Yes, but there are dozens of smaller football leagues (like Arena Football) where the athletes are lucky to make $30,000/year. Also worth considering for the case of football, much of the "minor league" development is actually done by colleges which are not allowed to pay players a salary even though they bring in large amounts of revenue. Realistically, a player who has 1 year of NFL experience has already excelled in what could be considered a professional environment for as many as 6 years (1 or 2 Redshirt years, 4 years of NCAA eligibility, 1 year of NFL). This would be more like the go equivalent of a 7-9P who is winning smaller tournaments, maybe participating in league play, etc.