Is there too much money in professional sport?

Last week saw some sportsmen make enormous amounts of money, with the shutting of the European soccer transfer window and another LIV Golf tournament which made stars from both sports millions of pounds.

Backed by the Saudi Arabian government, LIV Golf has made an already-rich sport even wealthier, with prize funds reaching into hundreds of millions. Some high-profile golfers – already earning big sums on the PGA tour – have defected to the new competition, despite plenty of criticism from fans, pundits and fellow competitors.

With even the last-placed competitor at LIV Golf Boston at the weekend receiving a remarkable £120,000 cheque, the PGA tour is finding it hard to compete.

Last week, the one of the world’s best golfer joined the breakaway tour. Australian, Cameron Smith, who is ranked second in the world and winner of this year’s Claret Jug. He signed up to LIV Golf for a fee rumoured to be in excess of £100m.

The LIV tour is held up as an example of ‘sports washing’; an effort by some regimes to improve their reputations around the world amid concerns over their human rights records. But golf is not the only sport spending huge amounts of cash.

Last week, the soccer transfer window slammed shut across Europe. English Premier League teams spent more than ever before, despite rising costs and the Covid-19 pandemic laying waste to other European leagues’ finances.

In buying Ajax’s Brazilian star Anthony, Manchester United even broke the record for the most expensive player ever signed to the league.

Many have said that the money in professional sports is ruining their favourite sports and they are no longer reflective of society.

With many people struggling due to the cost of the living crisis we asked the people of Tyrone: Is there too much money in professional sports?