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.
Professional athletes are people with natural abilities to play sports, have stamina, and play to win. Usually professional athletes start as amateurs and work their way up to being great. Amateurs play for fun and the occasional medals, but professionals play for money (Professional Athlete). In order to to become a professional athlete, a college education is pretty vital. Athletes may become high profile before being scouted at college level. Athletes such as John Wall was scouted by college basketball teams and professional teams when he was only a junior in high school. Also, kids who are professional retire at a relatively young age so a college education is key to success off the playing field. Training to become a professional athlete requires playing at all levels such as community, school, and/or club teams.
The job of professional athletes requires additional physical work to maintain their body so they can play at the highest level possible. Professional athletes us...
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When asked “Are elite sports people overpaid?” people have varied responses. Some people would agree with this and say ‘why should a person that hits or kicks a ball be paid as much as someone who saves lives or teaches children everyday? But on the other hand some would disagree and say that sports people are paid for their skills just like everybody else! These are both very good arguments.
Many people in today’s world complain about how much Pro Athletes get pay. So I ask are Pro athletes overpaid? Look at it in this sense; they are living their dreams just like most business men do everyday. If you think that professional sports is not a job then just try to walk in the shoes of a athlete for a day. Sports, like medicine, healthcare, or software, are a business. In that business, owners pay their players what they deem they are worth.
Fahey, Thomas D., EdD. Specialist in Sports Conditioning Workbook and Study Guide. California: International Sports Sciences Association, 2007. Print
The only reason some athletes make it to college is due to scholarships for their performance on the field. If they don’t perform well on the field, that scholarship might get cut. This makes practicing the athletes a main priority. However, college athletes have to concentrate on their grades so they don’t drop out of college. These athletes know they may not make it to the pro’s, so they know they have to have a back-up plan.
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.
This documentary examines how building off unpaid athletes has helped college sports in America become a billion dollar business. Life as an NCAA athlete is not as luxurious as media coverage portrays it. While we are exposed to their successes and failures on the field what we are not always shown is their struggles off the field. With busy schedules, the balance of classes, tutoring, meetings, workouts and practices makes spare time almost non-existent. Having no time for anything other than these vigorous activities, college athletes have a difficult time trying to find employment. Many of these athletes struggle financially and rely heavily on athletic scholarships. Take Johnathan Franklin, former running back from UCLA as a primary
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.
All the training leaves the athlete with no strength or will to also maintain a job. It is hard enough to attend college, on top of that having a sport as an obligation can be extremely difficult without economic support. Schools are recognized for the athletes that participate in them and are constantly being paid for doing good or bad. Therefore, for students to be compensated is extremely helpful. At the same time that students are not getting paid, all the staff in the sport have a salary, which leads for a lot of students to drop out of their particular
("Should athletes be paid to play?" 2016) Most college athletes have the same ambition, to become a professional athlete. To become a professional athlete in most sports you must attend one to three years of college first. This means most student-athletes, mostly basketball and football, attend college for this time and enter the professional leagues to get paid.
Specialization in Sport: An Overview of Some Unanswered Questions. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 7, 390-393.
Professional athletes in all sport leagues have been involved in crime whether it was big or small. The frequently asked question is, “Are athletes being treated the same as regular people.” Professional athletes are like celebrities; they are well known around the world and have all types of fans. Even though they are professional athletes they are also regular people, and should be charged like a regular person. How bad the crime is should also dictate whether or not they should be allowed to play again.
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.
For their future Professional athletes need to have a backup plan. They need to pursue education, or a trade. Professional athletes can train as a mechanic or an electrician in case they become injured or homeless. Before becoming a Professional athlete, they should have a High school degree then go on to college. Athletes should be encouraged to have a four year plan for their college education in the career they chose.
You might think this is a lot, but this does not compare to some of the other incomes of other sports stars such as Tiger Woods.
What comes to mind if someone mentions entertainer or an athlete? People think of their lavish lifestyle, and their salaries are excessive. Many say that athletes and entertainers live in a care free world by all the money they make and that their job isn’t that hard to do. Although some people say that people who contribute to the society don’t make money like entertainers and athletes do, because of all the extravagant amount of money they make, the consumers would have to pay more. I feel that entertainers and athletes should be making their high salaries because they put in hard work to get to that point, freely donate to charities, and society aids their high wages.