Why Do Professional Athletes Are Paid Too Much?

1832 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Professional athlete salary

Josh Roller
Period 6
11/23/13

Professional Athletes are Paid Too Much
When the average American envisions a professional athlete, they imagine that athlete to be in a massive mansion, with a garage full of expensive and exotic cars, relaxing in designer clothes and spending the day pondering what they could spend their money on. Their lives are great and even after they retire they remain in the country’s spotlight and stay wealthy beyond all belief. Why do professional athletes lead such a good life if they do not fulfill any necessary functions within society? Professional athletes make too much money in comparison to hard working professionals who are employed with jobs that are more essential and important for the general population’s survival and effectiveness. These professional athletes are making huge amounts of money that they do not deserve and something needs to be changed to remove this.
Athletes make incredibly ridiculous amounts of money, Forbes Magazine lists Tiger Woods, a professional golf player, as the highest paid athlete in the entire world in 2013 (Forbes). Tiger Woods currently has a net worth of over $500 million, on track to be the first billionaire athlete of all time, and he brings in $78 million annually. The vast majority of the money that Tiger Woods receives is not from winning competitions or as a salary, but rather from endorsements. Tiger Woods is an incredibly marketable athlete and has received numerous contracts with many large companies including General Motors, General Mills, American Express and Nike, Inc. Tiger Woods has only been a professional golfer since August of 1996, creating an astronomical fortune in such a short amount of time. Second to Tiger Woods in yearly earnings i...

... middle of paper ...

...ysical toll they put on their bodies in an attempt to be the best. While this may be a compelling argument, no one needs $500 million to live comfortably for an entire lifetime. Not only are these people overcompensated for the time they spend actually competing in their sports, they can easily take jobs after their short career in sports. Nothing stops these athletes from making a living off of another job after their athletic career is over. These athletes have no true reason to the necessity of them earning so much money.
While much of the world loves to watch their favorite sport, they do not approve of how much that they have to pay to do so. These people have demanding and important jobs, but receive no where near as much money as the athletes they watch do. Professional athletes should not get as much money as they currently are in this flawed system.

Show More
Related

  • Why Do Professional Athletes Get Paid Salary Cap

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Doctor Chris Mueller of bleacher report, the highest paid doctor in America averages about 500,000 dollars a year in comparison the highest payed Bears player who averages 13 million dollars a year (Muller 5). In total that is twenty-six times as much as a high leveled doctor makes within his career (Muller 5). There is another argument for this side of the topic relating to winning a game for the athletes is like selling many of their products (Pages 1-2). However, many people do not take into consideration the outside expense such as insurance and injury cost (Muller 7). Many athletes do get high wages, however, when you take into consideration their medical expense, do they really get as much income as we think they do? Almost every professional athlete has been injured within his or her

    Read More

  • Are Professional Athletes Overpaid?

    2054 Words  | 5 Pages

    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. Athletes are offered endorsements to act as a representative for a company to help promote sales. They often are seen in commercials promoting athletic apparel, shoes, sports drinks, food, and other products.

    Read More

  • Essay Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

    647 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is the education they get that matters. Just because they aren’t receiving money for what they do doesn’t mean they are aren’t being paid. Millions of dollars are spent updating the areas they play and train in. The reality is athletes are working full-time jobs for an average wage. While the institutions they are attending are getting rich, they are missing out on their pay day.

    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

  • Should College Athletes Be Paid Essay

    618 Words  | 2 Pages

    Argument Essay Athletes are people with amazing talents. Although to some it is reasonable most people do not agree with the salary they earn on the day to day. The most paid athlete in the industry is Floyd Mayweather. His net worth is 560 million dollars. His salary is 300 million dollars.

    Read More

  • Negative Essay: Are Athletes Overpaid?

    1789 Words  | 4 Pages

    The salary of professional athletes are always being debated on whether they make too much or it 's the right amount they should make. Some of the athletes do make millions and millions of dollars, but there is some that don 't. Anyways in order to make the millions first an athletes must make it to the professional level. For example in soccer only 1.4% of people actually make it to the professional level. So the rest of the people make it for other sports such as football, basketball, baseball, and others. To be considered a professional athlete you must be getting payed to play a sport. They will be playing for a league and even tournaments and get rewarded with more money if they win. Some may think an athlete

    Read More

  • Elite Athletes are Being Paid too Much

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    Last year tiger woods made 87 million dollars, to put that into perspective that’s 34800 times what George Bush makes a year and he is one of the most influential, powerful people in the world. During Mike Tyson’s match against Peter McNealy he made 281,000 dollars, in a single second. This poses the question, how can he, or anyone for that matter deserve to make that much money?

    Read More

  • Are Athletes Paid Too Much Essay

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    Americans believe that athletes, celebrities, and CEOs are the highest paid jobs in America. This belief is true however the average income of these three jobs is nowhere near what the perception is. Athletes are the most confusing when it comes to pay since people do not factor in that an average professional is only 4.85 years, NFL is 3.5 years, MLB is 5.6 years, NBA is 4.8, and NHL is 5.5 years, (RSVLTS, 2013) United States Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that an average income for “athletes and sport competitors” was only $47,710 (BLS, 2017). People believe that athletes are only the stars you see on television, but this is not the case. Athletes are risking their health for that paycheck. They spend a majority of their lives in the gym or on

    Read More

  • Are Professional Athletes Overpaid?

    1777 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Professional Athletes are Not Overpaid

    1092 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Athletes: Playing for Pay

    916 Words  | 2 Pages

    Should professional athletes earn millions of dollars for playing a game? Athletes should not be making millions and millions of dollars while more important jobs earn significantly less. There are doctors who save lives daily and they do not even make a tenth of what some athletes make. It is crazy to believe that someone is really worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and all they have to do is play a sport; a sport that millions of people would play for free if given the chance.

    Read More

  • Why Do Athletes Get Overpaid

    414 Words  | 1 Pages

    In conclusion,athletes earn every penny of their money. You can't put a price on talent, but that's everybody's opinion. These athletes are living the dream life and most people are jealous of it. People are jealous and feel as if their jobs are negligible. If you have a dream go after it, don't wait, sooner or later it's going to be too

    Read More

  • Salaries of Athletes are too High

    2020 Words  | 5 Pages

    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?

    Read More

  • Are sports stars grossly overpaid?

    397 Words  | 1 Pages

    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 professionals.

    Read More

  • Professional Athlete Salaries

    1356 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Why Do Professional Athletes Are Paid Too Much?

Open Document