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Professional athlete salary
Athletes deserve high salaries
Athletes deserve high salaries
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Salaries of Athletes
What should athletes deserve to be paid?
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.
One issue that these high salaries cause is that having all this money spoils the athletes. Athletes buy so much unnecessary stuff after they get their money. For example, Michael Jordan has about 28 cars. Who needs all these cars? He didn’t buy all of these, but there is a certain limit on how many cars a person needs. Athletes spend their money on cars, entertainment, clothes, and their big mansions. Another instance of athletes spoiling themselves is the use of illegal drugs (“Pro Salaries”). Michael Irvin of the Dallas Cowboys has been involved in many of these altercations. He has been through all the punishments there possibly is and still makes his money (“Pro Salaries”). Athletes think they are at a higher level and that they can do whatever they want. An issue that everyone hears about everyday that a pro athlete has committed a murder/crime. Ray Lewis, a safety for the Baltimore Ravens, is being tried for two accounts of murder. He is an excellent athlete. He is on the pro-bowl team for the 1999 season and led the league in tackles. He has just ruined his career by even being involved in a situation like this. Another player is Robert Lewis, a 20 year-old basketball player from the Dallas Mavericks. He was convicted of beating his girlfriend almost to death. A 20-year-old basketball star doesn’t need to feel that he is a king to be a leader. What kind of role model is he setting to other youngsters that want to follow in the same footsteps?
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...
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...r salaries are too high to compare. They do entertain the public, but the expense for the entertainment is too steep. Athletes should make a decent salary, but they should have control over their limits. They deserve a salary that would compare to other officials who are more important to the people and that have a role which effects the people as a whole. Something must be done before a drastic change occurs.
Bibliography:
“Athletes’ Salary.” CQ Researcher. 2000.
Bagnato, Andrew. “Against the (cash) flow as revenue streams into college coffers,
Some athletes are clamoring for their cut of the profits.” Chicago Tribune 23 Feb. 1997: 1.
Bryjak, George J. “The Name of the Game is Money.” USA TODAY Sept. 1998:
67-69.
Danziger, Lucy S. “Sweet Inequity.” Women’s Sports and Fitness July 1999: 17.
Kindred, David. “In the name of sanity.” The Sporting News 20 Apr. 1998: 63.
“Pro Salaries.” n. pag. On-line. Internet.
http://www.nonline.com/procon/html/prosalary.htm. 12 Jan. 2000.
Spiegel, Peter. “Athletes.” Forbes 22 Mar. 1999: 220.
Wigge, Larry. “Millennium mind-set: Open up game and close wallets.” Sporting
News 10 Jan. 2000: 58-59.
The focus of professional sports has evolved from one of teamwork and camaraderie to one of avarice and greed. The specific problems in recent years that have stemmed off this overwhelming greed include exorbitant salaries, lockouts (or work stoppages) in professional sports, and the growing disparity among team payrolls. Most recognize these issues as major problems; however, others overlook the greed and see validity in the financial aspect of today's sports world. They argue that professional sports are thriving and should not be modified.
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.
Until just recently according to an article in the Harvard Journal, “in the past twelve years, the amount of money generated by [football and basketball] has increased nearly 300%, such that they now fund almost all other sports programs” (Meshefejian). This points out that if student athletes were given a salary, the only athletes that would receive it are those in basketball and football. The less popular sports athletes would either switch to these two sports, or continue playing the sport they love while their colleagues thrive in the sport they love while getting an
A question that has been rising to the surface lately is “should college athletes be paid a salary?” One cannot get on the internet now a day and not see some kind of college sport headline. The world of college sports has been changed greatly the past decade due to college athletes. These athletes make insurmountable amounts of money and an unbelievable amount of recognition for the universities. The athletes that provide and make a ton of revenue for the colleges also spend a huge amount of their time practicing and staying committed to sports, and have to maintain good grades in school which requires quite a bit of overtime. Because college athletes generate massive amounts of revenue and put in massive amounts of personal time for their individual universities, colleges need to financially compensate players for their contributions. The colleges that these superstars represent are reaping all of the benefits of the accomplishments the athletes have, yet the big named players are making nothing from what they do.
Abstract: Collegiate athletes participating in the two revenue sports (football, men's basketball) sacrifice their time, education, and risk physical harm for their respected programs. The players are controlled by a governing body (NCAA) that dictates when they can show up to work, and when they cannot show up for work. They are restricted from making any substantial financial gains outside of their sports arena. These athletes receive no compensation for their efforts, while others prosper from their abilities. The athletes participating in the two revenue sports of college athletics, football and men's basketball should be compensated for their time, dedication, and work put forth in their respected sports.
Johnson, Dennis A., and John Acquaviva. "Point/counterpoint: Paying College Athletes."The Sport Journal 15.1 (2012). Questia School. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.
Johnson, Dennis A., and John Acquaviva. "Point/counterpoint: Paying College Athletes." The Sport Journal 15.1 (2012). Questia School. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.
Americans believe that athletes, celebrities, and CEOs are the highest paid jobs in America. This belief is true however the average income of these three jobs is nowhere near what the perception is. Athletes are the most confusing when it comes to pay since people do not factor in that an average professional is only 4.85 years, NFL is 3.5 years, MLB is 5.6 years, NBA is 4.8, and NHL is 5.5 years, (RSVLTS, 2013) United States Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that an average income for “athletes and sport competitors” was only $47,710 (BLS, 2017). People believe that athletes are only the stars you see on television, but this is not the case. Athletes are risking their health for that paycheck. They spend a majority of their lives in the gym or on
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.
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.
For years college athletes have been working their whole life to play in College. Day in and day out, working their hardest, pouring their heart and soul into their sport. Over decades athletes have been able to showcase their talent to get to College. When a college school recruits you, your job is to bring in money for the University. A real athlete plays the game for their desire and passion for the sport. Recently, athletes have been questioning whether or not they should be paid for their hard work and dedication to the sport. In this essay, I will explain the effects of paying athletes.
Recently the NCAA has been under a lot of pressure over the issue of paying college athletes in return for the extreme amount of revenue and wealth brought to the university by being successful on national television. The dispute has brought up issues on both sides of the controversy as to what should happen with the millions of dollars student athletes generate through the highly publicized and money making games and tournaments in college sports. The major money making sports in college athletics are undoubtedly football and men’s basketball. These two sports combined have year round ESPN and national television coverage which creates multi-billion dollar revenues that the schools rake in. So the question remains, why should high profile student athletes not be paid for their accomplishments on the field or court? There is a strict line between an amateur and a pro which
In closing, these athletes are making too much money in a society that traditionally bases salaries on the value of ones work. These athletes do not know what real work is or how hard it is to make a dollar. Although their job is difficult, they do not play a role in our economy like their salaries indicate. Therefore, they should receive less money.
The compensation of college athletes may seem simple, but there are many variables that play a factor in a decision so impactful like this. Such as which athletes get paid, how much do athletes receive, and the most controversial question of all who pays these athletes. Concluding on a decision is difficult for the decision-makers of college athletics. In one of my sources A solution for the pay for play dilemma of college athletes. The author suggests the answer is right in front of our faces, instead of arguing about these variables just remove the amateur label off all college athletes and let Adidas, Nike, under armor, and other corporation’s compensate these athletes. Also instead of the pay for play concept these athletes would receive
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.