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Athletes Aren't Overpaid

Athletes deserve the millions of dollars they are paid.

By Brian AnonymousPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Some athletes in professional sports make millions of dollars in salary and endorsement. When the average person looks at that they think that they’re terribly overpaid. I often hear the same argument: “Why are these people getting paid millions when teachers and police make a fraction of that amount?” The best statement is when they think say that all these athletes do is play a game and get paid for it.

Yes, I admit there are some athletes that are just genuinely blessed with the mind and body to play at such an elite level, but they still have to work for it. The majority of athletes have to grind their way up to the top. They have to go through school and regular jobs while keeping up their athletic lifestyle. Who can say they can pull that off? This is only in their early years.

A lot of them grind their way from early childhood into their 20s to get as good as they are. That’s six to eight hours of practice every day with dieting. How did we spend our childhood and teen years? Throughout all of these years they aren’t even paid a cent and gambling on not getting majorly injured. I know myself, I’m not even willing to place my money in stocks because I’m so risk averse. I would never have the guts to gamble my life on this dream but they did.

Then getting into the big leagues. They have to keep training and continue to get better. There’s always some younger talent waiting on the footsteps to take your place. Now that they make big money there are added pressures to go with the regular pressures they faced with training and dieting.

There are expectations of doing well. These expectations aren’t only from the media and the organization but with yourself. I’m sure they probably had these expectations of themselves when they were moving on up but they have to have grown after hitting the big leagues. Public expectations is probably the worst because you have to deal with the added stress of the media and keeping good relations with your fans. They are the bread and butter to your salary.

Don’t’ forget when you’re hanging out with other athletes or people with money then you’re probably spending a lot more to be in social circles. Why be in the social circles in the first place? It’s a waste of money. No it isn’t. If you’re part of a team you have to keep up with good team morale. I’m sure they want to win and a winning formula is a team that has a good relationship with one another.

You also have to take into consideration that even in the big leagues their jobs aren’t safe. They can still get injured and they don’t really have a pension so they have to save up for retirement. An athlete’s lifespan isn’t that long. You can only play at an elite level for so long.

So yeah, some athletes make a ton of money, but they put in the time, effort, and guts to do it. They totally deserve it. There are tons of athletes that don’t even make it. They lived the dream but we never hear about their stories. These athletes deserve compensation as well, but that’s just how it goes.

As for why athletes deserve more money than other professions? Well, it’s the stuff people watch. They better get a lot of money for entertaining people because if all that money went to the team owners, how messed up would that be? Maybe we should be complaining why team owners make so much money. I’d have to argue against that, but that’s another article.

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About the Creator

Brian Anonymous

I have tons of opinions that change constantly. I watch a lot of movies and play video games. There are some articles on my struggles with languages and dance as well.

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