Professional Athletes Salary Essay Example

📌Category: Athletes, Sports
📌Words: 974
📌Pages: 4
📌Published: 22 August 2020

Professional careers like doctors, lawyers, teachers, and so on help enhance and improve the world by helping people in need and teaching the new generation new things. However, they are paid less compared to professional athletes that only give people entertainment. To become a professional athlete, a person has to train hard and earn good grades in school so that they can participate in the team. Medical doctors, lawyers, and teachers must struggle their way into college for many years to earn a degree in the field they are interested in, just to find themselves into debt after they graduate. 

Athletes are overpaid for playing a sport that only allows people to watch and argue about who the best player is, meanwhile doctors, lawyers, and such must spend their lives actually helping people with medical reasons, anything in the law field, and helping children just to be underpaid. 

Doctors, lawyers, teachers, and even professors put in hard work daily to provide what is good for the community, even though they are still in debt from student loans. They are not able to pay the loans back due to them not getting paid enough from their current job to pay back colleges and still have enough money to pay for their bills. The lowest salary for an athlete is still much higher than an average person’s job. Victor Cruz, New York Giants wide receiver, claimed that he was making $43 million in 2014, but he should be paid more due to it “not being enough” (Entertainers/Athletes Are). Victor Cruz is upset about making $43 million a year, when an average median household makes only about $56,516 a year. 

Being injured as a worker in most careers can lead to unemployment, while athletes who are injured and cannot play are still being paid because they still are on the field and on the team until they get better (On The Bench). Athletes are being paid even though they are not physically on the field playing, while others cannot afford to be injured,  it would lead them to unemployment or find themselves behind work. How fair is that a person can make“...19 million dollars to swing a bat at a ball is making more per game than the average American household makes in an entire decade” (To Sides to). 

With an everyday lifestyle, paying for bills and necessities is easier for a person who just swings a bat to get whatever they want while others, the average household worker, have to think about how wisely they have to spend their money on, so they do not end up bankrupt. Athletes are getting paid to the point where they start getting millions of money when the money that they are receiving could be put into good use for students, hospitals, and so much more.

Sports used to be based on the amount of work, the family atmosphere in the team, and time invested in training to succeed at the end of their season. The true meaning of the sport is taken away due to “athletes’ large salaries, more youngsters want to become professional athletes – but for the big money, not for the love of the game” (Do Professional Athletes). Young teenagers are striving to become athletes simply for the money that is potentially earned by being a part of a team and not actually loving the sport that they are competing in. Athletes nowadays are more based on, “popularity and how much money that person can bring to that team by attracting more fans, meaning more money” (Professional Athletes are). 

The skill level for an athlete is barely recognized due to how popular the athlete is, their skills are only recognized during the game. But even if they do bad at the game, they will still be paid for playing the game. No matter how we look at it, professional athletes only give the world entertainment while “...soldiers, firefighters and policemen perform physically to save the lives of others on a daily basis” (Are Professional Athletes). An average household creates change and gives what is actually needed, while athletes only change the score of a game. Anyone can become an athlete just by practicing and being popular, while working in an average household is harder due to graduating college, and actually having to succeed in the career chosen. 

However, athletes sacrifice their health to go to the NFL, NBA, and so on even though during the game things could go wrong. Athletes have to leave their families to go on away games while families and athletes have to worry about any “physical injury that can leave [the athlete] handicapped or disabled for the rest of their lives” (3 Reason Why). Athletes must go on knowing that they can be injured for the rest of their lives just to play, which is the exact reason why they deserve their money. Although, without having a doctor to rely on to help people get better, no one would survive without them. The average household deserves more money then they are receiving due to it being them helping and improving the world and people.  

An average household is paid way less compared to a professional athlete, even though an average household works twice as much. Professional athletes' salary is in the millions, while the average household is in the hundred thousands. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, and others are necessary to the world and help improve it one way or another. However, all athletes really do is entertain the world, but people can entertain themselves if athletes had never existed. Where as if doctors, lawyers, and teachers hadn't existed the world would’ve been a complete mess. The average household does provide change for the world, but gets paid less compared to an athlete who does not really provide change.  

Works Cited

Jenkins, Haley. “Entertainers/Athletes Are Getting Paid More Than Real Heroes.” The Odyssey Online, Odyssey, 30 Aug. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/entertainers-athletes-paid-real-heroes.

Gelber, Jon. “Why Doctors Should Be Paid More.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 22 Mar. 2017, www.huffpost.com/entry/why-doctors-should-be-pai_n_9510048.

Mueller, Chris. “Two Sides to Every Coin: Are Professional Athletes Overpaid?” Bleacher Report, Bleacher Report, 3 Oct. 2017, bleacherreport.com/articles/1089195-two-sides-to-.

Reed, Parker. “Are Professional Athletes Overpaid?” The Spectator, www.spectatornews.com/sports/2017/03/08/are-professional-athletes-overpaid/.

Baldwin, James. “Login.” TeenInk, 29 Nov. 2007, www.teenink.com/opinion/all/article/24311/Professional-Athletes-are-Overpaid-for-their-Jobs/.

Bhagat, Mihir. “Do Professional Athletes Get Paid Too Much Money?” Bleacher Report, Bleacher Report, 3 Oct. 2017,  bleacherreport.com/articles/366795-do-athletes-get-paid-too-much-money.

 

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