Escalating Professional Athlete Salaries

1093 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Pro athletes salaries

Escalating Professional Athlete Salaries

Works Cited Not Included

In recent years, with the growing popularity of sports, athletes salaries have escalated like that of a superb stock equity. Athletes are taking full advantage of their position, causing the average man to wonder how high will they go. Some feel that athletes are greedy people who have lost care for the true meaning of their salary, the love of the game.

Others feel that if a person is able to earn that kind of money, why shouldn't they? Increases in athlete salaries will bring up the question on whether athletes are worth the money by researching the NBA?s new collective bargaining agreement (before and after the approval), by observing the current salaries of top athletes in their respective sports, and by concocting possible solutions. Shaquille O?Neal, formerly of the Orlando Magic, signed almost two years ago with the Los Angeles Lakers for an enormous $120 million over seven seasons.... Alonzo Mourning signed with the Miami Heat for a seven year deal worth about $112 million.... These fat contracts have brought out the question: Are pro athletes worth the millions they are paid? Basketball Hall of Famer David Thompson states, "Players have such a short time to make their money. If you look at others in the entertainment business, you?d think so. Look at Mike Tyson. He made $30 million for the six minutes and 50 seconds it took for him to knockout Frank Bruno" (Rhodes and Reibstein 44). Zachary M. Jones, an attorney at Howard University in Washington D.C., utters, "Superstar athletes are few in number, so the demand is high, which raises the price for their services significantly" (Saporito 61).

Furthermore, Mark Rosen, who has been a spor...

... middle of paper ...

...s worth far more." Certainly a 22 year old kid can live on $126 million quite alright. Before doing an in-depth analysis of pro sports salaries, one ignorant person would conclude that these salaries are way too high. However, sports salaries are "okay" to be enormous. This is because high salaries show that the economy and basketball revenue are up, because that is where the owners get the money to pay the athletes. After Glen Taylor signed upcoming superstar Kevin Garnett, season ticket sales went soaring. Finally, if a player is allowed to make the money, why is it such a bad thing? More power to them. Yet athletes should be satisfied with their current salary status. As you can very well see, salaries have risen to unbearable heights, yet it is inevitable. With the economy as it is who knows when it will begin to level off. All we can do is sit back and watch.

Show More
Related

  • NBA Athletes are Overpaid

    1342 Words  | 3 Pages

    I see advertisements and high profile appearances these players partake in, the question just keeps on popping up in my head. Reading through discussion boards, articles and even editorial papers about the issue, I have found this to be an interesting topic to discuss and with these sources in mind, this will be my foundation for this topic. In this paper, I intend to prove through an intimate discussion and debate that the players of the NBA are overpaid with regards to how much their salaries and contracts are worth. For this paper, the discussion will go into four parts. The first part will introduce the readers to the basketball fever the NBA has brought millions around the globe and a brief rundown of the debate overpaid athletes and salary cuts.

    Read More

  • Athletes Paid Too Much Essay

    419 Words  | 1 Pages

    Are professional athletes overpaid? “In my mind, absolutely not. Professional athletes are making too much money in a society where salaries and wages are traditionally based on the value of one's work.” Mihir Bhagat thinks that during this time, athletes

    Read More

  • Professional Athletes Deserve Every Cent

    3566 Words  | 8 Pages

    For some athletes money is not an issue. Many, including Griffey and Jay Buhner, defer portions of their salaries to make room for other players the team needs to win. Others, just willingly get paid less than market value for the same reason. As generous as these players are, some still argue professional athletes are selfish and greedy, when that is not the case at all. Multi-million dollar athletes deserve every cent they get paid.

    Read More

  • Are Professional Athletes Overpaid?

    2054 Words  | 5 Pages

    The controversy of athletes being overpaid dates back to 1922, when well-known baseball player George “Babe” Ruth received $50,000 within the first year of his career. Ruth’s extensive wealth was bolstered by dozens of endorsements (Saperecom). As it is shown in figure 1, in the Fortunate 50 Tiger Woods takes the number one spot for highest paid athlete. Tiger’s salary for 2011 is $2,294,116 and like Babe Ruth, his endorsements exceed his salary earning $60,000,000 making his total $62,294,116 (Freedman). It’s crazy to think that 89 years ago professional athletes scarcely made more than the average person today. This is of course not counting the inflation that has occurred since the years which Babe Ruth played baseball.

    Read More

  • Athletes Overpaid Analysis

    157 Words  | 1 Pages

    Now Mr. Roberto Hinojosa contends that professional athletes are overpaid. Citing U.S. Household Income stats for 2012 he explains that teachers,

    Read More

  • Professional Athletes Get Overpaid

    526 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • National Basketball Association (NBA) Salaries

    1811 Words  | 4 Pages

    National Basketball Association (NBA) Salaries                           Professional basketball players today are being paid huge bucks, and they really don’t know how to spend the money wisely. I believe it’s fair to say that all teachers, doctors, surgeons, and members of the armed forces should be given financial compensation of equal or greater value to that of which is awarded professional athletes. Their actual impact on human life is greater, more important, and further reaching. Of course they don’t and they never will because the business that they are in doesn’t create billions in gross revenue like the National Basketball Association.

    Read More

  • Elite Athletes are Being Paid too Much

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    Are elite athletes/sports men or women being paid too much if not how are there high salaries justified, if so, why, and how could there money be put to better use?

    Read More

  • Why Do Professional Athletes Get Paid

    285 Words  | 1 Pages

    LeBron James made $71 million last year. That’s way more than the U.S. President! Actually, many professional athletes get paid millions of dollars. Some people think that these athletes shouldn’t get paid so much. Others think that this is all well-earned money. To me, athletes are just here to entertain, but they make way more than they need. And they don’t need to make millions if they can still get lucrative jobs after they retire.

    Read More

  • Should Professional Athletes Be Paid

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    Would it be nice to make over $150 million a year? Well, Jose Altuve recently signed a $151 million extension contract with the Houston Astros for five years, and Stephen Curry signed a record deal with the Golden State Warriors worth $201 million for also five years. With this in mind, only two of the most compensated athletes are mentioned; in addition, is only a fraction of what professional sports team owners pay to their athletes in a lifetime. After a short time professional athletes were finally compensated for their hard work and dedication; however, in past decades they were not compensated at all. Professional athletes provide amusement to the world;moreover, are deserving of the compensation that they receive.

    Read More

  • The Ethics of the Salary of Professional Athletes

    1569 Words  | 4 Pages

    Should he be able to receive the amount of money that he does, and the average college student that graduates and has a degree is not able to obtain a job that pays that kind of base salary. I think not, in fact I feel that the only kind of people that have any business of making the kind of money athletes do are doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers and maybe anyone who actually does attend graduate school. Now those kind of professions have the right of making that type of income due to the fact that they not only have they graduated college but they attended graduate school and have perfected their business and received a degree. Kevin Garnett has the richest contract in all of NBA history, 6 years 126 million dollars and he never ever stepped a foot on one of our great campuses in the United States of America. Please tell me why should Garnett make this money if he never ever ...

    Read More

  • Why Do Athletes Get Overpaid

    414 Words  | 1 Pages

    You can't put a price on talent and No, I honestly don't think they get overpaid. Athletes risk their lives every day they practice, play or even play in a real game. The athletes need their salaries to carry them past the 5 to 15 years they are able to play. Although you feel your job doesn't pay as much as you want it. Think about what athletes do to make their living. Many professional athletes and their colleagues get paid millions of dollars. Some people think these athletes should or should not get paid that much money. Which honestly, I think they do get to get paid that much because athletes risk their lives either getting on the field or in the cage. Athletes do not get overpaid mostly for the fact that they could face serious injury.

    Read More

  • Athletes Should Not Be Paid

    453 Words  | 1 Pages

    Athletes Salary Money doesn’t grow on trees, except in the life of a pro athlete! Some professional athletes make up to 110 million dollars per season, while teachers, who provide education to the younger generation, struggle to pay their bills. I strongly believe that professional athletes should not make as much money as they do when other job occupations are more beneficial and do more to help, strengthen, and support our communities. To begin with, often, athletes who know ahead of time, that they have a good chance of making it in the pros, skip over college. In the society we live in today, jobs do not come easy to people who don’t have a degree.

    Read More

  • Justifying High Paychecks of Athletes

    521 Words  | 2 Pages

    Athletes are paid lots of money but some people don’t think it’s fair, I think it is fair so I came up with these reasons to prove it. Lebron James gets paid 71 million dollars for entertaining us, pushing his limits everyday, and also play for the whole state (Mackenzie Carro). Athletes are overpaid because they play that sport for the state, they push their limits every day, also they are impressive to watch.

    Read More

  • Professional Athlete Salaries

    1356 Words  | 3 Pages

    When addressing the value of entertainment, there is without a doubt, that we as a society value entertainment highly. But there is no reason that these athletes, who are here to merely entertain us, get paid higher wages than those that save our lives and teach us such as medical doctors and teachers. I find it ridiculous that players make millions of dollars a year, and yet demand more. The entertainment that these athletes provide is solely entertainment; it is not essential to the function or productivity of society. If I were to become a professional football player I would not complain about my salary for many reasons. I am playing the sport that I love and getting paid for it. The minimum wage for football is well over $100,000 a year, as is for many professional sports. These reasons by their lonesome are enough to warrant that the salary professional athletes are paid is suffice.

    Read More

More about Escalating Professional Athlete Salaries

Open Document