Athletes are being paid hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to entertain us. They work less hours than the average person and make considerably more. Athletes all around the world are paid handsomely because they are talented and have extensive knowledge of their sport. But, is that knowledge and talent really worth what they are earning every season? Compared to some of the most common and needed professions are athletes really earning their paychecks? It’s time to take a deep look into what requirements besides natural ability athletes really need? How many hours are they expected to put in a week and what their job really is.
Preparing to become a professional athlete there’s not a long list of requirements that need be completed before a person is considered for the job. You don’t go to school to study how to be a professional basketball or football player. Honestly for how much the average player gets paid, it’s one of the
…show more content…
highest paying job with basically no requirements. The only educational requirements that professional athletes have to achieve a high school diploma or something of equivalent value. That being said, many professional athlete first play college sports, so they may have a degree or some college credits. However, in reality they are only serious about going pro. They are there for their sport not their education. Some skip college sports and go straight to the professional level. Like Amobi Okoye, who got drafted into the NFL at age 19, his base salary was 285,000 dollars a year but he received a 1,345,000 dollar roster bonus. So his first year he was making over a million dollars. Other careers like lawyers, doctors and teachers take years of studies before you can even start working in your desired profession. When you compare all the years of college, residency, and tests doctors have to pass, an athlete’s job doesn’t seem so tough. Also, thanks to scholarships, athletes get discount or free tuition, which means less school debt. The ones that make it to pros are the ones that most likely were on full scholarship. So they can spend their handsome paycheck without having to repay any school debt. One of the most common jobs in America is a doctor, however the average doctor has about 166,700 dollars in debt after they graduate. While serious athletes get through their college education without any debt. When you are an athlete you have to practice almost every day because if you don’t live up to your teams standards you won’t make it for long. However, the same is tru for every job. If you don’t do what you were hred to do, they are probably going to fire you. However, if a professional athlete has a bad day, his team just loses. But, if a doctor or lawyer has a bad day, people could die or criminals might even be set free! Even if they have a short career athletes can coach or use some of their huge paychecks to go back to school for a different career. In popular sports like NFL, NBA or ABC male athletes are being grossly overpaid. Some say that they get paid so much because they put their physical health at risk every day they play. But if that's true, why do male athletes get paid way more than female athletes? The average female WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) gets paid 72,000 a season. However, the male basketball players average 4.9 million a season. That’s more than 68 times the amount that female athlete who are at the same risk of injury are paid. (Jones, Tom) The average professional athlete works around 40 hours a week for several months during the sports season. Doctors are limited to 80 hours a week because too many of them were being overworked. They usually work all year round, full time just to make ends meet. (O'Connor, Alison) A survey was done, which focused on the salaries of New York attorneys and resulted in the conclusion that the average lawyer worked billed 42 hours a week. Then they looked at all the unbilled hours it came out to be 66 hours a week. (Wallace, Jean E) So the argument that athletes like NFL players are paid so much because they have to train outside of practice and follow a strict diet to me isn’t a strong one. Almost every profession, lawyers and teachers are two examples, have unbilled hours that are required to be successful. The job of athletes is to entertain the public nothing more nothing less. Professional athletes include: baseball, football players, basketball players, tennis players, golfers, ice skaters, skiers, stock car drivers, rodeo riders, or anyone playing a sport for money. Athletes are being paid to play in front of an audience, like actors. Their fans enjoy watching them so much they are willing to pay for overpriced tickets and food. There are two good options that I believe should be discussed and debated on about looking at salaries of professional athletes; especially male boxers, golfers, basketball players and football players. Either have a limit like WNBA does for its athletes or have a contract listing out how much they can earn by how well they and their teams perform. You could even have a combination of the both. A positive benefit from making players’ salaries lower would be cheaper tickets to go see the matches or games. This would also make the games more competitive and better overall because they have to earn extra bonuses. Athletes who get paid crazy salaries often have more personal problems. For an example of overpaid athletes just look at the top three athletes. Number one is a Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr who just got out of jail for domestic battery. Second is boxer Manny Pacquiao, whose charity is under investigation on how they spend their money. The third is golfer Tiger Woods whose personal scandals were all over the news a few years ago. Many of the athletes who get paid millions of dollars are followed by the same kind of charges and frowned upon for their bad behavior. (Gazette) Remember, an athlete's job is to play a sport. It’s risky to put yourself into a ring or on the field week after week. However, what about our military men and women who are or have fought for our country. They put way more at risk and for a much greater and more honorable cause. But, they make more than 50 times less than the average NFL player. They both wear a uniform but one is a costume and the other is a responsibility. The one reason we have sports is so we can relax for a few hours every week. It’s time to rethink the value of athletes in terms of pay. If there were a limit in all sports like in WNBA sports like ABC, NHL and NBA would be better off for it. There would be a more even team across the board because every team could only afford to pay their players so much. How are all the other teams supposed to have a chance if some teams can offer twice as much pay than they can. Athletes put in hard work and should get paid a fair wage.
The same should be said about every job so why is it that players, especially in the NFL, NBA and ABC are paid crazy salaries. There needs to be regulations and caps guiding how much a player can make. This would help insure that all sports remain competitive and everyone has a chance to win. There is no shortage in athletes who want to go pro. Due to the lack of requirements, the work schedule, and the fact that their job is to entertain. There needs to be real change in the sports industry. Lowering athletes’ salaries would only hurt the current players’ lifestyles. The ones up and coming would still have an excellent future if they made even 500,000 dollars a year. Which is still seven times higher than the WNBA is willing to pay their athletes. The WNBA are just as serious of a competitor as other sports, whether it be ice skating, wrestling or football. Therefore it’s time to make sure that every athlete women or male should get paid a fair and justifiable
salary.
College athletes should not be paid it will ruin college sports forever. Some people believe that college athletes should be paid by the school because of all of the hard work they put in however they shouldn’t be paid because there is no fair way to pay every college athlete. There are many reasons that college athletes shouldn’t be paid one of the main reasons is that colleges don’t have enough money, the second reason is that they already get money in the form of scholarships, and there is no fair way to pay each college athlete.
Should soldiers or athletes get paid more money? I say the soldiers should get paid more because they protect our country and plus too soldiers represent the United States. Athletes get paid more in a day than a soldier gets a year. The average salary the soldiers get in a year is 99,000. Soldiers don’t get that much like they should get. That's why they need to be paid more money.
The ABC article from Tracy Ziemer also says “Nobody can do what professional athletes can.” Athletes astonish the world with all they do. The average salary of the three highest supported sports (Football, Baseball, and Basketball) in the United States can be anywhere from 2-5 million, but others greatly exceed this, however, they deserve it. They risk their bodies doing something many others in the world can’t. “Why pro athletes aren’t overpaid”, from bleacherreport.com informs the reader “The professional sports industry is a multi-billion dollar a year industry.” When an industry is making multi-billions, it is only fair that the people who help out should get millions, which is happening. Fans are the ones providing the sports industry with the billions by buying what they sell. Nobody can complain about their salary because they are the ones creating
The NCAA should continue to not pay college athletes because of the many complications that would go along with giving every player pay for play. According to Mark Guarino in his article “NCAA and college sports: Is it time to pay athletes to play?”, Kain Colter, the former Northwestern quarterback says that he spent 60 hours a week on football-related activities during the summer and 40 to 50 hours a week during the season, all while trying to manage school work, and says that “We’re brought to the university to play football.” This being said, the students take football very seriously, more serious than their schoolwork. They treat football as if it is their job but they are working for
Should College Athletes Get Paid? One of the biggest controversies in the sports world is if student athletes should be paid on salary. Some believe that they should be paid and others would love to beg to differ. Student athletes are paid in many ways through scholarships and tuition grants that cover their room and board and meal plans.
If college athletes deserve to get paid, then there must be some sort of system put in place to pay these athletes. This is when a system gets put into place that has many similarities to the way how professional teams operate. First all of the division I men’s basketball and football teams are going to be given a salary cap. This will be the same for every college program in the country and would top off at $650,000 dollars for basketball teams and $3 million dollars for football teams. There are going to be people who believe that this is not possible for the universities to pay their athletes this amount of money. But when “the combined $3.65 million dollars is around half of the salary that Michigan head football coach made this season
Athletes at the college level should be paid a salary for their athletic performance based on the amount of time college athletes dedicate to sporting activities, the revenue of the NCAA overall and their employed coaches, and the fact that paying the athletes would increase the competitivity level of the players. Giving the athletes a salary besides the cost of tuition to the university or college they attend would greatly aid the students.
Practicing for 3-4 hours a day, doing schoolwork, and going to classes is a hard and complicated life that not everyone can do. That’s why college athletes are inspiring because they can handle all of this stress from school, but they still manage to play their hardest in the game they love. These college athletes have worked hard to get where they are, but they still have to work harder and that’s why there are debates on whether the colleges or the NCAA should pay their athletes. The idea that they should get paid is ridiculous because there are other opportunities that these athletes receive, that most students wish they could afford.
Nowadays college athletes are some of the hardest working people in the world. Most of them are riding on a full ride scholarship that covers all expenses of school; plus, they are in a top-end position to make a reputation for themselves in the sporting world. However, there are a lot of problems with how they are being treated in the NCAA. They're working around 40 – 60 hours every week trying to perfect their craft. So, the question is, should college athletes be allowed to get paid by the NCAA.
College sports such as football and basketball are very popular in the United States. College sports makes colleges a lot of money and revenue every year. College athletes can be seen as an idol to some people or to the college that they are attending. Tim Tebow is known for playing football for the Florida Gators, winning the Heisman, and for his touchdown celebration “Tebowing.” Athletes like this make colleges millions of dollars every season. Being an athlete they still have to stay in school to be able to play a sport. College athletes do not have time for a job with school also the time they put in for the sport they play. What are the effects of paying college athletes?
Ever since I was in Elementary School I have wanted to go to a college or university and compete against other schools in sports. Recently I have leaned more towards going somewhere on a scholarship for basketball or track & field, and as I have looked through schools that can give me a good education and also make me a good athlete. I have also gone through the news lately and seen all the sports news about Universities, such as the Arizona Wildcats, that have been accused of paying up-and-coming freshman players to join their teams and organizations, which is not allowed in the NCAA. After hearing accusations of teams paying players it has made me wonder, should colleges or universities be allowed to pay student-athletes to play for them?
The salary of professional athletes is absurd. Though they work hard and offer themselves fully to a “family”, it doesn’t make sense for these specialists who are proficient in sports to receive that massive of an amount of income. Do they really deserve all that money? Even if they’ve had a bad game; the earnings they receive is still more than the president. How would you like coming home with millions for playing a game you love? It’d be pretty great if I say so myself. Professional athletes are getting paid way too much.
When you think about professional athletes, you probably think about the things they spend their money on—fancy cars, expensive parties, flashy jewelry, and huge houses. It’s true that athletes can afford just about anything they want during their earning years, lifestyles many of them choose to lead. But the fact is that for all their money, they are grossly under-exposed to wise financial stuff.If you ask me if professional athletes are overpaid, absolutely not. They perform at a level that less than one percent of us will ever come even close
Are Professional Athletes Overpaid? In today's society individuals believe that athletes make too much money. Many like minded individuals argue that the professional athletes get paid way too much and them as an individual don’t get paid enough. What society falls to realize it that their are people making money off of the athletes for doing distinctly nothing. Professional athletes are doing what they love to do just like any normal individual and it just happens that they get paid millions. Professional athletes are idealised people just like singers and actor/actresses who are paid the same if not more. So far people aren’t discussing how much actors/actresses and singer make but picking solely on athletes. There are numerous reasons as to whether athletes are overpaid or not. Reasons as to athletes are not overpaid simply because it provides more jobs and people raise their children to play sports. More reasons as to why athletes overpaid is it is entertainment, they help people or a community, and it strains their body in the process. Ultimately what is at stake here is the failure
You could win the lottery, work your whole life, and still not make as much money as a professional athlete. Professional athletes are paid at least 2 million dollars a year, larger names are paid even more; and it is apparent athletes are paid way too much (considering their job). Athletes are paid crazy lump sums of money for playing a game we all watch and attend.This topic is brought up in Jesse Edelman’s writing “Athletes Make a LOT of Money”. Professional athletes immense pay is unnecessary.