How Athletes Are Overpaid

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How much of an importance involving productivity do athletes have on today’s society? Whether they have little to none, their contracts and endorsements tend to say otherwise. For example, David Beckham, a retired Los Angeles Galaxy soccer player, has received a forty-eight million dollar career total, while a GS-13 level astronaut makes roughly one hundred-thousand dollars a year (APAO, 1). Some say that athletes earn their money just as we do, but that is not so apparent. Another example is how Kobe Bryant is making twenty-three million dollars this year. According to his agent, though, “his on court abilities plus his talent justify his earnings,” if this was the point in all jobs, then doctors and lawyers would be making millions while athletes are put on the backburner of society. This issue is so insanely horrible that bottom-of-the-totem-pole athletes are still making hundreds of thousands more than most PhD graduates receive (APAO, 1). Same goes for injured players too. If an athlete is injured, then he is unable to play, yet he still receives his money, because once the contract is signed, what is done is done. Athletes were not always paid more than CEOs in today’s market. In early stages of the American Football system, when it was not corrupted, almost all of the players had to have a normal day job on top of playing, because they played for fun, not for money. In today’s economy, athletes and their pay checks are far too large considering they are only used for entertainment, and they deserved to be lessened.
Surgeons, lawyers, and writers prove critical in people’s lives on a daily basis, and must undergo rigorous training and often pay large sums for their education, and still end up making far less of an income t...

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