Athletes in the past did not always accumulate as much wealth as today’s multi millionaire athletes. Although many resent the high salaries they earn, the industry they earned their way into raises billions of dollars in revenue. Not too mention the hard work and rigorous schedule athlete must go through, only a small percentage of society are capable playing in professional sports leagues. To compensate fairly compensate athletes for their popularity, world class abilities, and demanding work schedule the large salaries of professional athletes should not be regulated. Leg 1: (Short careers/Injuries)
All athletes have short careers when compared to other professions, which could end at any moment from injury. No matter the sport, all athletes succumb to old age or injury which culminates in the end of a sports career. For instance, most athletes begin to decline in their mid-30’s or after a serious injury. Nonetheless, athletes have every right to earn as much money as possible during their short careers. Many athletes are retiring in deplorable physical and mental conditions due to their sports career. many athletes to live with disabilities from injuries sustained in their sports career.
There are many athletes whose bodies and minds will never recuperate from injuries. For instance, In Property and Casualty Chad Hemenway infers that football players from NFL, NCAA, and high school and youth levels have been filing lawsuits alleging that these institutions fail to protect their well being (Hemenway). There are also players who bodies will never be the same after retirement. For example, a review featured in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport discerned that former elite soccer players had a substantially higher risk of Osteoarthritis when compared to other ccupations (Kuijt, Marie-Therese K. et al. 486).
Another reason Playing professional sports has caused why athletes deserve their high salaries is due to their demanding work schedule. Leg 2: (Rigorous work schedule) Athletes and their immediate family members are significantly affected by the travel and heavy demands of a sport. Athletes can be traded on a moment’s notice which can have immediate effects on an athlete and his or her immediate family. For instance, if a baseball player on the Los Angeles Dodgers is traded to the New York Yankees, then he would have to elocate his family to the New York area.
This can affect children who have to frequently change schools, and the relationship between the athlete and his or her partner. An athlete must also dedicate a significant amount of time his or her offseason working towards preparing for the next season much time out of the year towards one’s profession can have a profound effect on an athlete’s personal life. Professional athletes already spend a majority of the year traveling for sporting events but they must also maintain their physical fitness during their offseason.
For instance, Alan Stein from USA asketball surveyed NBA all stars Amar’e Stoudemire, Deron Williams, and Andre Iguodala regarding their weekly offseason schedule, and all three players outlined a highly rigorous workout regimen that followed for about 5-6 days a week (Stein). There is no disputing that athletes must continue working hard when their sports season concludes. Ultimately, athletes must sacrifice an enormous amount of time away from family and friends in order to successfully compete.
Another important aspect to consider is the massive amounts of revenue that sport leagues earn annually. Leg 3: (Revenue/Popularity thletes bring in) All sports leagues make billions of dollars each year, which allows them to pay athlete their high salaries. Much of this revenue can be attributed back to the popularity and talent of the athletes. For instance, the European Soccer team FC Barcelona would not be as wealthy as it currently is without the likes Lionel Messi, Neymar da Silva, and Luis Suarez dominating Sacrificing so headlines with their breathtaking abilities.
Sports leagues and franchises depend on world class athletes to maintain the popularity of their teams and sport to drive up revenue. The stronomical amount of money sports leagues make today validates the high salaries athletes earn today. Regulating the amount of money athletes earn would only benefit the franchise owners and league executives who would pocket more money. The amount of money a professional athlete makes will continue to rising due to the increase in revenue enjoying. Today sports leagues are signing lucrative tv sports contracts earning leagues billions of dollars.
For instance, Ben Smith from BBC sport infers, that the English Premier League agreed to a record 5. 136 billion pound television deal with Sky nd BT sport for the exclusive rights to television coverage of one of the world’s major soccer leagues (Smith). The sports leagues are benefitting of the labor and talent of the athletes and it is only fair they earn a decent share of the revenue, regardless of how high it is. Needless to say, sport league executives and franchise owners would not be as wealthy as they currently are without the athletes that compete week in week out.
In addition, athletes would earn lower wages if there were more athletes capable of competing at their level. Leg 4: (Market value due to scarcity of talent) The fact that only a handful of athletes have the talent to play in professional sports leagues drives up their market value. The top tier athletes are paid even more than the average athlete since the highest level of talent is not in abundance. For instance, a star NFL Quarterback such as Russell Wilson will make far more money than a third string defensive linemen.
Every sports franchise is vying for the chance to sign top players, which leads to the astronomical contracts that top players earn. However, whether an athlete is the face of a franchise or a ench warmer, they all have to possess immense talent and athletic prowess to make it as a professional. Out of all the prospective athletes that attempt to become professional athletes only a handful make it.
The NCAA reported that in 2015 that out of 4,155 Men’s Basketball players eligible for the NBA draft only 46 were drafted, which represented a mere 1. % of the eligible athletes (NCAA). Any time that supply is low when demands are high prices begin to skyrocket. Since professional sports teams have millions of dollars to spend they sternly compete with one another to lure the top athletes. Ultimately, he astronomically high market value of sports leads to the inflated wages many athletes earn in sports leagues, which is by no means the fault of the athletes. Counter Argument: Other professions are more deserving of higher pay? Many argue that other professions are more deserving of the high salaries athletes earn.
While it’s true that many professions are underpaid, athletes earn their high pay due to astronomical amount of revenue that sport leagues earn. For instance, while one could argue a teacher, police officer, or military servicemen are more deserving of the millions of dollars that athletes earn, heir occupational fields do not have enough money an athlete’s salary. While the salaries of athletes may seem unfair because of the importance of many professions, the fact that sports are billion dollar industries justify the amount athletes earn.
There was a point in time where athletes were not paid as handsomely as today. Before the 70s it was commonplace for an athlete to have offseason jobs to make ends meet during the offseason. Malcolm Gladwell wrote in the New Yorker that once Marvin Miller took control of Major League Baseball’s players union, he was able to persuade the owners to significantly ncreasing the salaries and benefits of Baseball players by threatening that the players would refuse to play.
Once the sports leagues realized they couldn’t just simply replace them they were forced to oblige . Sports players in the past fought tooth and nail to receive wages that reflected their worth once they realized that the league’s revenue was dependant on their talent (Gladwell). Penalizing the players for the revenue they generate is simply just not fair to the players. All in all, professional athletes are well deserving of the massive amount of money they earn.
Lowering their pay would be unfair to them since athletes play a vital role in generating revenue for sports leagues. There is no disputing that the chances of becoming an athlete are very slim, which drives up their value to sports leagues. Ultimately, when factoring in how much money fans and the media generate from sports, it’s only right to reward the athletes with a fair share of the wealth. In spite of the resentments many hold towards the amount of money athletes earn, its not the athlete’s fault that he or she is working for a billion dollar industry.