Driving a Rolls Royce, wearing a Rolex , and living a million dollar house are some of the luxuries some professional athletes enjoy. Some people say professional athletes are overpaid but when one looks at the evidence, they will find that they earn their money. It has been a controversial issue as of late. Professional athletes are not overpaid, because they work extremely hard for their money. They take a big risk playing professional sports, and they make their owners huge amounts of money. Some people are good athletes in high school, but very few are even close to being a professional athlete. Only .1 percent of high school athletes play a sport professionally. There are certain talents most pro athletes possess that average joes just don’t have. Most professional athletes are very good under pressure, while the average person cannot respond to pressure. The average NFL offensive tackle is 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighs over 300 pounds. The average American man is 5 feet 10 inches tall and 190 pounds. When determining whether a professional athlete is overpaid, one must realize some of the extremely rare qualities that pro athletes possess. …show more content…
Most professional athletes have more god-given athletic talent than the average human being.
The average NFL running back runs the 40 yard dash in 4.59 seconds. Erik Nieschburg one of the fastest running backs to ever attend Lamar High School ran his 40 yard dash in 4.68 seconds. A high school star is almost a tenth of a second slower than the average NFL running back. One might say a tenth of a second isn’t very much but it the difference between tackled or breaking off a 40 yard touchdown run. It should be clear to everyone that professional athletes possess a lot more god given athletic talent than the average human
being. Most Americans work 8 hours a day,5 days a week. That comes out to 40 hours a week. In the NFL and MLB most players work 6 or 7 days a week during their 6 to 10 month seasons. It is hard to calculate exactly how many hours pro athletes work a week because of the crazy schedules they have. These athletes can be in the weight room as early as 6 in the morning. They can also be on the field playing until eleven at night. While some people think working 5 days a week is tough, imagine working long hours 6 or 7 days a week like most professional athletes do. The average person thinks of working hard as putting a couple hours of overtime at work. Imagine most days of your life putting in multiples hours of extra work everyday. That is what most professional athletes do. They have spend hundreds if not thousands of hours on their own perfecting their craft. For the average person once they leave work at five in the afternoon they don’t have to do anything until the next day. When mandatory team practices are done most professional athletes put in at least an extra hour or two a day in the weight room or in the gym. Working overtime may be hard, but it is not nearly as tough as working out two hours a day. One thing that most people do not realize is that the average NFL career is only 3.5 years. The average high school teachers works about thirty years. NFL players must make enough money in around four years to support their family for life, if not they must get another job. It is hard for some NFL players to get another job because they left college early for the NFL draft. Even the most successful professional careers last only 15-20 years, which is half as long as most people work. It is clear that professional athletes must be paid more than average people because their careers are significantly shorter. Anyone who watches professional sports knows that these sports are physical. Being a professional athlete puts your body at great risk during their careers. In the NFL, concussions are very common. Many NFL players get four or five concussions throughout their careers. In most professional sports, knee injuries are prevalent. Athletes are very vulnerable to knee injuries. ACL and MCL tears are very common in the NFL,MLB, and NBA. It is quite clear that professional athletes are more susceptible to injuries than the average person throughout their careers. It is obvious that professional athletes must be compensated for the extreme risk of injury they are taking. Long after many professional athletes careers are over, they feel the affects of the sport they played. NFL players take extremely hard hits to the head during their careers. Because of those hits, many NFL players are diagnosed with dementia and depression at a very early age. Many NFL players like Junior Seau end up killing themselves because of depression. Most people believe the depression came from many hits to the head. Ken Stabler, a former NFL star says that he has dementia from hits to the head. Professional athletes are also at a higher risk of needing hip or knee replacements. It has been said that by the time 35 year old football players retire they have the knees and hips of an 80 year old man. Professional athletes are risking their long term health and even their life playing professional sports, so they must be paid an amount to make the risk “worth it”. Most people think the wealthiest person an NFL or NBA team is the star quarterback or point guard, but really it is the owner of the team. While many professional athletes are millionaires, some owners are billionaires Tim Lerner is the owner of the Washington Nationals in the MLB. Jason Worth is the highest paid players on his team, he is set to make 21 million dollars this year. Tim Lerner is worth a whopping 5 billion dollars. These players make their owners huge amounts of money. It is only fair that the players get their fair share of money. If someone helps make their boss billions, it seems like they deserve millions. Professional athletes make millions of dollars a year in endorsements. Many people think they make too much money from endorsements. Nike makes hundreds of millions of dollars selling LeBron James’ shoes and clothes. Because he makes Nike so much money, it is clear he deserves a lot of money from Nike. When one realizes how much money professional athletes make the companies they endorse, they should understand why those companies pay the athletes so much. When one realizes how hard professional athletes work, the risks they take, and the money they make they make their owners, they realize that the athletes deserve that Rolex, Rolls Royce, and Million Dollar house. Profession athletes are not overpaid because they work extremely hard, take a huge risk playing professional sports, and make their owners a lot of money.
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.
Many people in today’s world complain about how much Pro Athletes get pay. So I ask are Pro athletes overpaid? Look at it in this sense; they are living their dreams just like most business men do everyday. If you think that professional sports is not a job then just try to walk in the shoes of a athlete for a day. Sports, like medicine, healthcare, or software, are a business. In that business, owners pay their players what they deem they are worth.
As a fan of basketball, the NBA has always been the center of every discussion I partake whenever basketball is involved. Since its inception in the late 70s and the popularity of the American National Basketball Association, basketball has been cemented as one of the most iconic games played today. Whether a fan or enthusiast watches the game live or on replay, the high-voltage intensity and addicting thrill of every turnover and every score made just makes the person go wild. Of course in every game, some people often wonder how much money the players have in each season. I am one of those people who often think about how wealthy these players are and the more I see advertisements and high profile appearances these players partake, the question just keeps on popping up in my head. Reading through discussion boards, articles and even editorial papers about the issue, I have found this to be an interesting topic to discuss and with these sources in mind, this will be my foundation for this topic. In this paper, I intend to prove through an intimate discussion and debate that the players of the NBA are overpaid with regards to how much their salary and contracts are worth.
Professional sports were beginning to be organized in the 1850s. At this point, their salaries, although they were still higher than the average person’s, were not too outrageous. In the 1880s and 90s, baseball players in particular were making on average about $1,750 annually. Even though this was three times the salary of an industrial worker of the time, they were not happy with this amount of money and felt they should be earning more (Baseball n.d.). In the 1970s, the worlds of professional sports took a drastic turn. According to an article by J.L. Carnagie, “Two words described sports in the 1970s: big business. Owners and athletes in major professional team sports knew there was money to be made in their games, and they went after it.” (Carnagie, n.d.) Athletes, especially, realized how competitive teams were becoming, and they were well aware that talent was in high demand. In the beginning of 1980s, the best athletes were demanding even more money; and the majority of the time, they got what they wanted. By end of the 1980s, many athletes were making over a million dollars (Carnagie, n.d.) These increasing salaries were very ironic because when professional sports began they were intended to be a showcase of players’ talent and athletic ability. Professional sports leagues were also supposed to be similar to the Olympics in that they would be free of politics and influence of society. However, by the 80s, they had become all about the star athletes and how much money they could make. By this point, professional sports had evolved into an industry that was focused on entertainment and money, rather than the sports actually being played (Carnagie, n.d.).
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.
Ms. Jennifer Fontaine does not support the idea that athletes are overpaid. Ms. Fontaine suggests that athletes who are superior in their skills and talents associated with their respective sport should be duly compensated. Ms. Fontaine also states that the money earned by these athletes is justified because professional athletes work harder than people in almost any other profession. Last, it is her premise that the money earned by these highly talented athletes help to cover the high costs of medical treatment for serious, if not life-long, injuries such as knee, back/spinal, and head injuries.
Should professional athletes earn millions of dollars for playing a game? Athletes should not be making millions and millions of dollars while more important jobs earn significantly less. There are doctors who save lives daily and they do not even make a tenth of what some athletes make. It is crazy to believe that someone is really worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and all they have to do is play a sport; a sport that millions of people would play for free if given the chance.
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.
Do you think professional athletes are overpaid? You might think they earn more than what they are worth for playing half a year, but athletes have many things which contribute to their salary. Some of these things include their earnings from endorsements, ticket sales, performance, merchandise, their social contributions, and TV ratings. Although there are many factors that contribute to their salary, professional athletes may be overpaid because as a society, we contribute to their success. So, in the end, part of the athlete’s salary comes from the people who support the sports in the first place. These are just some of the reasons why athletes are paid so much money.
Do athletes really deserve to make millions of dollars? No, they don’t. Many professional athletes get paid millions of dollars for playing a game. Some people think that these athletes do not deserve the money, and they really don’t.Professional athletes are extremely paid for the “Jobs” that they do .However, some people might say that they do deserve what they make and without famous athletes,many jobs wouldn't exist.
Are elite athletes/sports men or women being paid too much if not how are there high salaries justified, if so, why, and how could there money be put to better use?
The salary of professional athletes are always being debated on whether they make too much or it 's the right amount they should make. Some of the athletes do make millions and millions of dollars, but there is some that don 't. Anyways in order to make the millions first an athletes must make it to the professional level. For example in soccer only 1.4% of people actually make it to the professional level. So the rest of the people make it for other sports such as football, basketball, baseball, and others. To be considered a professional athlete you must be getting payed to play a sport. They will be playing for a league and even tournaments and get rewarded with more money if they win. Some may think an athlete
In today’s society many will argue whether or not professional athletes are overpaid. In the present time athletes are being paid phenomenally large amounts of money for their entertainment. It is my claim that all professional athletes are overpaid because they do not offer society an essential function that improves or enhances our world in comparison to other professionals such as medical doctors, lawyers, and teachers. Society does not value entertainment enough to warrant such high salaries such as those of many professional athletes. There is no reason that these athletes should demand these tremendous amounts of money. This is why you have to put into question their reasoning for demanding such high salaries.
The salaries of athletes are extremely high for the effort that they put through. For example, basketball, baseball, and hockey athletes only compete for about 6-8 months a year. Then they have...
Sport has always entertained and influenced our lives. It creates dreams for children and goals for adults. However, many fans are oblivious to the millions they pocket each year. It is without doubt that our sports stars are grossly overpaid. Their annual earnings exceed those we make in a lifetime, even when compared to highly qualified professionals.