Over Paid Professional Athletes
One million dollars, sounds nice doesn’t it? What about 22 million dollars? That amount of money is a mere fairy tale to the millions of average Joes of America, but for a “special” portion of Americans it is a year to year reality. Professional athletes sign a contract every five to seven years to play the sport they have been practicing for years. With these contracts they will make on average two million dollars a year. Remember, that is just an average; some professional athletes can make up to thirty million dollars a year. While reading the article Are Professional Athletes Over-Paid or Justly Compensated? from The Atlanta Post by Khalid Salaam, one statement really stood out. She states, “The 1st mistake people make is grouping all pro athletes together. Are we talking about anglers? Bowlers? Stock car drivers? Pool players? Pokers players? volleyball players? Cyclists? What do people mean when they say pro athletes?” Khalid is right; people tend to group all professional athletes together when there are actually three major groups of athletes that contain the most egotistical, selfish, and overpaid members. The professional athletes who fall into this category belong to the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), and Major League Baseball (MLB). These players are getting paid millions of dollars to dribble, throw, or catch a ball. However, when they break an ankle the doctor helping to heal them barely breaks two hundred thousand dollars a year. There are fire fighters and police officers that put their lives on the line to keep complete strangers safe, yet they can barely keep food on the table to feed their family. Then you have these men who are supposed to be “role models” for children all over the world that can’t even keep out of trouble with the law, but still they get millions of dollars a year to play a game. Who allows these professional athletes the insane amount of money they make a year? Is it the bank, the general managers, the coaches, or do the fans contribute to the athletes pay check when they buy their favorite player’s jersey?
I will elaborate on the salaries of several different players for a better understanding of the unjustly amount of money these undeserving players make. Aaron Rodgers is a quarterback for the Green Bay packers. They were the 2010 Super Bowl champions and are currently undefeated in the 2011 season. Aaron has been called the best quarter back of the season and he is, at the moment, unstoppable. His stats are incredible; according to ESPN.com, Rodger has thrown for a little under 3,000 yards and has a 65.7% completion rate. These statistics are current for the 2011 season; there are still a few regular season games left, along with playoffs and the Super Bowl. There is no doubt Rodgers is an amazing quarterback, but is he worth the seven to ten million dollars he can make in just one year?
What about the famous Alex Rodriguez, who is currently the number one paid professional athlete in the United States? Rodriquez is the third baseman for the New York Yankees. His batting average for the 2011 season is .276, which isn’t incredible, but not terrible either. He’s had 16 homeruns, 62 runs batted in, and his on base percentage is at about 38.6%. He has had six errors while playing third base, which is also mediocre. Guess what this non-superstar athlete makes per year? Drum roll please - 32 million dollars. You can go back and re-read that sentence, but I promise you read it correctly the first time. Alex Rodriguez makes 32 million dollars a year and doesn’t even have above average stats. Then there is the NBA, which is currently going through a lock-out because the players want to be paid more, and the owners do not agree. LeBron James, weighing in at 250 lbs and standing nearly 7 ft tall, made roughly 16 million dollars during the 2010-2011 season. He averaged 26.7 points per game, he assisted 7 times, and his player efficiency rating is 27.34. Lebron does amazing things with a basketball, but all he does is play basketball. He does not even have a college education, and neither does Alex Rodriguez. (All statistics found on ESPN.com and all salaries were found on sportcity.com)
Doctors and teachers go through years of college and training to begin their careers. Some even pay thousands of dollars to get through school, to buy the books needed for their classes, and the energy drinks needed to stay up all night cramming for their exams. Doctors take about 4 years of college, four years of medical school, and then they have to complete a residency program. When they are finally done with all the education and training they can make about 100,000-250,000 dollars a year, on average. What about our precious teachers who teach our children who will one day take care of and run our nation? Honestly, teachers with the salaries they make can barely take care of a family of four. A salary for a kindergarten to 12th grade teacher doesn’t even break 50,000 dollars a year. However, if the teacher had instead focused on sports, he or she could potentially earn more. What about our firemen who go into buildings that are on fire and are minutes away from collapsing or our police officers who walk through empty warehouses knowing there are armed criminals afoot? Are those men and women over-paid for their duties? More like under-paid - fire fighters average about 40-50,000 dollars a year and police officers usually earn the same salary. We have men and woman all over the world that are woefully underpaid when compared to professional athletes. But the jobs they perform are much more helpful and make a positive effect in society. (All salaries were averaged and found at whatsthesalary.com)
Football players are supposed to be role models and are supposed to set examples for young children all over the world. These men in the NFL, NBA, and MLB make millions of dollars a year. One would think their money would go to good rather than evil. Some of these men are convicted criminals and are still being over-paid. In 2007, a former Atlanta Falcon, Michael Vick, was convicted of fighting dogs for money. Today in the 2011 season, Vick is making 13-14 million dollars a year. There are several athletes that have been arrested for illegal drug use, possession, robbery, theft, shootings, simple battery, and many other things we do not want our children to emulate. Matt Lefevre gives further examples of “what great role models” these men are in his article on Professional athletes are overpaid and selfish in The Quinnipiac Chronicle. Lefevre tells us about how “Even the most squeaky clean athlete has skeletons in his closet, Kobe Bryant (accused rapist), Jason Kidd (convicted spousal abuser), Baker (admitted alcoholic), Mo Vaughn (DUI arrest), Barry Bonds (alleged steroid abuser), and Jason Giambi (see Bonds’ accusation).“ Kobe Bryant made 27 million dollars in the 2010-2011 NBA season. This tells our children nothing other than there are no consequence for their wrongful doings? How are these men still getting paid millions of dollars every year even though it’s obvious they do not deserve it? Well, at the moment I am wearing a Mark Ingram jersey. Mark Ingram is a rookie running back for the New Orleans Saints. Ingram will average about 600,000 dollars this year and my 60 dollar jersey contributed to that salary. The fans are the ones who ultimately pay the players. Dan K. Thomas made a comment about the contribution to the over-paid players in his article Professional athletes are coddled and over paid in The Oakland Press. “The entertainment that keeps tons of millions of devoted fans glued to their TV sets and the comparative few who can afford the exorbitant prices to be in the arenas.” Thomas makes a very valid point with the comment about “the exorbitant prices” of the arenas. The gate price to get into the arena can be about 20-75 dollars, the price for a ticket can range from 100-7,000 dollars, and then the beers, hot dogs, and candy add up quickly, especially when families are involved. Anything purchased at a game goes to the pocket change of the players. All the stickers for your car, flags in your garden, cheerleading outfits for your baby girl, or the baseball cap of your favorite team - a percentage of that sale goes to the pocket of the team players. Justin Hartfield writes an article, Athletes' Salaries Reflect the Market, in The Prometheus Institute, that helps explain the way these players are paid. Hartfield states, “When the Lakers pay Shaq $120 million, they are paying him a small percentage of the revenue he actually generates.” The bulk of the disgusting amounts of money the players make come right out of yours, mine, and even your neighbor’s check book.”
Knowing how much these players make from the market, why are they still paid millions of dollars? With growing technology there has to be a way to keep the unnecessary amount of money offered from getting out of hand. There is no way a professional athlete should be making so much more than the nurse that sewed up his head wound or the educator teaching his child how to add and subtract. It is unconscionable that convicted criminals are making millions of dollars every year. Every Sunday we watch our favorite team play because no one will boycott a sport - it’s just too entertaining. So, who is really to blame?
Work Cited Page
Hartfield, Justin. “Athletes' Salaries Reflect the Market." The Prometheus Institute - The Prometheus Institute | Live Free. 01 Jan. 2008. Web. 01 Nov. 2011. <http://theprometheusinstitute.org/index.php?option=com_content>.
Lefebvre, Matt. "Professional Athletes Are Overpaid and Selfish." The Quinnipiac Chronicle. Apr. 2004. Web. 01 Nov. 2011. <http://www.quchronicle.com/2004/04/professional-athletes-are-overpaid-and-selfish/>.
"NFL 2010 - 2011 Team Salaries | NFL Conference Salaries | 2010 - 2011 NFL Salaries ." NBA NFL NHL MLB News and Rumors | NBA NFL NHL MLB Records | NBA NFL NHL MLB Mock Drafts. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. <http://www.sportscity.com/NFL-Salaries/>.
"NFL - Players Rosters - National Football League - ESPN." ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. <http://espn.go.com/nfl/players>.
Salaam, Khalid. "Are Professional Athletes Over-Paid or Justly Compensated? The Atlanta Post." The Atlanta Post African-American News, Business & Black Politics Career & Small Business Advice For Entrepreneurs. 29 June 2010. Web. 01 Nov. 2011. <http://atlantapost.com/2010/06/29/are-professional-athletes-over-paid-or-justly-compensated/>.
Thomasson, Dan K. "Professional Athletes Are Coddled and over Paid - Theoaklandpress.com." The Oakland Press : The Best Place for News in and around Oakland County. Scripps Howard News Service, 18 Dec. 2010. Web. 01 Nov. 2011. <http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2010/12/18/opinion/doc4d0aaca14fbd5785756446.txt>.
"What's The Salary? | Find Out If That Job Is Really Worth It!." What's The Salary? | Find Out If That Job Is Really Worth It!. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. <http://whatsthesalary.com/>.
