Are Professional Athletes Overpaid?

I believe that professional athletes are drastically overpaid. We see athletes getting paid millions of dollars just to throw or kick a ball. I mean what importance are they to society beyond entertainment? They aren't.

I think that the athletes being overpaid issue begins in school with high school and college. Schools place an emphasis on sports, making students neglects their studies and grades because it is reinforced that from a young age that supports are an important part of life. Students who excel in sports have inflated egos because the schools are telling them that they are good at sports and should focus on it.

I am disabled and participated in many high school academic activities and competitions. Many able-bodied students also were involved with these activities. I remember lots of times when the teacher advisors for these activities try to ask the school district for our money to run our activities, including transportation, supplies, promotion, among other things. Most of the time the school gave us a limited budget or not at all, while sports was well-funded and received funds at the snap of the coaches' fingers. What does this tell students? It tells them that it pays to play sports more than it does to use one's mind to compete. I think this is the sad reality of school life.

High school athletes see professional athletes on TV received millions of dollars in salaries and the idolization my millions of fans. This makes them really want to become professional athletes later in life and so they neglect their studies and focus on sports.

During the junior and senior years of high school, the college recruiters start looking for great athletes to sign up with their college to play sports for large amounts of money. The colleges bribe the athletes with scholarships, cars, money, and many other perks to go to their schools. Of course, to young people at this age, the lure of big money and fame is a great attraction for them and they will aim for it.

Then, once the athletes are in college, the schools encourage athletes to become stars in sports competitions. Some schools will force athletes to maintain a minimal grade point average in order to play sports but it's very low, like a C, which is mediocre at best.

Many professional sports promoters will start looking at high school or college athletes to have them sign on as professional athletes in their organizations. Many high school and collegiate athletes will drop out of school because the school only gives them the hope of a job with a salary of under six figures a year later on in their professional career. Professional sports gives them a six or seven-figure salary immediately, so the allure is great to become a professional athlete and to quit and education which will give them a comparatively lower salary.

Do professional athletes deserve such high salaries as this? I don't believe so. Many of them are not even great role models outside of the sport. Take Pac Man Jones and Michael Vick as examples.

Pac Man is a professional football player who received a $6 million bonus in 2005 to play for the Tennessee Titans. Jones was arrested at least 6 times and questioned by police 11 times since 2005. He has been arrested for assault at nightclubs, death threats, and not reporting to his parole officer. In February 2007 at a club, an altercation ensued and it is believed that one of Jones' entourage brought in a gun and fired into a crowd, hitting three people, including the security guard. The guard was shot twice, and one of the people hit was paralyzed from the waist down. Based on his legal troubles, he was suspended for the entire 2007 season.

Even though he was suspended and faced jail time, he was given tons of money to appear on pro wrestling. He was not allowed to be touched her to touch the wrestlers, so it was just for show. It reinforces the idea that professional athletes can be horrible people outside the sport and still get paid millions of dollars just to show up on sports shows.

Everyone knows the story about Michael Vick, the Atlanta Falcons football star that was running dogfights at some of his houses. In 2004, he signed a 10-year contract with the Falcons for $130 million and a $37 million signing bonus, making him the highest paid player in NFL history.

With such a high salary, why did Michael Vick have to resort to dogfighting? It just makes no sense and makes it all the more deplorable because he didn't have to do it for the money, yet he still did. What does this tell other professional athletes? It tells them that they don't have to follow the rules like normal people in its society.

I am sure that many more professional athletes are just as bad as Jones and Vick but they just haven't been caught yet.

I see other people arguing that, since the sports organizations are receiving so much money in advertising revenue, the athletes deserve to be paid millions of dollars as their share of the revenue. I disagree because the revenue could be used for other things, like better education for athletes and people in general. Athletes don't deserve millions of dollars when intellectual jobs and careers, which are more important to society, don't even pay half as much. I think that it is bad to pay athletes this amount of money because it only makes the young people of today aim for an easy job has athlete without needing the extra work of an education.

Sometimes the sports are more dangerous than others and, I suppose, deserve a little bit more pay than other sports but remains of dollars is way out of the question. Sports like baseball or basketball are not that dangerous. I mean how many athletes are disabled by a baseball or basketball hoops? Athletes play dangerous sports for the money, not for any other reason, so it is a greedy career which helps no one but the promoters and athlete's pockets.

I think that dangerous jobs, such as the military and firefighters, deserve more pay than professional athletes because their jobs actually protect us and save lives. This needs to be taking into consideration when deciding on the different levels of pay deserved to be paid for different careers. I think that sports should be at the bottom of the pay scale simply because of the inherent value and benefit to society is very low for professional athletes.