How do athletes get paid?
Marketplace All-in-One
Marketplace
4.5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 2 June 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, we’re resharing an episode from our archive that feels especially relevant as the World Cup men’s soccer tournament kicks off next week! “Million Bazillion” listener Alistair wants to know how professional athletes get paid. It’s perfect timing for the question as Bridget and Ryan prepare for the semi-annual Public Radio Foosball Tournament. They scramble to assemble their dream team on a limited budget, while learning the reasons why big teams pay big bucks to the players who bring in big wins.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey Bridget. |
| 0:02.9 | What's up, Brian? |
| 0:03.8 | Have you heard that one of the world's biggest sporting events is coming to North America, that's the U.S., Mexico and Canada, this summer? |
| 0:11.6 | Ah, yes. You are maybe talking about the 26 men's World Cup soccer competition. |
| 0:17.6 | Yes, for the next couple weeks, soccer fans will be glued to their TVs watching |
| 0:21.8 | the sports biggest stars. So what does this have to do with money, Ryan? We're a show about |
| 0:27.0 | money, not sports. Well, I'm sure kids will probably have the question about how these athletes get |
| 0:33.0 | paid, where all the money comes from and how all the money gets divided between players. |
| 0:38.6 | Yeah? |
| 0:39.6 | So we answered this question a few seasons ago. |
| 0:42.3 | Oh, you're right. |
| 0:43.4 | We should totally put this episode in our feed like right at the top. |
| 0:45.9 | Got it right here. |
| 0:47.6 | Oh, and it's a fun one. |
| 0:48.6 | Remember when we tried to build our own foosball team? |
| 0:51.6 | Cue the episode. |
| 1:11.7 | Hey, look what I pulled out in the marketplace basement. It's the foosball team. Cue the episode. Hey, look what I pulled out of the marketplace basement. It's the foothal table. Ooh, is it that time of year again for America's favorite pastime, tabletop soccer? Yeah, and I think this is our year to win the semi-annual public radio football tournament. We've gotten close before, as you know, but we've never actually won it. |
| 1:15.8 | Just play this quick round with me now so we can see if the dowel still turn and if the pieces can still like kick okay. |
| 1:19.2 | Some of these gears are all jammed up. |
| 1:23.3 | Ha, scored on you. |
| 1:24.9 | No fair. |
| 1:25.5 | These pieces aren't kicking properly. |
... |
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