Why Do Athletes Get Paid?

Improved Essays
Major League Profits Do you deserve to receive the money that you are responsible for earning? The majority (if not all) people would answer “yes.” This concept applies to the athletes inside the professional sports world. Just as a major business man would earn a high salary for a big company, these men and women do the same. With everything else put aside, the sports industry is essentially a business, and businesses and its workers perform to make money. These athletes are great sources of entertainment for fans all around the world, they are also a major source of income for the business side of their respective leagues, and they put their personal lives out there for everyone to know about. When you take a second and consider just how much these athletes do for their sport, they deserve every penny that they collect. …show more content…
For example, MLB (Major League Baseball) players can make anywhere from $500,000 per season to upwards of $30,000,000 per season. How much each individual player makes depends on their performance (and high-level performers result in more entertainment for fans.) A player that hits forty homeruns in a season is more entertaining to watch than one who may hit zero home runs in a season, and in every instance the player that hits forty homeruns makes more money than anyone with none. No matter how much a player is making on their contract, they earn every bit of it by performing well and contributing to their league/business. This is just one of many examples that you could take away from any of the other major sports as well, such as NBA (National Basketball Association,) NFL (National Football League,) and NHL (National Hockey

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The money they earn could be used to help pay the national debt, go out to people in need, or be used as funding money. Some athletes earn more money in one game than some people will make in a lifetime. It isn't even that hard to make the money, all they have to do is show up to the game, and they are paid. The money that these athletes are paid could go towards more useful causes that would be a benefit to society, such as creating jobs, finding cures for hard to treat diseases, reducing poverty, and offering more educational opportunities. One may argue that a team is a company.…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Nick Satan Research Paper

    • 1353 Words
    • 6 Pages

    It is only fair that the people who make the sports possible, the athletes, have a share in the millions they earn.…

    • 1353 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    MLB Salary Cap Analysis

    • 2075 Words
    • 9 Pages

    To help achieve a better understanding of how comparable professional athletes are in their respective sports, looking at the top 100 earners in each sport will help. The MLB dominates other sports in average salary for the top 100 earners with 16.4 million dollars. Although the MLB has the highest average salary for the top 100 earners in the sport, they are being undervalued. “On average, teams are undervaluing players by 357,836.64” (Pearce). Since athletes in baseball seem to make the most on average, franchises can get away with not paying an athlete what they are actually worth.…

    • 2075 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Over the past few years college athletics have gained tons of popularity and exposure all over America through television, the internet, and social media. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and participating colleges have earned increased revenues because of all the exposure that they have acquired. Even though the NCAA makes millions of dollars from sponsors, commercials, and tournaments, the players who play for the college teams receive no compensation whatsoever for all their hard work and dedication. Imagine being a dedicated worker working long hours far from home every single day, doing college work and studying for exams, bringing in millions of dollars to an employer and not getting paid at all for working hard. That is basically what all college athletes are going through when they work hard everyday in school, go to practice, win games on TV, and do not benefit from the profits that they helped earn for a revenue producing sport at a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) member institution.…

    • 719 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What do LeBron James, Serena Williams, Inbee Park, Usain Bolt, and Peyton Manning all have in common? Other than all being very popular, they are some of the most successful athletes that are currently active to this day. From Olympic Track and Field sprinters to professional Golfers, these athletes have worked hard to make millions. In this grouping of athletes, one of them earns the most money, and is one of the highest paid athletes in the United States. Each sportsperson has accumulated well over a million dollars from their current profession.…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With the danger these athletes put themselves in they should get paid like athletes Louisville Cardinals Kevin Ware or USC Marcus Lattimore suffered horrific injuries playing a sport they do not get paid for (Prater, 2013). Still think…

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Why Do Athletes Get Paid?

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages

    we have to talk about how athletes don't get paid too muchThe highest paid Bears player made over 13 million dollars in 2011 When we make the decision that it is worth it to pay a day's wages to attend a three-hour game and cheer till we loose our voices, then we are telling these athletes that they are worth every penny they make, and maybe in the minds of some people, they are worth it. Many people get inspired by athletes and end up doing great things on their own, and inspiration is not something which can be priced and stocked at Wal-Mart next to the soda. Knee, back and head injuries can be the hardest to deal with later in one's life, due to the fact that they are parts of the body we use every day for many different activities. Speaking…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Athletes need this income to live, it is fair and reasonable that they get…

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While playing sports there is always a high risk of injuries, but that still doesn’t stop athletes from playing in games and getting paid. About thirty million teenagers and children play in sports, this increases the statistics about injuries in young athletes. When professional athletes train, practice or even when they play they are risking an injury. Getting hurt has always been part of playing sports but injuries are now more important than at any time in sports history.…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Many athletes who are just considered average do not get the opportunities to be interviewed by the media, looked at as superstars on campus, and get free meals. The average college athlete will spend their time practicing or playing their sport. When they are not partaking in their sport they have to work on their education, which leaves them with practically no time for a job to make money. When you take a look at the University Of Miami’s footballs team in the early 2000’s you would have seen many players taking money from fans. This was illegal and still is in college sports, but it is what athletes had to do to get money for food and clothing off the field.…

    • 2272 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Why Athletes Get Paid

    • 255 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Some of these high paid athletes don't even know how to cash a check. Athletes don't contribute to society .Athletes get paid way too much money for just playing sports A lot of kids look up to athletes. Kids see how much athletes make and they want to be like them but it's an almost impossible goal.…

    • 255 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Could you imagine making millions upon millions doing what you love? Well that’s what professional athletes do. They make more money than they know what to do with. Professional athletes should not be paid as much as they are. The people and fans going to watch them and support them, can hardly afford a ticket.…

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    oday, athletes are getting paid more than ever. If you are a professional athlete at the highest levels, you are most likely making millions of dollars. "How is this fair?" some may ask. People getting paid millions of dollars just to dribble a ball and put it through a hoop, or running with a ball to the other side of the field, or even kicking a ball into a net may seem ludicrous.…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There isn’t just one extraordinary athlete that brings revenue to these programs. To put this in perspective, such as an entrepreneur or a CEO that has built a corporation from the ground up. Corporations are built, on clientele with long standing relationships. While, the gross mentality of advocates, for compensation feed the egos of these athletes. Case and point, Johnny Manziel featured on the cover of Time Magazine, cover story stating: It’s Time to Pay College Athletes: College sports are mass entertainment, it’s time to fully reward players for their work.”…

    • 1184 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lastly, they are a business and they make plenty of sales, whether through endorsements, jerseys, hats, or maybe even just game tickets. Those sales do make athletes worthy of those pay checks, even though they are ridiculously high. That money could be used for other things as well. For example, to feed the poor, help the homeless or even medical purposes. Also, their high pay causes the accessories to be priced high, which hurts the economy because people spend more money on games and things like that, that should be spent on other things.…

    • 1777 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays