Today’s top professional athletes often have salaries and bonuses in the tens of millions of dollars. Do you think these athletes deserve such high compensation? Why or why not? Explain your position and use specific reasons and examples.
Crack! The top baseball prospect just hit another homerun! He is definitely on roll now. All of the critics and sports reporters, as well as fans, know that he will soon be a Major League Baseball star. He was known around not only his neighborhood, but around the country as a prodigy. His parents raised him to love baseball, and they always knew he would be a star. Well, the premonition is appearing to be true. He has just received his $200 million signing bonus.
Why was this talented young man able to become so wealthy? He does not operate on cancer victims. He does not arrest thieves or serial killers. He does not put out dangerous fires. All he does is play a sport. Why does he deserve it?
What a lot of people do not realize is that athletes and the sports that they play often have an effect on people that watch them. Adults get tied to their favorite sports teams, whether they have been watching them their whole life, they just moved to a new town, or they just like the jerseys. However, I believe children are impacted the greatest affected by athletes, because many children and teenagers look up to them. A lot of kids tell themselves, “I want to be like him when I grow up!” For some, their role model is the only reason that they play the sport. Therefore, if it were not for the professional athletes, some children may not play sports. If these children are not playing sports, they may be doing other things, and these things may not be good. I, personally, have former teammates that were denied a chance to play baseball, and, in return, found acceptance in negative places. Maybe if they had a positive role model, such as an athlete, to look up to, this would not have happened.
Also, fame and fortune are motives for adolescents to look forward to. They can achieve those things with hard work, perseverance, and practice; all of these things are very good values to have in this society. Finally, sports, and their venues, have many jobs for people, keeping them out of unemployment. Not only the players are being paid; there are other jobs, such as sports trainers, ticket salesmen, and vendors.
So, although professional athletes are not immediately helping with problems, such as fires and robberies, they are positively affecting people, specifically out youth. And, although I do think that some important jobs’ salaries are lower than should be, I do not think that professional athletes are overpaid, as a whole.
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