Preview

Why Are Professional Athletes Overpaid

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
716 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Are Professional Athletes Overpaid
Professional athletes, specifically in the NFL, NBA, and MLB, often are rewarded extremely substantial contracts and lucrative endorsement deals and it has been argued that their salaries should be reduced to smaller wages but they are paid in the way that they are for good reason. There merchandise is sold for more money than their salary is worth, the risk getting injured is high and they can only do for their job for a short amount of time.

Athletes are not overpaid because the Teams make much more money than what they are paying their players. In Major League Baseball,“Almost 35 percent of the total league wide-revenue is earned from ticket sales.Television and media rights constitute another important stream of revenue. In 2012 MLB reached
…show more content…
Knowing that athletes career could end in a split second, it is important for one to realise that even the strongest athletes get career ending injuries. Often times athletic careers come to a rapid end even as early as high school. “High school athletes account for an estimated 2 million injuries and 500,000 doctor visits and 30,000 hospitalizations each year. ” The evidence suggests that the risk is very high when you are a professional athlete.As a general rule if you are taking a bigger risk you expect a bigger payout and that is what is going through the athletes head that it can all end in a split …show more content…
“As we turn our gaze back to the world of professional sport, the outlook becomes very different. Only the very best, in most physically demanding sports, can hope to have a career lasting beyond 15 years. After sacrificing all the joys of the teenage years we take for granted, pro sportsmen and women are sent out to pasture at the ripe old age of 34 or 35, with no discernable or marketable skills.”The evidence suggests that the athletes may not be able to get enough money to last them the rest of their lives so the need to work 10 times more than the average to make sure.As a general rule, when a person needs to perform they want to have guarantees so they request more money.

Many may say that professional athletes are overpaid because they are playing a game for a job and earn way more than the average person. But Playing a professional sport is not a game because the sports industry is worth 80 billion dollars and only 30 percent of that money goes to the players. That means 56 billion goes goes to the owners. Therefore the owners are willing to pay a lot of money for a big name player if that means they will get more

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    To begin with, I believe Major League Baseball players are way overpaid, and have no idea what it is like to live off a regular American salary. According to baseball writer, Richard Cato, many rookie athletes are worried more about how much money there are going to make, before they even think about throwing their first pitch in there major league career. Almost 10 years ago former cubs pitcher, Mark Prior, argued and argued with team management that his 10 million dollar contract was not going to be enough to support himself and his family (par 5.) This is where my problem begins with Athletes being overpaid. They complain about not making enough money each year, where middle and lower class Americans manage to live off there much smaller salaries. I personally think the league…

    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pro Athletes do deserve high salaries because by making sums of money and their individuals of making high salaries. They can be a good player at showing their teammates or coach what they are good at and agree with them so that person can improve more to be a Pro Athletes. Important people can hire that person by been impressed at the games they are go to, so they can get a chance to master their high salaries. They want to have a job to improved the company that they need so it can be successful. Playing soccer can make you money for what you need help for.…

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To begin with Athletes get paid a bunch of money just to play a game. Athletes are getting paid a whole bunch of money a year the lowest they can be paid is 500,000. For example in June the colts signed a quarterback Andrew luck right to a contract worth 140 million . The average salary for a baseball player is 4 million. Athletes get paid too much money!…

    • 358 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Meanwhile, the crowd pays a lot of money be entertained. The crowd is full of doctors, lawyers, teachers, and mechanics that have paid thousands of dollars to earn the money to get to the game in the first place. The players that are being watched normally haven't worked hard towards a good education. Some have been recruited right out of high school, while most got huge scholarships to play sports at prestigious schools. These schools will do almost anything to keep their best players in school. So they athletes can eventually make it to the professional level, with or without a degree. One might argue that some people get money for being good with their brains, why shouldn't people get money for being good with their bodies; on the other hand, since when have we paid someone $12 million to think and have fun? It's not all the athletes' fault though. Once the player becomes good, many different teams will seek him or her after. Soon after, the highest bidder will get he or she on his team. What is the difference between $80 million and $90 million? Players will even stop playing completely if they think that they aren't making enough money. So much for the idea of playing for fun. The world of sports has become another business world, which is the reason why athletes get paid so…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Do professional athletes get paid enough? Yes, they do, and for many different reasons. Athletes have to deal with large commitments, the danger of playing sports, and common life expenses. Often, professional athletes are offered contracts by a certain team or sponsor. Some of these contracts can be for a long period of time too. Next, playing sports has a very large risk for injury. These athletes never know when they will have a career ending injury. Lastly, athletes still have to pay for common expenses such as taxes and bills. Professional athletes deserve their pay.…

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is it really worth to pay athletes so much money? People are saying that Pro athletes are getting paid way too much. Athletes are role models and motivators for kids. Also a lot of their money comes from sponsorships. Team Owners and Sponsorships pay athletes a reasonable amount. They also are role models for kids that look up to them a lot. People make athletes role models because they want to be just like that athlete in the future and follow what they do off the field. The kids will always look up to athletes. The brands that people wear,eat and drink are mostly having Pro athletes on the cover of their product to sell it. Also, a player might want a big contract if they go to a team that they know isn’t good, but the owner thinks he can…

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Do you think that athletes get paid way too much money? Athletes gets paid more then the person who controls our country. Also the franchises get payed more then the athlete and that’s why athletes get paid so much. Salary comparison, respect and prestige, and fans supporting the team is why pro athletes make so much money. One of the first reasons why athletes get paid way too much is because of all of the fans that buy things to support the teams.…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Athletes are playing in sports every left and right all around the world. But many people think they are getting paid too much. But many don’t think that they do because they earn their money, have chronic health problems when they retire, and they dedicate their lives to their sport.…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    What happens to an athlete who has been given the body of a grown man and an insane amount of talent at 18 years old? A star athlete is born. At the college level, high school phenoms are treasured to bring money into their collegiate programs – a Heisman Trophy winner can bring impressive funding into a football program. Such a case arises when wealthy businessmen that graduate from prestigious universities want to spend money on unnecessary things, glorifying their Alma Mater with exceptional football squads. Elite schools such as the “University of Southern California” and “University of Texas A&M” have faced program-altering sanctions and scrutiny due to illegal spending on student athletes. Many schools…

    • 1332 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is great controversy regarding professional athletes and their salaries. People think that many athletes receive obscene salaries, but I think that they deserve that money. They work incredibly hard, they are part of the advancement of the human race, and they generate large sums of revenue for their organizations. I do not think that talented, well deserving athletes are overpaid.…

    • 474 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Are Athletes Overpaid?

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The average athlete can make more than the President of the United States; how is that fair? Athletes, like Tom Brady, are overpaid and make more that the average families that work till they are 70 years old. Do athletes really deserve to make that much? The answer is no, they do no.…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    You think athletes are overpaid well if you really think about it you’re wrong. The reason why athletes gets paid so much is because of what they do for us. Many professional athletes get paid millions of dollars. Some people think that these athletes don’t deserve what they’re making. Athletes have multiple injuries when they play the sport they play. Most of the time they have to pay medical bills afterwards that are really expensive which therefore they need money to pay those bills. Also they’re inspiring kids to strive to become athletic and have jobs for the future.…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There’s a great deal of controversy over the topic of whether professional athletes are overpaid or not, as compared to teachers, police officers, and firefighters. Jennifer Fontaine, a sports promoter, clearly states that she believes professional athletes are not over paid, due to their careers being short lived due to any serious injury, or injuries, that could end that highly paid career.…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Athletes Overpaid

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There are a couple reasons why I think athletes are overpaid. Those reasons are that athletes make up to $36 million in a year and nurses, firemen, doctors, etc, only make $70,000 a year. A family who has to pay for food and take care of their children with sort of low paying jobs get paid around $54,000 a year and athletes get paid around 4-5…

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Professional sports are a major part of today’s entertainment. Christopher Hammond believes they earn what they are paid. He states that anyone who makes the case that sports stars are overpaid may be suffering from wealth envy. Athletes work incredibly hard to achieve what they have accomplished according to Hammond. He also says professional athletes produce much more money for others than they themselves receive. Who gets the money then? The people who already make millions a year owning sports companies? It is simple; Athletes get paid too much. The truth is that basketball, football, and other sports are just games. Being paid an average of two million dollars a year to dribble a ball down a court is just outrageous.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays