Professional Athletes Are Overpaid

January 30, 2013
Sports Salaries Professional sports are a major part of today’s entertainment. Christopher Hammond believes they earn what they are paid. He states that anyone who makes the case that sports stars are overpaid may be suffering from wealth envy. Athletes work incredibly hard to achieve what they have accomplished according to Hammond. He also says professional athletes produce much more money for others than they themselves receive. Who gets the money then? The people who already make millions a year owning sports companies? It is simple; Athletes get paid too much. The truth is that basketball, football, and other sports are just games. Being paid an average of two million dollars a year to dribble a ball down a court is just outrageous.
Christopher Hammond, however, disagrees.
He believes the players earn every dollar they make. Athletes train year-round which can be tough on the body, but some could argue that thousands of men all over the country workout every day as well. Christopher believes they make many sacrifices for their game. If it only took working out and a few sacrifices to make millions of dollars, then where is the sign-up sheet? The truth is players are greedy. They get paid much more money than they deserve to spend on girls, houses, and fancy cars. Athletes like LeBron James of the Miami Heat are getting paid 14.5 million dollars for shooting some hoops is just appalling. It is even worse when there are stories of athletes holding out on signing contracts because they think they are worth more than they are offered. While children are starving to death in Africa, players are throwing hissy fits because six million dollars is not
enough. While only a small amount of young people go into the professional sports, most attend college to study, learn, and have a career. Christopher says students “slog” their way through school and into an easy job. He states a player’s discipline and “self-sacrifice” is greater than the work of any accountant or engineer world-wide. Apparently someone who is intelligent and has a career has an easier lifestyle than an athlete who probably is not even smart enough to pass some classes in college. There are amazing human beings saving lives while getting paid a massive amount of money less than sports players. Some may say the fans play a huge role in a player’s salary. Christopher exclaims that company’s hire sports stars to represent their product because their presence draws in customers. Hammond says that shoe companies, drink companies, and underwear companies that pay athletes to be in commercials make huge profits from it. Part of that statement may be true; however, the companies are still going to have business no matter who is in their commercials. The fans are considered a high contributor to the game, but is there no better way to spend the money? While there are families getting kicked out of their homes for not making rent, athletes are getting paid unneeded money that could help the less fortunate. In the end, it is pretty clear that one man making millions to play a game is unnecessary. Yes, sports are a major part of the media today, but the world can survive without them. There are much more important subjects to worry about than if the Baltimore Ravens are going to beat the San Francisco 49ers.