Should Professional Athletes Be Paid

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Athletes in the past did not always accumulate the wealth of today’s multimillionaire athletes, albeit their immeasurable worth to wealthy sports league executives. Only a small percentage of the human population is physically and mentally capable of playing in a professional sports league, unlike most professions that have a plethora of capable employees. Professional athletes put their bodies on the lines every time they compete, with many ending their already short careers prematurely. Although many people hold resentments towards the high salaries professional athletes earn, the sports industry raises billions of dollars from consumers, which allows for athletes to earn an inflated salary. It would be unjust to take money away from the athletes, only to hand that money right back to the sports executives who depend on their extensive labor. The fact that only a handful of athletes have the talent to play in professional sports leagues dramatically drives up their market value. In most other professions, employers have more leverage over salaries since an employee can easily be replaced. For instance, In sports, agents can negotiate …show more content…

Sports leagues and franchises today, are signing lucrative TV contracts earning leagues billions of dollars. For instance, Ben Smith from BBC sport infers, that the English Premier League agreed to a record 5.136 billion pound television deal with Sky and BT sport for the exclusive rights to television coverage of one of the world’s major soccer leagues (Smith). The sports leagues are benefitting of the labor and talent of the athletes and it is only fair they earn a decent share of the revenue, regardless of how high it is. Needless to say, sport league executives and franchise owners would not be as wealthy as they currently are without the athletes that compete week in week

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