The Pay is the Thing for Real Madrid

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IT'S EASY TO point to the Yankees when discussing the absurd money spent in the sports world.

With the legends of Babe Ruth, Joe Dimaggio and Mickey Mantle looming, the Bronx Bombers outspend the competition to land any free agent they want. Or so it seems.

But the New Yorkers have nothing on Real Madrid.

The soccer club that's arguably the world's most famous wants to take "arguably" out of this sentence.

Just this week, Madrid paid $92 million for Brazilian star Kaka to come to Spain. That sum seems like chump change now.

FIFA's 2008 player of the year, Cristiano Ronaldo, is on his way to join Kaka, courtesy of a $131 million deal that Manchester United accepted on Thursday.

And you thought the amount of money tied to sports was out of whack in this country.

The payouts look shocking. Remember, though, that this is the same organization that tossed millions at Ronaldo, David Beckham, Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane in the past decade.

Big names, big bucks and big splashes — sounds like the Yankees (and the Redskins, for that matter.)

And just like its American counterparts, Madrid is chasing its past glory, but its archrival, Barcelona, won the Champions League by developing its own stars, such as Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandez.

Luckily for us, Real Madrid will here soon for a match against D.C. United in August. All will be right with the world — as long as you can afford a ticket to the star-studded event.

Photo by Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty Images