Why Are Professional Athletes Overpaid?

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“The first professional sports league was formed March 17, 1871, when the National Association of Professional Baseball clubs was formed” (Saldana). Since then, there have been several other professional leagues formed such as, the National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, American Professional Soccer League, and many more. There are over 100 professional sports teams in the United States and Canada combined, some of which are more popular than others. In just the NBA alone, “…there have been 3,071 players in the last 50 years” (Wehr). Pro Athletes are the youngest to retire, and get paid more than all the everyday jobs around the world. Professional athletes get paid millions of dollars a year. Like …show more content…

Look at it this way, athletes work extremely hard to get their bodies in shape and improve their game. Each player sometimes go weeks, if not months without spending time with their family. In the sports industry, your whole life has to be dedicated to the game and keeping the fans that come with it entertained. Like any other job, if you are not very good or contributing, you are cut from the team or fired. The better you are, the more you get paid. Professional athletes are not overpaid because they are highly skilled, help various companies make money, and they are the best at what they do. Professional athletes are highly skilled in the sports that they play. Athletes are paid based on skill. The better the player, the more money they make. The more money the player makes, the more work they have to put in, on and off the court or field. “If a player is paid more than the rest of the team, he or she is expected to make more points than the others, play the most minutes, and win every game even though it is a team sport” (Pawson). Each player puts themselves through a lot of physical stress, whether it is practicing new techniques or working just to stay in shape. “Athletes put well over 40 hours a week of practice, study, workouts,

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