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[Professor]

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Athletes Get Paid Too Much for What They Do

Many people believe that athletes are being paid more than any other occupation. They

believe that this payment is rather unfair as different occupations deserve to be paid more. This

debate has been going for many years now. Athletes are paid as much as a million dollars for

their games, but hardly many reach the professional level to be earning this much. Professional

athletes are paid hefty just to be seen on television for the viewers' entertainment purposes only.

Compensations or payments nowadays are based on the level of entertainment or viewership an

athlete can bring rather than the importance of the job. Many believe that these athletes do not do

any good to the community or have any essential function to perform like the doctors, military,

or teachers, etc. and even then, they are being paid more than these occupations combined.

Athletes sometimes demand a high number of salaries themselves and their reasoning behind this

payment is questioned.

Athletes are being hefty for doing something they love. If someone loves to play football

and they are being paid for it then any pay should suffice. But these athletes ask for a high

number of salaries themselves. Since they are being paid hefty, they start asking for whatever

contract they think is fine. They have spoiled themselves and their families and have not

prioritized their needs logically. According to Patrick Ewing in an article from the New York
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Times “with the money I’m making now I can’t afford to support my family” [ CITATION Far98 \l

1033 ]. This comment seems bizarre, as they need their wants to be fulfilled and their fans must

pay for their multi-million-dollar estate.

According to Labor Statistics [CITATION Bur21 \n \l 1033 ], a surgeon makes less than

$395,456 a year, whereas an army general with more than twenty years of service makes almost

$193k per year and firefighters make less than $50,000 in a year, and athletes are paid millions

of dollars each year. One of the main examples encapsulating that compensations are in

accordance with the entertainment being provided and not job importance is that Barrack Obama

made $400k during his presidency whereas Ronaldo and Kobe make $56 million and $250

million a year simultaneously. Now if we could just imagine that athletes were wiped from the

face of the Earth, surely, people would mourn the loss of their role models and would not have

any entertainment anymore, but they would find other ways to entertain themselves. But what if

there were no doctors or teachers who are the foundation of every occupation. The world would

feel lost. Without doctors, there would be no one to cure the diseased. Without the firefighters,

people would die in fires. Without the army, there would be no defense. Hence, it could be

reconsidered where this amount gets transferred to.

But there are other arguments that state that these athletes are not overpaid rather are

deserving of their pay. These athletes are a part of a roster created by the professional sporting

franchise. These athletes work hard to make sure that their roster is worth more. If they perform

well, they get more revenue, more fans, and eventually are worth more. And only the

professionals or the top-tiered athletes get paid 10-15% of what the whole roster is worth.

Whereas the bottom tiered hardly gets paid. Sports franchises are one of the wealthiest industries

in the world as they get their revenue from different platforms and act as an emblem in the
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industry. The athletes under them are not overpaid, rather are just small gear that makes the

windmill of the sports franchise industry move.

In conclusion, the debate stands that athletes are overpaid or not. Other more important

occupations need to be funded rather than an occupation that needs to work for half a year only.

Surely, the occupation is strenuous and there may be injuries, but even then, these professional

athletes are highly overpaid. And it shows that the system of payment and compensations rely

solely on entertainment rather than how important one’s job is.

Bibliography

Farell, William E. "Holdout Continues." New York Times 15 August 1998: E13.

Statistics, Bureau of Labor. "Occupational Outlook Handbook." n.d. U.S. Department of Labor.
Web. 29 March 2021.