Compensation is an important component of players’ welfare. The different compensation structures and systems in the leagues can influence players’ decisions about their physical and mental health, for example, when to play through injury and when to retire. In addition, without adequate financial returns, players may find themselves insufficiently prepared to meet their physical and mental health needs, especially in the event of crisis and this can lead to a vicious cycle. That is, poor heath outcomes lead to financial losses, which worsen the ability to combat physical and mental health impairments, which in turn further deplete financial resources. As such, players’ financial health is in and of itself an important component of their welfare. This article seeks to improve the welfare of professional sports players by comparing compensation policies in the U.S. MLB and NBA to Korean KBO and KBL. Those leagues share considerable similarities—they are organizations that coordinate elite-level athletic competitions for mass audiences and the practices and policies by which the leagues operate are very similar. However, there are also differences between the two countries. Considering organizations operating within the same industry can learn better practices and policies from one another, this article tries to identify and understand those different policies in order to suggest several ways in which the KBO and KBL can learn from the MLB and NBA and further protect players’ financial health.