Every young athlete dreams of going pro because of all the earning opportunities it opens up. Very few professions offer life-changing rewards like the sports world does, especially when you’re playing in America’s top-flight leagues.
The earning potential of players in the sports entertainment industry is almost limitless, with the best players earning over a million dollars annually on and off the pitch. However, no one starts earning a hundred million dollars in a day. In this article, sports enthusiast Gerda Grinova analysed how much rookies in America’s major leagues playing football and basketball start earning once they go pro.
Popular Brazilian soccer star, Ronaldinho, has been quoted as saying, “It’s not just about the money, it’s about what you achieve on the pitch,” and while this is true, the money plays an important role in keeping players on the field.
As the games get more competitive and more big-money characters get involved in the business of sports, the wage bill is going to keep going higher. However, this article outlines what rookies presently earn on the pitch in their first few years.
NFL Rookie Salaries
The NFL has many of America’s highest-paid athletes because of the league’s wide viewership and the simple thrill of each match. From the first day a new talent gets to wear an NFL helmet, they can start making life-changing salaries.
The rookie salary is very important in the NFL because of players’ short playing careers, so most players have to make big financial decisions early. Some choose safe, low-risk, low-reward ventures, while others make high-risk investments for big rewards. This is why you’d find players and fans on the best Canadian Online casinos playing for a big win.
NFL’s Rookie Wage Scale
Some years ago, the NFL’s recruitment structure for new players allowed them to get incredible deals from the teams that were lucky to draft them into new contracts. While these massive payouts were great for the draft picks, they weren’t healthy for the teams or the other players, as a lot of money was going to the new picks and not as much to the rest of the team.
To counter this challenge, the NFL released the Rookie wage scale that restricted the value of deals that could go to new players. With this system, the established players would get the biggest payouts while new draft picks start out with smaller pay.
2025 NFL Draft
Even with the wage scale, NFL rookies are still getting big contracts from their first year in the league. The 32 first round picks for 2025 are expected to get contracts that go as high as $777 million altogether, asides from signing bonuses. The lowest salary for these players based on these contracts will be $840,000.
However, the pay is always different based on the round each rookie gets picked in. The first round picks get the biggest deals, and the amounts keep dropping in later rounds.
This is a breakdown of the salary expectations for the 2025 first five draft picks.
| Pick | Player | Team | Salary |
| #1 | Cam Ward | Tennessee Titans | $12.2 million |
| #2 | Travis Hunter | Jacksonville Jaguars | $11.6 million |
| #3 | Abdul Carter | New York Giants | $11.3 million |
| #4 | Will Campbell | New England Patriots | $10.9 million |
| #5 | Mason Graham | Cleveland Browns | $10.2 million |
NBA Rookie Salaries
The NBA’s payment system is not too different from the NFL’s system. In this league, the Collective Bargaining Agreement determines how large the contracts for new draft picks can get, and this is done with the rookie wage scale.
NBA’s Rookie Wage Scale
The rookie wage scale limits how much rookies can get from their first contract on the professional court. As the picks from the earlier draft rounds get the biggest payout, the wage scale focuses on limiting the contracts for the early round picks.
Even though the scale stays the same, the specific limit for each year changes because it is based on the overall salary cap. The scale limits the overall rookie payout to a percentage of the salary cap for the next season.
2024 NBA Draft
Based on the wage scale, the first overall pick is supposed to get a $62 million contract to run for four years. From here, the salary rate continues to drop, and it takes significant cuts as you move from the first round to lower rounds. The last pick from the first round is expected to make up to $2.6 million in their first season in the league.
This is a breakdown of the salary expectations for the 2025 first five draft picks.
| Pick | Player | Team | Salary |
| #1 | Cooper Flagg | Dallas Mavericks | $13.8 million |
| #2 | Dylan Harper | San Antonio Spurs | $12.4 million |
| #3 | VJ Edgecombe | Philadelphia 76ers | $11.1 million |
| #4 | Kon Knueppel | Charlotte Hornets | $10 million |
| #5 | Ace Bailey | Utah Jazz | $9.1 million |
Final Thoughts on American Football and Basketball Rookie Salaries
Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “It is one of the characteristics of a free and democratic nation that it has free and independent labor unions.”
The collective bargaining agreement came from negotiations between the leagues and the players’ associations.
As a fan, you might not get a chance to play professionally, but anyone can earn through sports photography and content creation, merchandise sales, betting at the best online casinos in Canada and lots more.
For the league, the agreement is still making sure every player gets a good contract without affecting others. Even though the wage scale restricts how much rookies can earn, top draft picks still get the biggest salaries anyone can aim to get as a new professional.
