# Why are professional athletes' salaries made public?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-professional-athletes-salaries-made-public/142380>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 13, 2002, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-professional-athletes-salaries-made-public/142380 "2002-12-13T00:50:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-professional-athletes-salaries-made-public/142380/1 "2002-12-13T00:50:33Z")

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It seems to me that there are various reasons why they wouldn’t be. From an owner’s perspective, keeping salaries “secret” can only help the ‘me-too’-ism when athletes negotiate. From an athlete’s perspective, knowing the rates of your fellow employees can be distracting and detrimental (I know I hate to learn what my colleagues earn).

I can understand why agents want it so, and maybe the union. But why is it we know every athlete’s salary?

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**Author:** ![xicanorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a88e57/32.png) [@xicanorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xicanorex)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-professional-athletes-salaries-made-public/142380/2 "2002-12-13T01:00:58Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> But why is it we know every athlete’s salary?

First, we don’t know what the contract really reads nor all the bonuses or other items.

Second, from a player’s perspective, if the player is a “high quality” player that commands high money, he can always use it as bargaining leverage.

XicanoreX

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**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-professional-athletes-salaries-made-public/142380/3 "2002-12-13T06:07:44Z")

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I can only speak for baseball, but in baseball the salary arbitration process _requires_ that every player and his agent, every owner and his negotiators, and every arbitrator have access to accurate data about what every other player is earning. Given that requirement, I imagine trying to keep the data secret from the public would be an exercise in futility.