40, 50, 60 fold: Comparing average pro sports salaries in 1972 to 2011

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I ran across some interesting numbers today in an Arkansas Gazette clipping from March 1972. Here are the average salaries in the major sports leagues at that time:

From left to right, you’re looking at the NFL, MLB, ABA (which rivalled the NBA in the late 1960s/early 1970s), NHL and NBA.

The article pertaining to this graph notes that rival leagues were the main reason  NBA and NHL led the pack in average salaries:

The NHL hasn’t been able to keep pace in recent decades, as these December 2011 numbers show:

Sport Average Salary
National Basketball League (NBA) $5.2 Million
Major League Baseball (MLB) $2.5 Million
National Football League (NFL) $1.75 Million
National Hockey League (NHL) $1.3 Million

Source: Voetbalgokken.nl