Warren Sapp once quoted that National Football League players are "playing a kid's
game, getting paid a king's ransom." Sapp was right, athletes basically play games to
entertain fans and in return they are heavily compensated. Forbes magazine constantly
outlines how famous professional athletes like Lebron James make an average of 30.96
million dollars every season he plays. Sports is by far the most profitable and rapidly growing
industry worldwide. Three of the popular professional sports leagues that generate billions of
dollars in revenue include the Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball
Association (NBA) and, National Football League (NFL). Professional athletes are part of
these big sports league companies. They are the foundation of these leagues, and hence their
compensation is a part of what the leagues accumulate. Top professional athletes'
compensation has inflated to enormous amounts. Professional players deserve every coin and
much more because they sacrifice a lot, trade more tickets, and do not get paid as much.
Professional Athletes Risk a Lot
One of the reasons why professional athletes deserve high compensation is that they
risk a lot for the games. They make enormous sacrifices for their job. Players spend so much
time and energy training and practicing ahead of the games. Succeeding to the pro finals
takes years of hard work, consistency, and perseverance. The few superstars who make it to
pro finals have a relatively short career compared to typical jobs where most people work for
as long as 40 years. Most athletes are constantly moving from one city to the next, always
away from their loved ones. They barely get to live in their hometowns. Some players
presume uttermost medical risks to have their careers. They are exposed to dangers daily in
their training. Football players and other physical contact sports players who get constant
head blows and concussions eventually suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a
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progressive degenerate condition that, in the long run, causes depression and dementia
(Robbins et al., 2020).
Franchise Players Trade More Tickets
Sports teams are well aware they need to keep winning to grow and stay profitable.
Sports teams endorse Franchise players for this reason. They are the cherry on top, the team's
face. Examples of franchise players are Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett. They attract
millions of fans who are willing to pay for tickets to watch them play and get entertained.
Drawing large crowds of people to the venues ensures more money expenditure on
merchandise and food. Every sports team has a single Franchise player who makes tens of
millions of dollars at the expense of other players, as they drive the team's success. They have
a challenging responsibility of maintaining their image and being better (Gray, 2019).
Professional Athletes Do Not Get Paid as Much
The controversy is that most professional athletes do not even get paid as much as we
think. They are instead paid fairly. Only a few franchise players and high-end pro athletes
who reap inflated paychecks tend to get much attention. Like any ordinary employee, their
gross salaries get taxed. They incur regular deductions, pay agent fees, union dues, and jock
tax for their away games. Players' net salaries could still be lower and even much lower than
what is published (Williams & Slavich, 2020).
Conclusion
The truth is that athletes earn inflated salaries, and they deserve every bit of it. One of
the reasons pro athletes deserve increasingly high compensation is that they risk a lot. They
assume extreme medical risk and put their lives in danger. Thus their salaries are fair
compensation for the innumerable time and energy they put into training. Another reason is
that franchise players sell more tickets to fans, attracting more significant viewership,
increasing merchandise sales, and more expenditure from fans. Athletes do not get paid as
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much as we think is yet another justification. Their published gross pay is also deductible,
incurring much lower net salaries than what is published.
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References
Gray, M. (2019). The Value of a Sports Franchise: The Influence of Coaches, Fans, and
Players. Sacred Heart University Scholar, 3(1), 7.
https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/shuscholar/vol3/iss1/7
Robbins, B., McEniry, C., Pfeifer, J., Skues, J., Trounson, J., & Lappin, N. (2020).
Professional Athletes and Work-Related Adversity: Development and Validation of
the Professional Athlete Adversity Measure. Journal of Sport Behavior, 43(4), 479-
505. http://www.southalabama.edu/psychology/journal.htm
Williams, D. P., & Slavich, M. (2020). Make Athletes Pay More Again: An Analysis of Jock
Tax Issues following the 2017 US Tax Reform. Journal of Global Sport Management,
1-20. cepted 29 Jul 2020, Published online: 25 Sep
https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2020.1819619