Why Do Professional Athletes Get Paid?

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. In the LPGA's terms, Inbee Park is the woman's golfing league's greatest player. The South Korean Native has won 3 major titles at the young age of 25. Although the golfer is young, she is bursting with talent, and is a role model to many LPGA golfers who are of an older age than her. In 2013, When Inbee was …show more content…
The 100-meter final was the hottest ticket going in for the Olympics, with a ticket for the event priced at a hefty $1,130. After running the final in 9.63 seconds, Usain was marked as the fastest man in the world. After that race, life was never the same for the Jamaican sprinter. In 2009, a year after the Olympics, Bolt accumulated a total of $20.3 million because of his popularity explosion (Badenhausen, Kurt). In an article from Forbes magazine, the author voices, "Prize money in track and field is relatively paltry" (Badenhausen). The author has indicated that the money given to track and field athletes is usually minuscule compared to other sports money intake. However, Usain's income is roughly twenty times the income of other elite sprinters. As of June 2014, the Olympian's earnings reached north of $23.2 million; 200K being the salary (Badenhausen). Though Bolt has been successful, the sprinter's prestige does not compare to the earnings of famous Tennis player, Serena