Professional Athletes Are Overpaid

Are professional athletes’ salaries too high? Currently, professional athletes earn millions of dollars each year. In the eyes of the world, one might argue that an athlete’s salary is both well-earned and deserved. However, dissenters have a different opinion. These salaries need to be lowered for many specific reasons. To begin with, the amounts of money these athletes are making is ridiculous. According to an article titled “The World’s 100 Highest Paid Athletes of 2014”, Cristiano Ronaldo, a professional Portuguese soccer player, made $80 million dollars in 2014 alone. Similarly, JaMarcus Russell was the number one overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft. He was on a 6-year $68 million contract, with $31 million guaranteed. If he were to get

Safety should always come first. If athlete salaries are lowered, the money normally given to athletes could go towards more important things, such as security systems in schools and other public places. Sporting games can still be fun for the public, while guaranteeing safety for all involved. With the money from athletes salaries, more productive things could be done. For example, Kristen Giddens, author of “Professional Athletes are Overpaid” expresses her opinion on the issue saying, “It breaks my heart to know there are people dying from cancer everyday because there isn't a cure. Why not cut the players' pay and use the money towards finding a cure?” Many beneficial things could be accomplished by cutting athletes’ salaries, while still providing entertainment to the

According to staff reporter, Justin Hjelm, these multi-million dollar salaries that skilled athletes are making are far greater than the average job. From the perspective of a young person, becoming a professional athlete may seem like a much simpler and easier path. In their eyes, it seems better to play football and make millions, then to go to college, gain an education, and end up making $50,000 a year trying to better our world. More and more students are dropping out of high school and forgoing their college opportunities. After realizing how difficult and almost impossible it is to become a professional athlete and most not making it, they will struggle to find a half decent, well-paying job. Athletes must be role models to children, tweens, and teenagers on and off the field. This is a controversial problem in our society due to outrageous athlete