If you run a business where your budget is $100,000, and you're paying someone $110,000, then you're overpaying them because you simply cannot afford it. However, if your budget is $100,000 and you pay someone $100,000, and then because of their success or drawing power your budget increases, you're no longer overpaying them as you can now afford it. That is quite often the case in professional sports; a team is in a seemingly unproductive market, signs a superstar athlete at a high price, and then they make money because of the financial pull of that athlete. Take the Minnesota Timberwolves for example; they had a poor market for basketball until they had Kevin Garnett for 10 years in the area of $15 million per year. During that time, the team made money, now they traded him away and the attendance drastically dropped, and the team is unsuccessful.
In the 1996-1997 season, NBA’s Michael Jordan was paid $33,450,000 for the year, or just over $1.06 per second, an outrageous amount of money for a player to play the game he loves to play. He was paid $178,000 a day whether he played or not. There is no doubt that professional athletes are talented, but when Kevin Garnett, who is not even a college graduate, makes over 16 million dollars a year, that becomes a problem. While that may seem outrageous, deliberations over pro athletes salaries are nothing new. When baseball’s Babe Ruth was reportedly asked about earning a larger salary than the United States President Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression in the 1930’s Ruth defended his salary in response, “Why not?
In today’s society professional sports and professional athletes make tremendous amounts of money due to us citizens. The money we pay to watch professional sports all goes to the teams, the money we spend on food when were at the games go to the teams. Since pro athletes make such a huge amount of money from our support cheering them on, shouldn’t pro teams and pro athletes pay subsidy taxes for social needs? I believe that professional sports and pro athletes should pay an amount of taxes for social needs. Professional athletes make millions of dollars every year and it isn’t fair for those out on the streets that don’t make money close to a pro athlete.
Millions of people in America attend professional sporting events across the country to see their favorite teams compete. However, they do not see the economical view of these teams and do not see how these teams are run as a business. Sports economists such as Simon Rottenberg, Walter Neale, and Peter Sloane have analyzed the economics of sports in the 1950s through the 1970s. Their analyzations included topics such as the league market structure, labor markets, broadcasting, and demand. These 4 areas of economic interest are how professional sports teams are run and also how they make money with such high payrolls.
Name Teacher Class Date Why are professional athletes considered excessively paid? Should or shouldn’t they be getting paid as much as they are, and what are the affects of this problem? Professional athletes may not be as overpaid as you think. Professional sports are a central portion of American society in today’s world, and without them there would be a huge difference in the economy. Also, athletes have to work extremely hard to make it into a professional league, let alone be a superstar.
A famous movie star can receive several millions of dollars for a single film as well as a football player has a one hundred million contract with a certain club. Like every problem, the question about the salary of actors and athletes has its supporters and opponents, but let us dwell on the positive sides of the high payment. It does not worth mentioning that actors and athletes work hard to achieve success in their profession; they have to keep to the standards in everything: shape, weight, fashion, etc. They spend more than 12 hours working on the role in the movie or training in the gym. The most reasonable explanation of the high payment is that these people present not only themselves but the whole country on the international arena in sports and art, so they should be supported and praised as they create the image of their country.
According to Bhagat, one’s pay should be earned by economic importance and value. He compares an athlete’s salary to an average classroom teacher’s salary and concludes that a professional athlete should not have the higher salary. Since society’s future and economy depends of the education of our youth, Bhagat believes “Teaching is one of the most economically important occupations.” (1) He claims that the yearly salary of a regular school teacher is synonymic to each basket that Kobe Bryant, a professional basketball player in the NBA, scores. Bhagat disagrees with the argument that since professional athletes entertain millions of people across the globe, they provide society with more service rather than a teacher does teaching to students. Bhagat states that, “In order for these players to gain respect, they need to have a more significant impact on the community.” (1) Bhagat’s intended audience is the athlete’s team owners, made up of primarily men.
I would like to point out that even if a pro athlete is paid the league minimum for sitting on the bench for the 99.99% of the season, they are still making more money than the individuals people rely on day-in and day-out to make the world go round Professional: engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation rather than as a pastime Athlete: a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise. 1) Training - the Athletes goes through vigorous training & we all would have to accept that It is hard. But let's look at the training a Lawyer & Doctor go through. A doctor first has to graduate from College which is 4 four years. Then after the 4 years they have to go to four years of medical school.
Many question if professional athletes deserve the salary that many are of them are receiving. Indeed professional athletes work hard for their money, but so does any police officer, teacher or anyone in the medical field. Each of these three professions show value and should be paid more than any pro athlete, that are basically for entertainment purposes. Professions that risk their own life, save life, or teach life are the most precious and should be receiving the million dollar contracts. In a society where some crucial careers are overlooked and underpaid, athletes are undeservedly overpaid.
Wouldn’t it be amazing to make millions of dollars by playing one game or tournament? Well famous athletes feel they do. Many people feel that professional athletes are extremely overpaid. People feel professional athletes are getting to much money in a society where incomes are traditionally based on the value of one's work. Average Americans work standard hours and get paid a dismal amount compared to an athlete.