Oakland Raiders JaMarcus RussellFrom superstars to super-scrubs, athletes command a pretty penny for their services and probably make more money than they're actually worth. But pro sports teams need to put fans in the seats, so they're willing to compensate their players handily. It's one of the reasons Philadelphia Phillies first basemen Ryan Howard just signed a staggering five-year, $125 million contract extension last week.

Unfortunately, the plan doesn't always work. In fact, sometimes paying an athlete too much money can actually set a franchise back by putting a strain on its salary cap and preventing the squad from adding additional pieces. Our friends over at StreetLevel counted down the 11 athletes who signed super-sized sports contracts over the course of the last 10 years and produced stadium-emptying results ... (via StreetLevel)