“Are professional athletes overpaid?” This question is a big topic of debate in America right now. When first hearing the large salaries of players like Alex Rodriguez or Kobe Bryant, many people will gasp and complain that these players are greedy and majorly overpaid. Although these numbers might be large, every penny is well deserved. There are also many factors involving the paycheck that many people don’t know about, such as the taxes that are taken out and where the money that they are paid with comes from. Professional athletes deserve what they make, due to the fact that have little job security, they pay large taxes, and the money that they are paid with is privately owned.
Some people might argue that it isn’t right that athletes make much more money than jobs that are important to society, like teachers or firefighters. Although I agree that these professions are underpaid, this argument simply doesn’t make sense. Athletes are not funded with government money. They are paid privately by their owners. So, an athlete
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These high paying sports are all dangerous games. It only takes a slight fall or wrong move to completely end a player’s career. Suddenly, the thing that they trained their whole life for is gone, and they have nothing to fall back on. The money they have saved up is a comforting safety net. Also, many insurance companies refuse to insure professional athletes. Therefore, if a basketball player needs knee replacement surgery, or a football player needs to be treated for a head injury, they will have to pay for that out of pocket. Injuries themselves are bad enough, but when an athlete is having to pay for treatment himself, that experience can be even more stressful. Since an athlete is risking his job every time he trains, I think it is fair that they are paid as much as possible to help them if they can’t play