Comment: Is West Brom skipper Jonny Evans worth £100k-a-week?
Common sense suggests nobody should be paid £100,000 a week to do their job, especially one as frivolous as playing football.
The figures are unfathomable to the average person who earns a fraction of that amount and carries the weight of a mortgage or their impending rent around on their shoulders on a daily basis.
The gap between the people who play the game and the people who watch it has grown to an insurmountable level.
And the reason is that elite-level football is now the biggest entertainment business in the world.
Millions of people around the globe watch and consume the Premier League with an almost insatiable appetite.
Jonny Evans may be a humble softly-spoken defender from Belfast, but he’s a superstar far beyond the Black Country borders because he’s a former Manchester United player and captain of a Premier League team.
The frustrating thing is that so little of this cash is being given back the fans.
Albion are actually one of the most affordable clubs to watch in the top tier, and reduced their season ticket prices by five per cent this year.
But gate receipts are now a fraction of a club’s turnover and yet, many refuse to drop prices in order to help their supporters.
Huddersfield chairman Dean Hoyle was praised for keeping his promise to loyal fans made in 2010 that should the club reach the Premier League, their season tickets would only cost £100. But those prices should not be the anomaly, they should be the rule.
For the intrepid die-hards, going to the football is not a choice, it’s a religion. Many will stump up regardless, leaving little else for any other luxuries.
It is actually the armchair fans who are funding this inflation, both in the United Kingdom and abroad.
Television money is the reason Albion earned £120m in prize money for finishing mid-table last season. It’s the reason they can afford to pay Evans, the jewel in their crown, £5m a year.
But television bundles can cost as much as £100 a month with all the bells and whistles. It is the consumer funding these salaries.
One could argue it’s right the lion’s share of the money is paid to the talent on the pitch, it's why everybody’s tuning in after all.
If you subscribe to that idea, then in today’s football market, Evans is certainly worth £100,000 a week. A classy centre-back who rarely puts a foot wrong, he could walk into any top six side.
But the wages don’t sit well, and the disconnect fans feel with their heroes is an unhappy side effect of a global league built on greed. But until people stop paying to watch, these salaries will keep increasing.
Evans could become the first of our players to be on £100,000 a week, but he's unlikely to be the last.
