Final Research Essay In the United States in 2017, around 36,250,000 kids between the ages of 5 and 18 played organized sports (“Youth Sports Statistics”). The amount of kids playing organized sports now is extremely high. Sports are something everyone from the rich to the poor can relate to, and these games have alway brought people together. Also, with the expansion of T.V., more kids grow up watching sports. Many of these sports stars have become idols for the American youth. Professional athletes are now known by millions of people and around the country and the world. Therefore, in many sports over the last few decades, these athletes have begun to make larger amounts of money. Due to athletes making more and more money, many people have …show more content…
These teams are using what they have, money, to gain the upper hand on the competition. However, as sports have grown, the margin between the extremely rich teams and the poor teams has expanded. This big margin has allowed for sports to become lopsided and unfair. Making salaries more limited could make many sports more fair. Many leagues have total salary caps that stand as a maximum sum of what a whole team can be played. In the NBA, as of 2016, the total salary cap was $94.1 million (Blackistone). 22 of the 30 NBA teams are over that total salary cap (Blackistone). Teams are allowed to reach the hard cap of $117.2 million before truly being maxed out (Blackistone). Over the last 18 years, only four times has the NBA champion had a salary near the league average (Milroy). This shows how the higher paying teams are in fact winning more than the lower paying teams. If players were be paid less money it would allow for teams with less money could more easily compete for the best players. If everyone had a shot at the best players, the competition could be more equal and in turn become far more exciting for the fans to …show more content…
On the other hand, this large amount of money that these athletes earn has become a big problem for them. Many athletes come from lower income homes where they grew up not having a lot of possessions and money. Now that they have become professional athletes, they have more money than they ever had before. In the NFL 78% of retired football players will go bankrupt just years after retiring (Wilson). Nearly the same applies to 60% of NBA players who are bankrupt or filing for bankruptcy just five years after they retire (Wilson). Since many of these athletes don’t have college degrees, they then struggle to find jobs to support themselves. These athletes go bankrupt for many different reasons. Some just overspend their money on various things and people and think that they will never run out of money (Wilson). Many athletes also have a lack of financial knowledge and can make very poor investments which is not fully their fault (Wilson). If professional leagues lowered the salary that these players make, they would have to be more financially responsible. This could, in turn, lead to fewer players going bankrupt just five years after they
Even though the NBA is a multi-billion dollar industry, it does not mean that the owners should have to pay over 50% of their revenues in player salaries. Something needs to be done to stop the enormous growth of player salaries that has been taking place the last couple of years. The NBA players union seems to believe that they should have salaries as high as the market can bear. The NBA was started by the owners and others as a business. Therefore, all of the players are employees of the owners and the league. The league and owners are the ones who do all of the advertising, make deals with television stations, sign contracts for licensing and make it all happen. They are the ones who should be reaping the most financial rewards. In his magazine article, "Held Ball", Phil Taylor, a writer for Sports Illustrated lets us know that with the signing of a new four year, 2.6 billion dollar contract with NBC and Turner Sports, the league seems to have plenty of money. But with figures of about a billion dollars being paid out in player salaries, there is not enough money to pay for all the employees, ...
On average 35 million children play youth sports each season and 85% of coaches are parents coaching their own kids. Whether basketball, soccer, baseball, or softball; furthermore, involves players, parents, referees, and a ball; additionally, if it is played as a game, in a tournament, is practiced, it will require a coach. This single figurehead will often be the deciding factor as to the level of satisfaction everyone involved receives from the experience. Coaching youth sports can be a balancing act between developing good players and cultivating great kids.
Each year, parents are spending thousand of dollars on team fees alone not including all the extras like coaching, equipment, and uniforms. Parents are spending all this extra money to one-up each other and to have the better kid. Rosenwald acknowledges, “Parents now start their kids in sports as toddler, jockey to get them on elite teams, and spend small fortunes on private coaching, expensive equipment, sway and travel to tournaments” (Rosenwald). It is like a game for the parents now too. One parent will spend this much money and then the next parent will go spend even more money and it just keeps going. The public refers to these youth sports as the new keeping up with the Joneses. Parents are spending big bucks now to believe the more money they spend now, the more likely their kid will get a college scholarship later on. The article reveals, “The number of children playing a team sport is falling, with experts blaming a parent-driven focus on elite travel clubs, specialization in one sport, and pursuit of scholarships for hurting the country’s youth sports leagues” (Rosenwald). Although this money spending train has made youth sports a large industry, many children are starting to hate sports because of the amount of pressure their parents put on them. The author adds, “Many of the adults trying to fix the problem remember a simpler, less expensive time in youth sports. There was no travel
Our society, in terms of world sports, has grown increasingly impressive. Most professional athletes have been playing their specialized sport since grade school, and although impressive, the people we are rooting for are wearing out quickly. Although youth sports programs are a health benefit to society, they also pose disadvantages to a young person’s growth and development.
This statement is inherently false. Paying starving, overworked athletes would make them better and capable of great performances. Paying these athletes could also cause many to remain in college for their full four year scholarship. Roughly 10% of National Basketball Association (NBA) players made their way back to college to finish their degrees. Had these high six figure and seven figure salaries not been their only way of surviving, then maybe they would have stayed and finished their degree on time. Players that left early are realizing the statistic that 60% of retired NBA players are looking for penny’s within five years; 78% of National Football League (NFL) players are under extreme financial distress after only two years (New York Times- Basketball). Professional athletes are out of a job after at an average age of 33 years old (VOA News). At 33, with many years to live, athletes need a degree to get a job and continue to make money. Once these athletes have exhausted their funds, they no longer have the means to return to college and earn that degree. College athletes are torn between immediate relief and potential lifetime success. If athletes were paid, then this decision would not have to be made and athletes would stay in college. If athletes were to stay in college for their full four years, then there would teams of ultimate status that would possess a wide array of athletes
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. The salaries of athletes such as Rafael Nadal and Drew Brees may seem to be a bit to high, but with all the factors that take money away from them they are not so high.
Many would argue that sports players make too much money that they should limit how much money these professional sports players make, but professional sports are businesses that have a right in the United States to make a profit of their choosing and they can pay their employees, which in this case are the players, as much as they want as long as it is not too low. So to limit the salary would be unconstitutional and against the rights of the owners of the business.
“Society places such a high importance on sports to meet our demand for entertainment, athlete’s salaries have skyrocketed due to the increasing demand for their field of expertise (Source A). Football, basketball, and baseball are three of the most popular sports in America, and most Americans will happily spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year on fan paraphernalia and game tickets for themselves as well as for family and friends (Source C) and (Source G)”
About 60 million children and teens from ages 6 to 18 participate in organized sports each year. Youth sports have been around since the 1920’s, and they started becoming popular in the 1960’s. However, the way youth sports are played out now, children shouldn’t participate in youth sports because they can cause children to become entitled and can make children overly competitive about their sport. Firstly, children shouldn’t participate in youth sports because it can cause them to become entitled. For instance, youth sports are starting to hand out participation stories that simply give trophies to anybody who attends games, as the author writes, “Youth sports leagues throughout the country have taken a new approach to competition, handing out participation trophies to players simply for showing up.
Players in the NBA certainly do make a lot of money. Many people think it’s preposterous, outrageous, and unreasonable the amount of money they earn. They may also think that these players are selfish and don’t earn their money. Since getting to the NBA and playing there is somehow a cake walk, and you are handed a massive contract without having to earn it, they don’t deserve big contracts. Getting to the NBA and staying there is an incredible task and players are rewarded accordingly. Although NBA players do make a lot money, they earn the money they get from their contract, and deserve all of what they receive.
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.
Teaching kids to be leaders in today’s world is a hard task that many people have tried to do and have been unsuccessful, but youth sports, on the other hand, have no problem teaching kids these important life skills. Ever since Youth competitive sports existed people have been arguing over whether they are. Youth competitive sports teach kids many important life skills, for example, they teach kids how to work together with other people. Another life lesson that sports teach is leadership skills. Although some people say kids shouldn’t play youth competitive sports because they can get injured, the pros like teaching life skills outweigh the cons by a lot.
Out of all the prospective athletes that attempt to become professional athletes only a small fraction make the cut. The NCAA reported that in 2015, only 46 out of 4,155 eligible college Basketball players got selected in the NBA draft, a mere 1.1% of the eligible players (NCAA). Any time that supply is low when demands are high, prices begin to skyrocket. Since there are few individuals capable of playing at the professional level it would be unjust to arbitrarily slash their salaries. Another fact to consider is the injury risks that athletes expose themselves to every time they
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.
People claim forcing a child to do sports is an awful thing. They are surely mistaken. Sports help children flourish and become better members in today's society. Working with a team helps develop important life skills that allow people to succeed. Being on a team helps children develop the experiences that will follow depending on their career choice.