“If it makes money, it makes sense” – a quote from the recent movie “Southpaw” that we can refer to when trying to grasp how some of these athletes are signing these outrageous contracts.

It is no new phenomenon that professional athletes get paid a crazy amount of money. However, every time we see or hear about the latest giant contract that some star player has signed, it causes our jaws to drop in awe of the boatloads of money they’ll be getting for playing a game.

Yes, sports are awesome and these athletes bust their butts to get to where they are today, so they deserve fame and fortune for their talents

But, overall, it is a bit ridiculous just how much some of these athletes are getting paid. What could one person possibly do with all money?

Just last week, MLB’s All-Star pitcher David Price signed a seven-year, $217 million contract with the Boston Red Sox at the age of 30. Doing the math, this means he will be making: $31,000,000 per year, $2,583,333 per month, $84,931 per day, $3,538 per hour, $59 per minute and 98 cents per second.

This is more than any of us will ever dream about making in our lifetime. His contract makes him the highest-paid pitcher in the history of baseball. Needless to say, Boston is hoping Price will bring them some championships.

It is not only the MLB. The NFL has eight quarterbacks making over $20 million this year. This past summer, Anthony Davis signed the largest league contract in NBA history, five years/$145 million, to remain with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Then there is Jordan Spieth, who won $1.8 million after winning last year’s Masters PGA Tournament at the age of 21. Spieth, of course, is not under contact by a sports team, but you get the picture.

Big-time athletes make big-time cash. The rest of the pro athletes make a pretty penny as well, just not quite to the extent of the top stars.

Why are these athletes getting paid so much? Well it brings us back to the whole “if it makes money it, makes sense” concept.

The NFL, NBA, PGA, MLB and other professional sports leagues make a lot of money on these athletes. These stars sell tickets, drive up ratings and make the organization money. The MLB, for example, is a $36 billion organization with each team having an average net worth of $1.2 billion because of guys like David Price.

It is a constant cycle. Teams sign the guys that will fill the stands and win championship rings. It is gut-wrenching to think about the money these guys are making, especially considering David Price basically made $3,500 in the time it took me to write this article.

However, pro sports is a big-money market, and that’s just the way it is because of its popularity. Of course a lot of this money goes straight to taxes so the athletes don’t see all this money. The point is, markets are getting bigger/richer and there are some athletes playing at unbelievably high levels that teams are willing to pay top dollar for. So we can expect to see a lot of big contracts flashing across our TV screens in the future.