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the problem with equal pay
the problem with equal pay
unequal pay men and women
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Imagine a man going to work on the farm every day. He works endlessly for hours and hours tending to the crops, feeding the animals in the hot scorching sun, wishing he could sit down and take a break… a break that just never comes. He will work until his swollen and bruised feet give out under him. He is working to put food on the table. He is working so that he won’t have to watch his wife and kids die. Now imagine a different man, he is a NFL player. He will work hard to emerge victorious. Now which man should be paid more? The farmer should, but reality is far from that. The farmer will make just enough money to put food on the table. The football player will make far more than that, he will probably make the same amount of money that the farmer will make in his entire lifetime. The salaries of professional athletes are not justified because an athlete’s job is to entertain people, because the money is wasted and because other important occupations do not pay as much.
Athletes earn millions of dollars while performing. But why is that? An athlete’s purpose is doing well in playing their sport so that they can entertain us. And just how hard do athletes even work? NFL players are some of the highest paid athletes in the world. According to Teen Ink "NFL football players, some of the highest paid professional athletes, only play sixteen regular season games, four preseason games and a maximum of four post season games, giving them a total of 24 games on the season." They play 24 games and they are paid tremendous amounts of money. And why is that? An athlete only has one job… to entertain people. All athletes are good in just one thing and that’s playing well at a sport that they should be playing well in. There are people out ...
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6) Clark, Liz. “Athletes Say They Deserve to Be Paid.” Charlotte Observer. (Charlotte, N.C.). April 3, 1994: pg. 4G. Sports. Eleanor Goldstein. Vol. 4. Boca Raton: SIRS, 1994. Art. 65.
Many people can easily picture this scene in their minds: the roaring crowds, the smell of easy- to-eat foods, and the thousands of people all dressed in the same colors. That’s a description of game day at a major college. College sports bring in a lot of money, yet their players don’t receive any money. Many people view this as something that needs to be changed while others believe that only professionals should be compensated. In the essays “Let Stars Get Paid” and “College Athletes Should Not Be Paid”, both authors give their opinions on whether or not college athletes should be paid. College athletes should not be paid because they already receive many benefits from being athletes.
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.
Have you ever compared how much pro athletes make to how much a real job makes like a nurse or a teacher? Well the outcome is ridiculous. According to the 7th grade middle school Language Arts class of St.Pius X Catholic School, some people agree that Professional Athletes are paid too much. Furthermore athletes are paid too much because a normal job, as I said, make a fraction of what real jobs make like a doctor and doctors take real risks.
When looking into the history of our culture, there are many subtopics that fall under the word, “history.” Topics such as arts and literature, food, and media fall into place. Among these topics reside sports. Since the beginning of time, sports have persisted as an activity intertwined with the daily life of people. Whether it is a pick-up game of football in the backyard, or catching an evening game at the local stadium, sports have become the national pastime. According to Marcus Jansen of the Sign Post, more specifically, baseball is America’s national pastime, competing with other sports (Jansen 1). Providing the entertainment that Americans pay top dollar for, live the role models, superstars, and celebrities that put on a jersey as their job. As said in an article by Lucas Reilly, Americans spend close to $25.4 billion dollars on professional sports (Reilly 4). The people that many children want to be when they grow up are not the firefighters or astronauts told about in bed time stories. These dream jobs or fantasies have become swinging a bat or tossing a football in front of millions of screaming fans. When asked why so many dream of having such job, the majority will respond with a salary related answer. In today’s day and age, the average athlete is paid more than our own president. The cold hard facts show that in professional sports, the circulation of money is endless. Certain teams in professional baseball and football are worth over millions of dollars. Consequently, the teams who are worth more are able to spend more. The issue that arises with this philosophy is virtually how much more? League managers, team owners and other sports officials have sought out a solution to the surfacing problem. Is it fair to let...
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.
Every day people around the world complain about professional athletes salaries. Even though the top athletes make millions of dollars every year, the majority of athletes do not make any more than the average working class citizen. There are also many risks along with the job, and job security is very unstable. Expenses and taxes also limit the amount of money an athlete makes. Tax rates are extremely high for the men and women who participate in professional sports. The salaries of athletes such as Rafael Nadal and Drew Brees may seem to be a bit to high, but with all the factors that take money away from them they are not so high.
Do you think professional athletes are overpaid? You might think they earn more than what they are worth for playing half a year, but athletes have many things which contribute to their salary. Some of these things include their earnings from endorsements, ticket sales, performance, merchandise, their social contributions, and TV ratings. Although there are many factors that contribute to their salary, professional athletes may be overpaid because as a society, we contribute to their success. So, in the end, part of the athlete’s salary comes from the people who support the sports in the first place. These are just some of the reasons why athletes are paid so much money.
Professional athletes are highly overpaid. Compensation should be based on job importance, not entertainment. If vital, life-saving professions are not rewarded for the stress of their jobs, there may come a day when those jobs are much harder to fill. Pay the individuals who make a difference in the
Athletes and entertainers are overly paid. Their job is to just entertain the public, whereas other jobs in our country contribute to our society and freedom. Baseball players are putting on a chest plate to protect themselves from a baseball. Police are putting on a fireproof chest plate to be protected from bullets. Singers hold a microphone so everyone can hear their voice. Surgeons hold tools to do a heart transplant to save someone's life. Athletes wake up early to practice for a game. Teachers wake up early to prepare their day to teach those who are the future of our country. Athletes put on a uniform to show others who they are and to be recognized from others. Firefighters and soldiers put on a uniform to honor our country, risking
Mueller, Chris. "Two Sides to Every Coin: Are Professional Athletes Overpaid?" Bleacher Report. N.p., 4 May 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
As entertainers, athletes are paid for fan satisfaction. The more fans that want to see an athlete perform, the more the athlete is paid. In fact, most athletes, even those who make millions of dollars for each flubbed fly ball, dropped pass, and missed free throw, feel they probably deserve even higher salaries; the reason being that they’re still in demand. While certain athletes may never bring a championship ring to their team, or even bring home a winning season, those athletes will always pack the stands. Fans in the stands translate into ticket sales. Ticket sales can potentially lead to national television broadcasts. Inevitably, the formula of ticket sales plus national television broadcasts leads to massive revenue, and this is how owners and organizations can afford to pay players like Michael Jordan $25 Million for his retiring season alone. However, how does society (as a whole) benefit from these over-inflated salaries? In short, it doesn’t.
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.
Firstly, I think that entertainers’ athletes are paid so much because they deserve it. An actor isn’t going just wake up one day and say, “I think I’m going to be an A-list act...
Sport has always entertained and influenced our lives. It creates dreams for children and goals for adults. However, many fans are oblivious to the millions they pocket each year. It is without doubt that our sports stars are grossly overpaid. Their annual earnings exceed those we make in a lifetime, even when compared to highly qualified professions. Despite the money factor, we sometimes question the values that are emphasized.