There are many concerns around the issue of elite sports players being payed ridiculous amounts of money and to some people, they are overpaid. Questions such as “Should someone who kicks a ball around be paid millions more than someone saving lives on a daily basis?” are being asked and statements such as sportspeople are completely overpaid, They are given millions of dollars when there are children and adults starving in third world countries. These countries are starting to get supported and one day they will be far better off then what they are now. While some people agree that Elite Sport’s Players are over paid, I do not.
Elite Sports Players are entertainers; they put people in the stands. They sell tickets, thus, they make money. Also, outside of a team's franchise, they also promote endorsements and in turn make a whole lot of other people lots of money too. Therefore they rightfully deserve a massive portion of the profit. Major League Baseball's 30 teams had approximately $3.5 billion in revenue last year. They spent about $2.1 billion, or 60 percent, on players' salaries and benefits. [2]. Most of them work hard and are committed of the majority of the year to their sport. The world needs entertainers and not all players are millionaires. For instance statistics say the average AFL career lasts a little over four years [1]. Four years at the highest level on a base salary is not nearly enough to be set up for life and sponsors are not worth much. However at one of the highest levels such as Premier League Soccer, Grand Slam Tennis, NBA or PGA golf etc. Contracts, endorsements and prize money are worth millions, it does not matter, they have made it to the highest level they should be able to lead a wealthy lif...
... middle of paper ...
...rs should not be singled out.
In The U.S this baseball season, the average player is making $2.4 million, an all-time high. In three games, he earns what a typical high school teacher makes in a year, $45,000. [3]. When will teachers be paid millions like baseballers? Never, people will never pay millions to watch a teacher teach.
I have come to the conclusion that the industry of Elite sports is an entertainment in its self and they industry is just one in which there is millions of dollars. My final conclusion is that sports players should never be compared to other jobs or industries and earn there rightful amount.
Works Cited
1 .http://www.australianfootball.com.au/LifeOfanAFLPlayer.html
2. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BUE/is_1_135/ai_n18614876?tag=rel.res1
3. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BUE/is_1_135/ai_n18614876?tag=rel.res1
When asked “Are elite sports people overpaid?” people have varied responses. Some people would agree with this and say ‘why should a person that hits or kicks a ball be paid as much as someone who saves lives or teaches children everyday? But on the other hand some would disagree and say that sports people are paid for their skills just like everybody else! These are both very good arguments.
Players do not deserve the money they receive. There are people who do much more than the players do. Why do teachers not get paid millions of dollars to teach kids? Some of those kids end up going on to become professional athletes. Police officers and firemen risk their lives to keep people safe and most of them do not even make any more than 95 thousand dollars a year (Megerian). These athletes get fined more money than that and hand it over like someone just asked them for one dollar. Players have all of this money and do not even do anything worth earning it. Why do they get this money? It is because fans value athletes more than the important things in life like education and family.
For years, baseball players has always been the highest paid athletes out of any of the major sports. It is also the oldest sport around and many of the athletes have been practicing their profession ever since they were kids. Some argue should baseball have a salary cap like other major sports but it is only right that they get paid very well, due to the time and effort that is put into their craft. After all it’s a risky sport, yet very entertaining.
Do athletes get overpaid? Is it fair that the average NFL player gets paid 1.9 million dollars a year while the average heart surgeon gets paid 533 thousand dollars annually? I think that professional athletes don’t get paid too much. There are multiple reasons that proves that their pay is not excessive. Their careers are short, they risk their body for our entertainment, and they motivate children.
Now Mr. Roberto Hinojosa contends that professional athletes are overpaid. Citing U.S. Household Income stats for 2012 he explains that teachers,
In thirteen years of golf, Tiger Woods has made over a billion dollars making him the highest paid athlete ever. He has been the highest paid athlete now for five years in a row. We all know that many people in the world watch him play every weekend and admire him, but is the amount of entertainment he provides really worth 128 million dollars a year? Tiger is only one of many professional athletes who are extremely overpaid. “People forget that sports is entertainment,” says Leonard Armato, a sports agent. Although professional athletes provide entertainment for millions of viewers around the world, they are overpaid because the millions of dollars that they make could be distributed more evenly throughout society and go to things of a greater cause.
Every day people around the world complain about professional athletes salaries. Even though the top athletes make millions of dollars every year, the majority of athletes do not make any more than the average working class citizen. There are also many risks along with the job, and job security is very unstable. Expenses and taxes also limit the amount of money an athlete makes. Tax rates are extremely high for the men and women who participate in professional sports. The salaries of athletes such as Rafael Nadal and Drew Brees may seem to be a bit to high, but with all the factors that take money away from them they are not so high.
”(Jonathan Brill) As you can tell, the MLB has a higher salary cap than other sports. The highest paid salary in the MLB is twenty five million, which is five hundred times what a teacher or cop makes. The average teacher makes about fifty five thousand a year.
The controversy of athletes being overpaid dates back to 1922, when well-known baseball player George “Babe” Ruth received $50,000 within the first year of his career. Ruth’s extensive wealth was bolstered by dozens of endorsements (Saperecom). As it is shown in figure 1, in the Fortunate 50 Tiger Woods takes the number one spot for highest paid athlete. Tiger’s salary for 2011 is $2,294,116 and like Babe Ruth, his endorsements exceed his salary earning $60,000,000 making his total $62,294,116 (Freedman). It’s crazy to think that 89 years ago professional athletes scarcely made more than the average person today. This is of course not counting the inflation that has occurred since the years which Babe Ruth played baseball.
The amount of time and effort athletes devote to becoming the best in their league is remarkable. Athletic programs begin at very young ages and grow from there. Some athletes grow tired of playing sports and quit, while others have the dream of making it to the major leagues. These athletes continue to work hard and grow stronger as they strive to achieve their goal. They make it all the way to high school sports and then work hard enough to hopefully receive an athletic scholarship to the school of their dreams. In college sports, the controversial question is “Should college athletes be paid to play?” and the answer is no. College athletes should not be paid to play because these athletes are also students, they are not professionals, and
The money given to the athletes could be used for more probable causes. Recently Alex Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers signed a contract for 252 million dollars over a span of 10 years. This is enough money to feed the nation's poor for a year or to provide a lot more housing and shelters for the homeless. Others could benefit from the millions being wasted on these athletes. Not because the players don’t earn the money but because it could just be better spent on more important issues in our communities.
Today we are going to be talking about Athletes pay and why we think there should be salary caps on athletes. A Minnesota VIking player can make up to $99.6 million in a year. The salary cap for the athletes is about $126.3 million a year. For the chicago bears quarterback Jay Cutler has a 7 year contract to make $126 million. We could be paying our troops more for serving our country. In just two years only get paid $26,562 a year. Our Federal employees, as our president, supreme court , ext. have to pay the social security tax, when pro players don’t have too.
When addressing the value of entertainment, there is without a doubt, that we as a society value entertainment highly. But there is no reason that these athletes, who are here to merely entertain us, get paid higher wages than those that save our lives and teach us such as medical doctors and teachers. I find it ridiculous that players make millions of dollars a year, and yet demand more. The entertainment that these athletes provide is solely entertainment; it is not essential to the function or productivity of society. If I were to become a professional football player I would not complain about my salary for many reasons. I am playing the sport that I love and getting paid for it. The minimum wage for football is well over $100,000 a year, as is for many professional sports. These reasons by their lonesome are enough to warrant that the salary professional athletes are paid is suffice.
Many players have risen to stardom by becoming a professional athlete. Athletes have come from many different backgrounds; some from wealthy and some from poverty raised backgrounds. Salaries are continuing to rise, and money doesn’t seem to be an issue. Athletes are getting what they want from the owners by negotiating through their agents. Athletes’ salaries aren’t from their owners, but they come from other sources (“Athletes’ Salary”). Athletes get paid an extremely high salary for the work they do, and should consider the value of their work. They do not deserve the extreme amount they get paid and something should by done about it.
The same money that is used to overpay athletes can be used to pay those in other important professions. Athletes are way overpaid for the profession