What Makes American Athletes Overpaid

The premiere athletes of today’s sports can make upwards of 30 millions dollars in one year. This alone can raise some eyebrows. Now take into account that this amount of money is 75 times as much money as the President of the United States made last year. The President, by their pay, is less important than an athlete, like a LeBron James, but this couldn’t be any further from the truth. Compared to an actual beneficial job, like teaching, the athletes we gladly shell out millions of dollars for are very overpaid.
"Unless you’re finding a cure for cancer or creating world peace, I don’t know if anybody deserves to get that much money"(The Tylt). Drew Brees said it the best. The people getting paid absurd amounts of money aren’t the same people
Little to none. It isn’t every day that these athletes have a direct effect on our life. Even while we are watching them during their games, the viewers only get to watch. They aren’t benefited, at least not to the scale that they may be affected everyday by cancer. This quote shows that a player making all this money, thinks he isn’t worthy of all the money he makes. He knows that somebody that is attempting to find a cure for cancer is worth the 24 million dollars that he is projected to make this year. The amount that many players can make in one year may seem absurd on its own, but when you look at the pay per at bat in the MLB you really get a better view into how overpaid professional athletes are. “No matter how you look at it, the guy getting paid 19 million dollars to swing a bat at a ball is making more per game than the average American household makes in an entire decade” (The Tylt). The fact that a single person can make more money than an entire family by swinging a bat alone is crazy, but making more money than a whole family in one a bat, this really speaks to what kind of money these players are making. If we are going to say that MLB players are overpaid, we have to notice that they do play over 150 games in a season. Other athletes, like boxers, only play once or twice in a whole
Some players, like Jose Calderon, can make half a million dollars without even stepping onto the court. Calderon was signed by the Golden State Warriors in an attempt to push for a long playoff run, but when star Kevin Durant went down with an injury Calderon was released to make room for Matt Barnes, who would fill in for Durant. Calderon still got paid for his full contract. “Making $415,000 for two hours of not working? In the end, Calderon made about $3,458.33 a minute with the Warriors,” (Market Watch). Calderon making over 3000 per minute isn’t even the highest rate in the league. Paul George made $6,073.11 per minute of action during last year’s season. Chandler Parsons made $8,538.91 per minute of action during last year’s season, and for his production level, a 3.94 RPM (Real Plus-Minus) that ranks 112th with a contract that ranks 17th, he simply isn’t worth the money compared to other players let alone compared to other beneficial jobs. A player that compared to other NBA players that is worth the money is Russell Westbrook. His RPM is 19.53, good for 4th best in the NBA, and his contract is the 4th largest. This is a perfect example of how players should be paid. Pay athletes based on their production. In any other job, if you don’t produce you don’t keep your job. Why should athletes be treated any differently? An athlete that performs at the top of their game, and is analytically one of the