Pro athletes make too much money11/21/2023 Professional athletes also find themselves working through hectic travel plans and hotel-living situations. When a professional athlete is not involved in an actual game, you most likely will not find them lounging on a couch with a trail of potato chip crumbs on their sweatshirts. Yes, professional athletes work on a daily basis to keep in top shape, both physically and mentally. But in the end, my argument remains that the reason I believe professional athletes are not “overpaid” is due to the value society places on their specific occupation. While they do forfeit some things in life for the sake of their occupation, many others do the same in a more intense and beneficial way to society. And while so many are under the impression that this paycheck has one too many zeros in it, I believe that these individuals are dedicating themselves so fully to their occupation, purely for our entertainment I might add, should not be villainized for the amount of their reimbursement. We question just how much skill it takes to run after a ball in direct comparison to some of the other professions within our society. Perhaps one of the oldest debates within the realm of sports is in reference to the fat paycheck the professional athletes, whom we continuously cheer on, get stuffed into their back pockets. There are some things that one can regularly expect during this time of the year, and Sunday night football is one such item. When athletes are paid this much money, they are taught to believe that they are the most valued members of society and thus can get away with anything, which is the failure of our society in training our athletes to believe this. Giving these athletes this much financial freedom could be why many athletes feel entitled, leading to issues of sexual and domestic violence. It is irresponsible of our society to trust 20-somethings with this much money. Sean Salisbury, a sports talk show host and former NFL quarterback, says about Young, “When you’re making money, you think it’s going to last forever.” Vince Young is one such athlete, an NFL quarterback that made $34 million over six seasons, and had to declare bankruptcy due to legal costs, loans, and overspending. According to Sports Illustrated, 78% of pro football players go broke after retirement and 60% of basketball players lose all of their funds within 5 years of retirement. A large number of athletes that are making millions early on actually end up going bankrupt because they never learn proper finance management. The enticement of millions of dollars is just too much, even compared to a degree that would benefit these athletes after they retire from professional sports.Įven more common than leaving college early, many professional athletes end up losing all of their money and filing for bankruptcy. This creates a dilemma, as some college athletes are actually able to make more money by dropping out of college and joining the professional leagues than by staying in school. While professional sports do play an important and valued role in our culture, I question how much we are willing to pay our professional athletes, especially considering how college athletes are often paid nothing in cash (excluding scholarship funds). In fact, the amount of money Kobe Bryant makes for each basket is equal to the yearly salary of the average schoolteacher. I believe these salary amounts reveal something terrible about our society: we are much more willing to support our professional athletes than we are willing to support teachers, firemen/women or veterans. To put this in perspective, the President of the United States has a $400,000 annual salary. According to the Huffington Post, within a five-year period an average professional athlete in the NBA makes $24.7 million, $17.9 million in the MLB, and $1.9 million in the NFL. The United States pays its professional athletes way too much.
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