There are some that would tell you that professional sports are out of control when it comes to money. The critics also complain that it is the little guy that ends up paying for all the outrageous paychecks. Here is just some of what they are all talking about.

	1. The New York Yankees have the highest team payroll of any professional sports team in the United States. They pay out a total of $209,081,579 (as of 2008) with the average player making over $6.5 million. It seems like a rather high out put for a team that hasn’t won the World Series title since 2000.
	2. The Detroit Tigers are well below the Yankees in payroll, but the team still shells out about $138,685,197 each year. The average pay is just over $4.5 million. The Tigers have also had a dry streak when it comes to the World Series, but they do have an American League pennant from 2006.
	3. New York is on the list again with the New York Mets. Payroll is only slightly less than the Tigers at a staggering $138,293,378. The average paycheck is also over the $4.5 mark. The Mets have not seen a World Series title in this century.
	4. The Boston Red Sox are the reigning World Series Champs (2007) and only make it to the number 4 position for highest payroll in professional sports. The current team payroll is $133,440,037 with the average paycheck higher than the previous two teams ($4.7 million). Until recently, the Red Sox have struggled to make their mark in the MLB. This season will show if they are back to stay a while.
	5. The Chicago White Sox rounds out the top five professional sports teams with the highest payroll. The last World Series title was in 2005 (one of only 3 for the team) and put an end to a nearly 100 year dry spell. The average paycheck for the White Sox is just under $4.5 million with the total payroll running $121,152,667.
	6. The San Francisco 49ers is next in line making its payroll the highest in the NFL at $120,575,036. The team has a steak of champinoships but the last Super Bowl win was almost 15 years back (1994).
The rest of the top payrolls are paid out by MLB teams.
	7. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pay out $119,216,333 with the average paycheck going out at just over $4 million. The high pay has made some difference with the Angels winning the West Division in 2007 and 2005, but there has only been one World Series title and that was in 2002.
	8. The Chicago Cubs are next in line for highest professional sports team payroll at $118,595,833. The average paycheck is a little higher than the Angels ($4.3 million). The dry streak for the Cubs is one of the worst in the league with the last World Series title coming back at the beginning of last century (1908).
	9. The Los Angeles Dodgers have a current payroll of $118,536,038. The average paycheck is around $4.2 million. There has been some past success for the Dodgers (with 21 National League Pennants to the team’s credit) but the last World Series title was back in 1988.
	10. The Seattle Mariners round out the top ten professional sports teams with the highest payrolls. Although the Mariners are one of the younger teams in MLB it still pays out $117,993,982. The average paycheck is higher than some of the other teams at around $4.5 million. So far the team has little to show for the money with only 3 West Division titles to its credit.