Athletes Salaries Essays (2087 words) - Employment Compensation

Athletes Salaries What should athletes deserve to be paid? Many players have risen to stardom by becoming a professional athlete. Athletes have come from many different backgrounds; some from wealthy and some from poverty raised backgrounds. Salaries are continuing to rise, and money doesnt seem to be an issue. Athletes are getting what they want from the owners by negotiating through their agents. Athletes salaries arent from their owners, but they come from other sources (Athletes Salary). Athletes get paid an extremely high salary for the work they do, and should consider the value of their work. They do not deserve the extreme amount they get paid and something should by done about it. One issue that these high salaries cause is that having all this money spoils the athletes. Athletes buy so much unnecessary stuff after they get their money. For example, Michael Jordan has about 28 cars. Who needs all these cars? He didnt buy all of these, but there is a certain limit on how many cars a person needs. Athletes spend their money on cars, entertainment, clothes, and their big mansions. Another instance of athletes spoiling themselves is the use of illegal drugs (Pro Salaries). Michael Irvin of the Dallas Cowboys has been involved in many of these altercations. He has been through all the punishments there possibly is and still makes his money (Pro Salaries). Athletes think they are at a higher level and that they can do whatever they want. An issue that everyone hears about everyday that a pro athlete has committed a murder/crime. Ray Lewis, a safety for the Baltimore Ravens, is being tried for two accounts of murder. He is an excellent athlete. He is on the pro-bowl team for the 1999 season and led the league in tackles. He has just ruined his career by even being involved in a situation like this. Another player is Robert Lewis, a 20 year-old basketball player from the Dallas Mavericks. He was convicted of beating his girlfriend almost to death. A 20-year-old basketball star doesnt need to feel that he is a king to be a leader. What kind of role model is he setting to other youngsters that want to follow in the same footsteps? The salaries of athletes are extremely high for the effort that they put through. For example, basketball, baseball, and hockey athletes only compete for about 6-8 months a year. Then they have the whole summer off. The highest paid athlete was Michael Jordan (Spiegel 220). He was paid as a free agent 33 million dollars for a single season (Spiegel 220)! This salary is an outrageous amount but who really deserves it? Maybe Michael does, but in the future some no names might get this. Athletes practice maybe no more than 3-4 hours per day. That is half of what an average person works in a day. In the NBA, they only play 82 games a season. So, Michael Jordan was getting paid about .4 million dollars a game. Also, it was calculated from his average that he made about 20,000 dollars for every shot he took. Each game they play is for a total of 48 minutes. After that they travel to the next game. The athletes are getting paid whatever they ask for and they really dont deserve it (Kindred 63). Maybe if they showed that it takes a lot of conditioning and a lot of practice, rather than going on vacations to Hawaii, they might catch a few more eyes looking at them. One of the biggest issues that raise the salaries of the players are the endorsements and advertisements that promote their contributions. It was reported that Michael Jordan made 100 million dollars (profit) last year (Spiegel 220). That means he made almost 70 million dollars from other sources being clothing firm, advertisements, restaurant, and awards. The owners also are paying the athletes from the sponsors that pay them to advertise their company. Owners only get profit from this deal. Corporations are paying athletes millions to advertise their product, because the consumer would rather buy the product if their favorite athlete were supporting it. This is a major source of income for the athletes that they receive. Many athletes