Zach vs. Audrey: Do athletes get paid too much?
February 13, 2017
No, Athletes earn the money they make
Athletes work very hard for their money. Between all of the exercising and training on top of all of the physical exertion they put into every game/event, their bodies are put through a lot of stress. Now take that physical stress and add it to the mental pressure that the coaches and fans put on each player before and during each game. That’s a ton of weight put on each competitor. Also, injuries are likely to happen at every event or game that they go to. They are risking their entire career every time that they suit up to go play just for the entertainment of other people.
Their pay relies on the industry. People pay a ton of money to go see a sports game. A lot of the time each ticket costs $300 to $500. At the end of the day, athletes make the amount of money that they do because of us. We are the people who pay for them to play.
There is a thing called the Law of Scarcity. It works like this: Basically anyone can work at a fast food restaurant or anyone can work at a small business.
However, there are some jobs that athletes fit into that hardly anyone can replace. For example, there will only be one Lebron James. He is the best basketball player in the world. A very small group of people could maybe fill in his place later on.
Some might say that other jobs like people in the military, cops, firefighters, or teachers should be paid the athletes’ money. I hate to break it to them, but taking away the athletes’ pay will not fix their own… It’s as simple as that.
The economy doesn’t work like that, and the money that is collected at every event will obviously go to the athletes and their staff.
All in all, the athletes aren’t the people to blame for making so much money. We should be blaming ourselves.
Yes, give the money to more deserving people
Professional athletes are paid way too much money. All they do is exercise their bodies and compete against each other and then get paid for it. Athletes shouldn’t get paid $5.15 million just for our entertainment, when there are other people who should get paid more than what they do now.
The people that work and fight for our country don’t even get paid half the amount that athletes do. The annual salary for people in the military is $29,380. Those people, the military, should get paid more than professional athletes.
Athletes are only here for our entertainment, and the military is here for our protection. There is a big difference between the two.
There are other jobs like police officers, doctors, and firefighters that don’t get paid as much as professional athletes. The average pay for a police officers $53,194. The average for a professional football player is $5.15 million. Police officers protect society from criminals, and harm. They take away bad people in the world so that when we go out there it will be safer than it is now. Athletes are in the gym working out and getting ready for the next game so that when they win they can get paid for it.
Athletes make more than jobs that are for helping children, and getting them ready for later on in life. For example, teachers help kids get ready for the future and what’s to come. Their annual salary is $54,890. They get that much money for helping kids get ready to go out on their own.
Athletes don’t help us with any of that, they just make life seem like everything will go perfectly, just like you want it to, but that’s not true.
Other people in the world should get paid more than what they do now. It’s not fair that athletes get paid more than people that help us get ready for the future, and protect us from harm.