Salaries of Athletes are too High

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Salaries of Athletes

What should athletes deserve to be paid?

Many players have risen to stardom by becoming a professional athlete. Athletes have come from many different backgrounds; some from wealthy and some from poverty raised backgrounds. Salaries are continuing to rise, and money doesn’t seem to be an issue. Athletes are getting what they want from the owners by negotiating through their agents. Athletes’ salaries aren’t from their owners, but they come from other sources (“Athletes’ Salary”). Athletes get paid an extremely high salary for the work they do, and should consider the value of their work. They do not deserve the extreme amount they get paid and something should by done about it.

One issue that these high salaries cause is that having all this money spoils the athletes. Athletes buy so much unnecessary stuff after they get their money. For example, Michael Jordan has about 28 cars. Who needs all these cars? He didn’t buy all of these, but there is a certain limit on how many cars a person needs. Athletes spend their money on cars, entertainment, clothes, and their big mansions. Another instance of athletes spoiling themselves is the use of illegal drugs (“Pro Salaries”). Michael Irvin of the Dallas Cowboys has been involved in many of these altercations. He has been through all the punishments there possibly is and still makes his money (“Pro Salaries”). Athletes think they are at a higher level and that they can do whatever they want. An issue that everyone hears about everyday that a pro athlete has committed a murder/crime. Ray Lewis, a safety for the Baltimore Ravens, is being tried for two accounts of murder. He is an excellent athlete. He is on the pro-bowl team for the 1999 season and led the league in tackles. He has just ruined his career by even being involved in a situation like this. Another player is Robert Lewis, a 20 year-old basketball player from the Dallas Mavericks. He was convicted of beating his girlfriend almost to death. A 20-year-old basketball star doesn’t need to feel that he is a king to be a leader. What kind of role model is he setting to other youngsters that want to follow in the same footsteps?

The salaries of athletes are extremely high for the effort that they put through. For example, basketball, baseball, and hockey athletes only compete for about 6-8 months a year. Then they have...

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...r salaries are too high to compare. They do entertain the public, but the expense for the entertainment is too steep. Athletes should make a decent salary, but they should have control over their limits. They deserve a salary that would compare to other officials who are more important to the people and that have a role which effects the people as a whole. Something must be done before a drastic change occurs.

Bibliography:

“Athletes’ Salary.” CQ Researcher. 2000.

Bagnato, Andrew. “Against the (cash) flow as revenue streams into college coffers,

Some athletes are clamoring for their cut of the profits.” Chicago Tribune 23 Feb. 1997: 1.

Bryjak, George J. “The Name of the Game is Money.” USA TODAY Sept. 1998:

67-69.

Danziger, Lucy S. “Sweet Inequity.” Women’s Sports and Fitness July 1999: 17.

Kindred, David. “In the name of sanity.” The Sporting News 20 Apr. 1998: 63.

“Pro Salaries.” n. pag. On-line. Internet.

http://www.nonline.com/procon/html/prosalary.htm. 12 Jan. 2000.

Spiegel, Peter. “Athletes.” Forbes 22 Mar. 1999: 220.

Wigge, Larry. “Millennium mind-set: Open up game and close wallets.” Sporting

News 10 Jan. 2000: 58-59.

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