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Athlete salary
Athletes and their wages
The issue of high salaries for professional athletes
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Professional Sports Players and Their Salaries How does someone become a millionaire these days? What about going on a television show and answering fifteen questions correctly? Maybe you can get all seven numbers right on that lottery ticket you bought at the store last night. What about being lucky enough to make the right investment decisions with your broker? For some this might be true, but for others it is as simple as going to work and doing what they do best. The everyday man goes to work on a daily basis, does his best, and sometimes even achieves more than what is expected, and still does not become a millionaire. The reason for this is that I am not talking about the everyday man. I am talking about the professional athletes in the sports world. There is so much controversy as to whether these competitors really get the wages they are worthy of. These expert athletes work hard, bring excitement to our lives and deserve every penny they earn. The team owners are paying their players more than they deserve. The professional athletes are being paid exactly ...
When looking into the history of our culture, there are many subtopics that fall under the word, “history.” Topics such as arts and literature, food, and media fall into place. Among these topics reside sports. Since the beginning of time, sports have persisted as an activity intertwined with the daily life of people. Whether it is a pick-up game of football in the backyard, or catching an evening game at the local stadium, sports have become the national pastime. According to Marcus Jansen of the Sign Post, more specifically, baseball is America’s national pastime, competing with other sports (Jansen 1). Providing the entertainment that Americans pay top dollar for, live the role models, superstars, and celebrities that put on a jersey as their job. As said in an article by Lucas Reilly, Americans spend close to $25.4 billion dollars on professional sports (Reilly 4). The people that many children want to be when they grow up are not the firefighters or astronauts told about in bed time stories. These dream jobs or fantasies have become swinging a bat or tossing a football in front of millions of screaming fans. When asked why so many dream of having such job, the majority will respond with a salary related answer. In today’s day and age, the average athlete is paid more than our own president. The cold hard facts show that in professional sports, the circulation of money is endless. Certain teams in professional baseball and football are worth over millions of dollars. Consequently, the teams who are worth more are able to spend more. The issue that arises with this philosophy is virtually how much more? League managers, team owners and other sports officials have sought out a solution to the surfacing problem. Is it fair to let...
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.
Americans always seem to be working to make more money, however, is it worth it? Athletes sacrifice time and their physical bodies to make money. Celebrities sacrifice their privacy and personal space to make money. CEOs sacrifice time and risk financial security to make money. The common belief is that these are the three highest paid categories in the United States. However this is not the case since not all athletes are sponsored by Nike, not all celebrities are in large movies and tv shows, and not all CEOs work at a publicly traded company. The reality is that most of America still works hard and just because athletes, celebrities, and CEOs work nontraditional jobs does not mean their pay is significantly greater.
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.
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.
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.
Critics often argue that some people don’t think any athlete is worth that much money. Admittedly, it is a lot of money. However, they deserve it because of all of the work they put in. For example, Ronald Blum from earlier in the speech, illustrates, “In a $9 billion industry propelled by ballpark luxury suites and premium tickets, regional sports networks and streaming video, more than half the major leaguers are millionaires.” What Blum is saying is that the money they earn is made by themselves and by how many people go to their games. Linn-Benton Community College adds, “I agree that people that make the biggest difference in this world should be paid more. Job titles from Bhagat's list included police officers, firefighters, doctors, and teachers. Yes, all of these occupations greatly improve our well being and our society as a whole, but is it the professional athlete's fault that these occupations are not paid what they are deserved? Does the fact that teachers, police officers, and firefighters are underpaid have any connection to professional sports at all? No, not in the slightest bit.” Linn-Benton’s point is that sports do not take any money away from other jobs. Ronald Blum also notes, “Most athletes’ money is self-earned.” Blum is suggesting that that athletes’
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.
To most people one million dollars a lot of money, to most people one thousand dollars is a lot, but even though it is hard to believe, to some people these figures mean nothing. It is no secret that professional athletes particularly those who play soccer, golf, and race F1 cars make big bucks, but people do not realize to what extent.
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
Like, athletes get fame from playing college sports. So they get endorsements from companies and they earn money from being in ads and being sponsored by companies. Also, some athletes get grants worth 100,000 dollars from their college. (Bagaria, 2012) Which isn’t too much money to handle.
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.