Assessing the Overpayment of Professional Athletes

When we think of athletes, we think of Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and Simone Biles. These Olympic athletes only get paid if they win gold, silver, or bronze, but imagine getting paid $37,940 per basket you make or $253,938 for just hitting a baseball. I firmly believe that athletes are overpaid. In my opinion, someone who can swim around in a pool of money has too much money and should dispel of it wisely. Athletes make more money that the average American family. To begin, the average American works nine hours a day. That’s forty-seven hours over a five day period, not counting Saturday’s or Sunday’s. What’s more, many Americans will work 70 years and won’t make as much in a lifetime as these athletes make in one year. For example, my dad works twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for fifty-two weeks a year with no vacations. His income averages to $178 a day compared to the average professional athlete making $384 a day. That’s $65 million a year compared to $500 million a year. These professionals make average American look pretty negligible. Next, athletes don’t deserve the money that they make. They don’t run into burning buildings and risk their lives

If injuries are contingent to everybody, why doesn’t everyone get more money when they are putting themselves through life threatening events. For example, firefighters who put their live in danger to rescue ordinary citizens from burning buildings should get paid more than jockeys. Shouldn’t they be recognized for the hard work they do. They go through lots of training just to save people. What about teachers? Their stress level and things that they have to get done does not go away within an hour or two. Athletes only have to focus on the game that they are playing for at most three hours, and a teacher's job last eight or more when they grade at