Why Do Athletes Get Overpaid

Overpaid to Play Everyone’s thought about or daydreamed about how amazing it would be to win the lottery, to see your ticket’s numbers listed on the television screen and get that fat check with six zeros on the end. Who wouldn’t like that kind of luxury and security in life? Likewise, most athletes who have reached the pinnacle of their careers, expect some sort of large check from their team because it’s what they “deserve.” Not only are they wrong, but often times their greed can even take away the fun of the game for them and for the fans watching. In fact, combined salaries of the sports baseball, basketball, and football in America totaled nearly 9 billion dollars ("How Much Pro Athletes Pay in Federal Income Tax”)! Professional sports teams should not pay their players, even the great ones, as large of salaries as they …show more content…
According to Mueller, the lowest paid player on the Chicago Bulls basketball team would receive $850,000 in 2012 alone. However, the average household income in 2014 was close to $54,000 ("Typical American Family Earned $53,657 Last Year."). The basketball player receives nearly $800,000 more than an average entire American household! So where does the extra chunk of change go? They seem to want to spend it on fast, fancy cars, extravagantly decorated houses, and even women. For example, recently retired boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., who made about $90 million a year, owns $6.4 million worth of watches alone and gambles about $5.9 million on professional basketball games (Robinson)! Meanwhile, some regular working American families are living paycheck-to-paycheck. There isn’t anything wrong with earning more money than the average American, but highly paid athletes sometimes use their money in wrong ways that doesn’t benefit anyone but themselves. Sometimes, not even