The US Open Championship 2008 tees off today at Torrey Pines golf course in San Diego, CA, and will run the next 4 days, weather permitting. And yes, the southern California weather will permit. The total prize purse for the players this year is set at about $7 million, with the winner’s share over $1.2 million, so the best golfers from around the world are gathering to walk the fairways.

And like mice to cheese, or bees to the flowers, or flies to… ahem, you know… media outlets, reporters, sponsors, advertisers, retailers—anyone having anything to do with the golf industry—are descending upon the 2008 US Open to carve out their share. I don’t blame them one bit, and it’s just another testament to me that the Great American Capitalism Machine is whirring along at high speed, tank full of $4.50 per gallon gas.

As a side note, my brother recently played the Torrey Pines course. He parred one of the holes and was very proud to shoot as well as many pros will score on that hole. And I’m proud of him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t paid as much as the pros are paid to play that hole. Au contraire.

Some people get riled up and angry about the amount of money professional athletes make. Not me, because I understand business and economics. The large sums of money involved in professional sports are direct results of the fan base. Sports and sports teams with a larger fan base attract more sponsors and advertisers, generate more ticket sales, demand more lucrative TV deals—all this money has got to go to someone. Who?

Let’s say a sports team grosses $500 million in revenue in one year. Who does that money go to? Just the owner? No way. Of course, there are the basic administrative, etc costs that must be paid, but a large portion of it is either going to the owner or the athletes. The athletes are the ones who are winning games, performing, succeeding, attracting the fans, thus they rightly deserve their cut. The larger the revenues brought in, the bigger their cut will amount to. Consequently, some extremely high-paid athletes. I have no problem with. It’s our own fault because we keep paying to watch them.

Give the money back to the fans, some might say? Lower ticket prices? This is where rudimentary economics comes into play. The ticket prices will settle at the price fans are willing to pay—it’s a function of supply and demand. If the ticket prices are at $30 per ticket, that’s because fans keep paying it. If fans want the ticket prices lowered, they need to stop buying tickets, or go less often, or only buy the cheap-o tickets… or win the lottery.