And I can guarantee that the average minor league player out there makes far less than your average software engineer.
The original claim is that Netflix runs more like a professional sports team in terms of demanding performance. The argument against was that they don't pay like one.
My argument is that they pay somewhere between a minor and major league team, both of which have a "perform or get out" mentality.
They also don't fire you at 30 for being washed up and leave you with brain injuries and zero transferable skills.
"In English sport, there’s no draft; there’s no salary cap; there’s no revenue sharing, no parity. In the Premier League, it’s every team for themselves." [1]
There probably aren't any $10MM/year sailors, but we can infer that $1-2MM/year should be possible for a few.
If your sport isn't one of the few that can command massive advertising dollars, then there may be no pay at all. The value chain is very clear: all high athlete salaries are ultimately funded by advertisers wanting access to consumer eyeballs.
Overlay all this with the very short effective career, the near-absence of post-athletic marketable skills, and the devastating effect of injuries, and you'll find athletes are statistically underpaid over their lifetimes.
Even in a cut-throat industry like sports, athletes aren't cut or traded the instant they enter a slump (if they still have future potential).