Are Professional Athletes Overpaid

As many people know professional athletes tend to be paid very well. Whether they play soccer, basketball, or golf they make more money than many people could ever dream of. Whether it is all deserved or not is the biggest question. In Reed and O’Connors article Are Professional Athletes Overpaid they provide this information, “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an Army General with over 20 years of service makes approximately $192,864 a year. The 2014 median compensation for a General Surgeon was just under $395,456 a year. The men and women who run straight into fires, risking their lives to save others make only $46,870 per year. So why are professional athletes being paid millions or even billions of dollars each year?” While …show more content…
Reed gives us this as an example, “Athletes are paid millions of dollars to play a game.” Yes they are paid to play the game they are talented enough to star in but they are well deserving of all this money. This information from Reed and O’Connor speaks for itself, “LeBron James of the National Basketball Association takes home 30.96 million dollars a season. Tom Brady of the National Football League nets a clean 27 million every year and Clayton Kershaw of Major League Baseball accumulates 34.57 million each season, according to forbes.com. The Cleveland Cavaliers, the team that James leads, are worth a cool 1.1 billion dollars. The New England Patriots, the organization Brady heads, is worth an outstanding 2.6 billion dollars. And the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team that ace pitcher Kershaw throws for, is worth 2 billion dollars, according to cnbc.com.” While people want to argue that the world would be fine without having sports to watch that is not the problem at hand. The problem here is the economic benefit the world receives from these brilliant organizations. These three teams alone are worth more than five billion dollars and the world has plenty of sports teams making mad money. Athletes that ride the bench are more than just another cheerleader hoping their team wins a title, they are a part of the process and motivation that gets their organization ready to bring in money and …show more content…
They work their whole life to succeed at a sport and then all of a sudden it is over so they are left with loads of free time and a hole in their life. Sometimes they have problems coping with the new world around them and make rash decisions. Many make negative decisions such as this retired hockey player who said, “The anxiety and depression and stuff. It was very tough and I still struggle with it… I did try to [take my own life], I was just fed up and nothing was going right and I decided to put some alcohol in my body and drive (McKenna).” This is just one example of how hard life can be for athletes after they are done chasing their dreams and try to find a life outside of sports. Fortunately, this is a rare case after retirement (McKenna). The athletes who do not make enough money in their dream job to support them for the rest of their lives have to work hard to maintain a job (McKenna). As long as they put forth the effort they did while participating in their sport they will succeed in everyday life with few struggles after the initial retirement (McKenna). Many people would not understand the struggle of this transition, seeing as their job after schooling is most likely consistent compared to that of an athlete. Many athletes who make sufficient money for retirement and then some give back to their community while supporting the players of the future. Often times staying in the sports world