Eden DeAtley
Mrs. Hacker
Honors English 9
21 March 2014
Why Are Athletes Overpaid?
Why are athletes so overpaid? Fans can blame themselves. They are the main reason why athletes are making so much money. Hasn’t everyone gone to watch a live sports event and found themselves paying a large sum of money not just for the event, but for the overpriced food and beverages that are provided at the game? By going to the game and spending hard earned money the spectators are providing the athletes with the millions of dollars they earn every year. It’s not the athlete’s fault that they are overpaid. Some athletes are much better than others at handling the money they make. Some athletes sponsor charity events and lend their fame to fundraisers, while others spend their money partying and living a very lavish lifestyle. Despite a common belief that athletes are grossly overpaid, the fans continue to crave entertainment and thus provide them with the money.
Athletes are overpaid. Athletes as a whole don’t offer society anything that helps improve society. Unlike doctors, policemen, firefighters, teachers and other occupations that are necessary for order and safety on a daily basis. Being a professional athlete has no real value to society as a whole, they just provide a way for people to waste their time and money. Sports players don’t spend their days saving peoples lives or fighting a war across the world to keep this country safe. In no way is the distribution of money and wealth to the players fair. Paying athletes $13.5 million for a single year is just not justifiable(Herald). Think about all the other jobs out there that provide a real service; like teachers, responsible for educating our youth or doctors who save lives ev...
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...d dollars. In truth, the people of America are providing them with their outrageous amounts of money because they simply cannot give up their amusements. Despite the many complaints of athletes being overpaid, they do work very hard on a day to day basis. They condition and practice and travel extensively. But shouldn’t the athlete’s enjoy playing the game and not be so concerned about the money part. If any should be paid it should be the college athletes since they actually have to manage a sport in between the school work and juggling a job. It’s very hard being an athlete and training every day to become successful and hope that one day you will make a living becoming a professional athlete. That’s everyone’s dream right? To become someone famous & make tons of money doing something enjoyable. It should be the love of the game and not the money that matters.
“Fans pay to watch athletes compete at the highest level. To be sure, it is the fans that primarily pay the athletes’ salaries” (Walter). Yes, a large portion of an athlete’s pay comes from the people that come to watch them. Athletes get a portion of all revenue their team or staff receives. This means that everybody gets a cut of that prize money, everybody gets a cut of ...
In conclusion, I think student-athletes should get paid for racking up revenue for their universities, the amount of time they spend in their sports, and by paying student-athletes, it may increase their motivation to reach academic success and steering them clear from unsolicited activities. The efforts of student-athletes must be acknowledged because they have given their best effort and countless hours of their time to represent their universities in the best way
Many people can easily picture this scene in their minds: the roaring crowds, the smell of easy- to-eat foods, and the thousands of people all dressed in the same colors. That’s a description of game day at a major college. College sports bring in a lot of money, yet their players don’t receive any money. Many people view this as something that needs to be changed while others believe that only professionals should be compensated. In the essays “Let Stars Get Paid” and “College Athletes Should Not Be Paid”, both authors give their opinions on whether or not college athletes should be paid. College athletes should not be paid because they already receive many benefits from being athletes.
One reason that college athletes should be paid is because they earn their revenue that is distributed to coaches and colleges they represent. And is it not unusual to not even receive a little percentage of it. Major college sports earn around $11 billion dollars according to Marc Edelman who is an associate professor of law at Zicklin School of Business. According to Edelman, colleges that partake in college sports can earn up to $100 million in revenue. This revenue is used for paying coaches, college campus, and etc. This distribution of money is not wrong and has good intention. However, colleges spend too much on their expenses and don’t recognize the efforts of the athletes. For example, according Marc
College athletes should be paid because of the hard work, dedication and effort they put into their respective sports. These athletes are a major source of income for their schools and they are not receiving a penny for it. These college athletes deserved to be paid, colleges are using these athletes to get money and they are never given anything but a pat on the back and a good job. College athletes work and train extremely hard to perform at the highest level possible. In most cases, they spend more time training and preparing for their sport than they actually do learning and studying. They put so much on the line to play and they get nothing in return. These college athletes literally make their schools millions of dollars every single year off of things like ticket sales and selling player merchandise. They can use these athletes for anything they want to while they are still enrolled in their sports program and that athlete is not allowed to accept any form of payment for what he contributed to that particular program and are given crazy looks when they even ask for it. Sports are an enormous source of income for many different colleges around the country and help keep these colleges afloat. Sports generate millions every single year, but where is all this money going if it is not going toward paying these 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. These are just some of the reasons why athletes are paid so much money.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
As entertainers, athletes are paid for fan satisfaction. The more fans that want to see an athlete perform, the more the athlete is paid. In fact, most athletes, even those who make millions of dollars for each flubbed fly ball, dropped pass, and missed free throw, feel they probably deserve even higher salaries; the reason being that they’re still in demand. While certain athletes may never bring a championship ring to their team, or even bring home a winning season, those athletes will always pack the stands. Fans in the stands translate into ticket sales. Ticket sales can potentially lead to national television broadcasts. Inevitably, the formula of ticket sales plus national television broadcasts leads to massive revenue, and this is how owners and organizations can afford to pay players like Michael Jordan $25 Million for his retiring season alone. However, how does society (as a whole) benefit from these over-inflated salaries? In short, it doesn’t.