Do Professional Athletes Get Paid Too Much Money?

Wouldn’t it be great to make nearly $111 million a year simply to play a game?

Many professional athletes, such as Tiger Woods, apparently think so; or else they wouldn’t be cashing their paychecks. However, do these athletes really deserve all that money?

In my view, absolutely not.

If you ask me, professional athletes are making far more than they deserve, and in a society where salaries and wages are traditionally based on the value of one’s work, that seems wrong.

I believe a person should be paid according to the job’s economic importance and value to society.

Take education, for instance. Teaching is one of the most economically important occupations if you really think about it. Our future economies rely on how well we educate our youth, and yet teachers are paid a mere fraction of what a professional athlete receives.

If you were to calculate how much Kobe Bryant gets paid for every basket he scores, I’m sure it earns him the equivalent of the average teacher’s yearly salary.

That is simply outrageous.

Yet, some would argue that the teacher only provides service to a single classroom, while superstar athletes like Kobe Bryant are entertaining fans all around the world; bringing them both excitement and relaxation with their athletic exploits.

Perhaps those making such an argument aren’t aware that Kobe Bryant’s salary also dwarfs that of the president of the United States, Barack Obama, who only makes approximately $400,000 a year.

Obama’s critical decisions affect the entire world every day, as he’s hard at work trying to revive our nation’s economy and protect our nation’s security, and yet the newest unproven rookie in the NBA will earn more than the president this year.

Again, simply outrageous when you really think about it.

And teachers aren’t the only ones deserving of higher wages. Police officers, firefighters, and doctors throughout the country both risk their lives and save the lives of others for a fraction of what many sports stars make.

Those in the military leave their families at home for months at a time to defend and protect our country’s freedoms, knowing they may never return, and all for a pittance compared to what even many scrubs in the NBA make.

If you ask me, it’s a shameful that these heroes aren’t given the same recognition by society that is afforded Brett Favre, Michael Jordan, or LeBron James.

Don’t mistake what I’m saying for some sense that these athletes have had it easy getting where they are, either. I fully understand that making it to the pros isn’t an easy thing to accomplish. It takes a tremendous amount of dedication and talent on the part of the athlete, not to mention an incredible number of hours of hard work every day just to earn the privilege.

However, in the end, all athletes do is entertain.

Is that actually worth the price we pay them?

I believe it’s not, and that at the very least, that if these athletes want to continue to reap the rewards of their fame, they must begin to prove they can be positive role models for both future athletes to follow, and the children who grow up admiring and practically worshipping them.

They must begin to show that they are more deserving of the fortune that (I believe) is unfairly bestowed upon them by our society. How often have we heard about an athlete drinking and driving, using drugs, or sexually harassing some woman? If you ask me, there should be a zero tolerance policy in every single sports league for such behavior, precisely because they’re so highly paid.

Simply put, if Alex Rodriguez (or any athlete) believes he deserves to make as much money each year as he does, then he must also recognize that he should be allowed to cheat and take steroids. This is because if we, as a society allow that, then what we’re teaching our children is that it’s okay to use illegal substances such as steroids, because in the long run it will pay off.

In order for these high-priced athletes to gain more respect, they will need to have a more significant impact on their communities. They will have to become more involved, and willingly give back in terms of time and resources to those who’ve made it possible for them to live in such luxury.

Also, a system needs to be put into place that prevents players who have never even really proven their value in professional sports from hijacking teams for all they can get. Now, of course the owners themselves are partially to blame, as they just keep on spending and spending, but something must be done.

Take the case of JaMarcus Russell for instance. The former No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, despite being recognized as being one of the biggest busts in NFL history, will still walk away an incredibly wealthy man. That is because the deal he was given by the Raiders when he came into the league (a six-year $68 million contract) included $31 million in guaranteed money.

Simply put, this guy did nothing for the Raiders whatsoever, and is walking away a multi-millionaire.

Again, that is outrageous.

In any job in the real world, if you don’t perform to your employer’s expectations, you’re fired, and there’s no guaranteed money (unless of course you’re the CEO of BP or Enron).

Finally, it all comes down to the fact the system of paying professional athletes is broken. They are swimming in money, much of it totally undeserved or unearned, and it needs to stop.

When asking people whether they think athletes are paid way too much money, most agree with me.

Do you?