The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
Was going to post something like this yesterday. Basketball salaries also get propped up because the league makes serious bank with smaller rosters.
there's a 2016 comparison out there which I believe fails to account for the league's new super-crazy TV deal which pegs the NBA at just under $6b and the NHL at like $3.4b.
The average NHL roster is 23 players x 31 teams = ~713 full-time players (or equivalent full seasons out of part-timers/call-ups)
The average NBA roster is 15 players x 30 teams = ~450 full-time players
so if each league allotted half its revenue pie to the players (which is roughly accurate):
NBA: $3b / 450 = approx. $6.67m per player
NHL: $1.7b / 713 = $2.38m per player
But considering that league minimums are relatively similar in both leagues (the global NHL minimum is about $575,000 and the minimum for players with little to no NBA experience is about $562,000. The NBA amount scales up by seasons of NBA play the player has though) it also makes it easier for the NBA to achieve a broader spread of salaries away from that per-player average, which is why you can get a lot more players making above that figure.
