year type season, but no other Rays are really having a breakout year. This is a scary thought for the rest of the MLB with the second half of the season on the horizon. The Rays play as a team, with the heart and patience to hang in games and come back late in a match if they need to, unlike that of the Yanks so far and many other high paid rosters.

Another surprise team so far this season has been the other Florida squad, the Florida Marlins.  I remember hearing on opening day that the ENTIRE Marlins salary for 2008 was less than the salary of Alex Rodriguez alone this year.  The Marlins management has spent the least in the MLB, paying their players $21,811,500 to start opening day.  After A-Rod and his agent, Scott Boras, worked out a new contract with New York last season, A-Rod was guaranteed $28,000,000 for 2008.  I only analyzed and discussed a couple of teams.  If you want to view the entire list with all 30 MLB teams and their salaries click here.

Using the USA Today data and the results from the past several regular seasons and playoffs, I can conclude that a high payroll does not guarantee success. I have learned after watching March Madness, the NBA, MLB, NHL and just about every sport, that earnings and prior statistics that commentators and gamblers use to handicap games really mean nothing. It is all about the desire, dedication, training regimen, persistence, a little coaching and the overall mindset of the team that wins games.

Look at the NY Giants Super Bowl run and success last season. They came out of nowhere to prove everyone wrong and beat the heavily favored Patriots. Going by all the stats in the NFL, the G-men had no shot at beating Brady and the undefeated Patriots. The only thing they had on their side was the confidence from the great run they were on during the playoffs.

Since baseball does not have a salary cap, teams in New York can spend whatever they want on big name players. However, the only thing that matters at the end of the day is getting wins. Baseball is a team sport and as we can see from the Yankees past 6 seasons, big names (and paychecks) don’t always forge together to win big games. All a team needs to do is get into the playoffs and then anything can happen.

Although the MLB season is only almost half over, it still pays to point out that money does not correlate with success.  Darren looked at how this may eventually affect MLBPA agents in a post that he made back in 2006: Will The Yankees Success Hurt Agents?

So which database is better? What does each site offer?

HoopsHype

• Positives:
  • Ranks the top 100 agents by their clients’ salaries.
  • Ranks the top 15 agencies by their clients’ salaries.
  • Each agent’s page has a listing of players with their current and future salaries.
  • Notes how many all-stars each agent represents.
• Negatives:
  • No alphabetized listing of agent names or agencies.
  • Only lists 15 agencies.
  • No key to explain color difference for player salaries.

DraftExpress

• Positives:
  • Amazing sorting system. Can sort by agency and agent in alphabetical order, agent tier, team alphabetically, and player alphabetically.
  • Broken down into 5 categories: NBA Agents/Agencies, Non-NBA Agents/Agencies, Top Agents, Top Agencies, and Agency/Agent Affiliations.
  • Top agents are further broken down by total guaranteed salary, current year salary, and number of clients.
  • Many more agencies listed than at HoopsHype.
  • Easy key to explain color difference for player salaries.
    
• Negatives:
  • There are so many options, you may no longer talk to your children.

Jonathan Givony does it again. DraftExpress has created a database that, if constantly updated, should become the premier source for basketball player/agent information.

The 855 players on Opening-Day rosters and the DL averaged $3.15 million, up 7.1 percent from last year’s starting average of $2.94 million.

The median salary is $1 million, exemplifying the fact that the superstars are skewing the average salary mark to the high $3 million figure. Most major league players are making much less than $1 million per year. Still, 434 players will make more than $1 million this year, which is a new record number.

Here is a quick list of the teams with the highest payrolls, bumping up those average player salaries:

1. New York Yankees (AL East) – $209.1 million
2. Detroit Tigers (AL Central) – $138.7 million
3. New York Mets (NL East) – $138.3 million
4. Boston Red Sox (AL East) – $133.4 million
5. Chicago White Sox (AL Central) – $121.2 million
6. Los Angeles Angels (AL West) – $119.2 million
7. Chicago Cubs (NL Central) – $118.6 million
8. Los Angeles Dodgers (NL West) – $118.5 million
9. Seattle Mariners (AL West) – $118 million
10. Atlanta Braves (NL East) – $102.4 million

Six out of the top ten payrolls come from the AL. Four out of the top five are AL teams. Represent a player who is bound to turn into a superstar warranting top dollar figures from his team? May want to try to get him onto one of the top five teams listed above. One team to stay away from would be the Florida Marlins, with a total payroll of $21.8 million. Then again, they beat the #3 payroll, New York Mets, last night.