Jealous of Devin Hester's Money? Start Being As Good at Your Job As He Is at His

The Chicago Tribune published a short piece today headlined, "Underpaid at $445,000? Unreal." In it, writer Jack Kee tries to compare himself to Bears Pro Bowl return man Devin Hester:

Mr. Hester currently gets paid (in 16 games) between $2,000 and $3,000 every time he runs onto the field. ... I'm in sales. I think I ought to tell my boss that I should make at least $2,000-$3,000 every time I touch the phone.

Let me spell it out to Mr. Kee and any other people who think Hester is overpaid: The Bears' annual revenue is somewhere around $200 million. Hester is one of their most important employees. His abilities as a return man make more people want to buy Bears tickets, more people want to buy Bears jerseys, more people want to watch the Bears on TV, etc.

I'm sure Mr. Kee's boss would happily pay him $2,000-$3,000 every time he touched the phone if Mr. Kee were bringing in enough revenue to the company to justify that much money. Mr. Kee, the bottom line is that you're not as good at your job as Devin Hester is at his.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-26-2008 @ 9:37AM

Frederick said...

Hester salary is ridiculous

7-26-2008 @ 10:20AM

petejayhawk said...

Hey, MDS. It should be noted that this is the opinion of a fan, not a Tribune writer. You might want to adjust your level of righteous indignation accordingly.

7-26-2008 @ 11:42AM

biff_tannen said...

It has nothing to do with how good he is - I'm sure there's a Devin Hester of grocery baggers (or any other job), but just because their position doesn't draw in the business doesn't mean they're any worse at what they do than Hester.

Is it fair? Absolutely not. Athletes get special treatment throughout their lives, and it shouldn't be a shock that treatment continues when they make it to the show.

7-26-2008 @ 12:23PM

Gina said...

I don't see how it's not fair. Would it be more fair if the Bears owners kept all that profit for themselves and paid the players the average American income? The money's going to go in someone's pocket regardless, I think it's more fair for it to go to the players than to the owners.

7-26-2008 @ 11:50AM

Michael David Smith said...

I don't think there is a Devin Hester of grocery baggers, actually -- grocery bagging isn't really a job that lends itself to the kind of greatness that would attract thousands or millions of customers to a particular grocery store, the way Devin Hester's greatness attracts football fans.

But anyway, that's not the point. The point is that Hester is only asking to get paid fair market value for his services, and it's stupid of the Tribune to publish something that suggests that an employee asking for fair market value for his services is greedy.

7-26-2008 @ 11:12PM

Josh said...

The fundamental flaw in your logic is that you equate greatness with the ability to attract crowds. That's just silly. You ended your post saying "you're not as good at your job as Devin Hester is at his." You keep going back and forth between those two very different methods of determining greatness. Where you are wrong is that there are 10s of 1000s of people out there just as good at their jobs as Hester. People who can't come close to filling stadiums.. a guitarist like Guthrie Govan, a chess player like Gary Kasparov, a Rubix Cube solver like Edouard Chambon, and some bagger who's been working at the same grocery store for 20 years and happens to have been bestowed with superior hand-eye coordination. Where you are right is that his type of salary is merely a product of the lucrative market that is professional sports.

7-26-2008 @ 12:11PM

I agree with your point, I just think you're making a mountain out of a molehill. You're giving credence to a one-graf online "fan's perspective" piece as if it were a signed editorial from one of the nation's biggest newspapers.

7-26-2008 @ 12:16PM

Matt Snyder said...

Pete: A terrible opinion is a terrible opinion ... even if it is only a fan. MDS is right on the money here.

7-26-2008 @ 2:05PM

Kevin34 said...

If The Bears were to lose Hester, there still would be a 'draw' to the games. The Bears sellout regardless of their record or who's on their roster.

The only leverage Hester has is that he helps the Bears win games. I don't think the Bears are fretting about losing money, The real question is do they need Hester to win games?

7-26-2008 @ 5:33PM

SHONUFF said...

You can try to diminish Hester's worth all you want, but the Bears have a player who (1) Plays his guts out, (2) is the absolute best in the league (one of the best all-time) at what he does, (3) has never embarrassed his team on or off the field, and (4) has never been known to be selfish.

IT IS A DAMN SHAME THAT WHEN YOU FINALLY HAVE ATHLETES THAT DO THE RIGHT THING, THEY NEVER GET PAID AS MUCH AS THE JERKS!!!

Market value??? He is ABSOLUTELY the most underpaid player in the NFL!

MDS... Maybe you should publish a list of all the benchwarmers and mediocre players who make more than him.

Pathetic. PAY THE MAN!

7-26-2008 @ 5:30PM

You guys are missing my stance entirely...

Fair market value is fair market value - that's the point. I wasn't arguing Hester doesn't deserve a piece of the pie, rather many people who are among the best at what they do, aren't dealing with the same pie Hester is.

People aren't going to pay millions of dollars for tickets and tv rights to see the best grocery bagger or roof shingler, even if they bring as much to their line of work as Devin does to his.

Devin Hester is a first-rate talent who deserves what money he has coming, but that's due to the nature of the business, not because he's 'better' at his job than someone who lives hand to mouth.

7-27-2008 @ 12:43AM

George B Vieto said...

If the Bears don't want to pay Devin Hester what he believes he should be paid then the Bears fans should protest the Bears headquarters and threaten a boycott of their season tickets until Devin gets what he wants.

7-27-2008 @ 11:31AM

JG said...

How about this play out your contract then get paid!

You make it out like it's all Hester... What about the special teams? The blocking? The teams he scored the returns on?

What makes players great at there position is their cast most of the time. I'm not saying he's not talented, i'm saying look at the cast around him. Brady never threw for 30 TD's in his 8 years until they go Moss. Then he threw 50.

Everyone can be replaced and Everyone will be whether you are "great" or not. One player doesn't make a team great a team does. Just ask Marino.

7-27-2008 @ 11:56AM

Guy Dusek said...

Christ! I watch the games on the NFL channel and Hester helped this team numerous times when they were down and
this front office can't see that he's worth a lot more than he's being paid. The Packers wouldn't have been the team they were without Bret Favre, for instance how far would they have gotten with Rex Grossman at quaterback? They need to go to the doctor and get some relief from their anal cranial inversion!
Get good payers and pay them well and that equals CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!

7-27-2008 @ 3:45PM

@14

Sure that helped Dallas.

7-30-2008 @ 12:01PM

Giants_Fan said...

In normal business, you, as an employee, are selling some type of product, whereas in professional sports, the product IS the players.

Think of them as a business's Cost of Goods Sold.

That's why they get paid so much money!