Athletes Get Paid to Much

Essay

In the passage, “Athletes and Compensation” the author persuades the readers that fans are misinformed about the high salaries that professional athletes receive annually. He states and gives facts that they actually don’t get “high salaries” for what they do. Many athletes get injured and have to pay thousands of dollars in bills from the hospital.

The author says, “Nowadays, many people scoff at these numbers and think that athletes are vastly overpaid. However, in the majority of cases, athletes are fairly compensated and not overpaid.” The author says many people say they are much overpaid for them to just watch them play, but people don’t look at the expenses they have. People cite the most publicized and extravagant contracts when looking at what they get payed. He states, “Indeed, the most talented players can command contracts paying them $15 to $25 million a year. The issue is that while these contracts exist, they are rare… It is clear that exorbitant contracts are scarcely awarded and most athletes average a far smaller salary per year. Consider also those athletes who earn below the average.” The author was telling about their salary and how everyone just look at what they make each year.

As the author was telling how people don’t look at the expenses all the athletes have to pay for, they just look at what they yearly overall. “Another important factor to consider is the length of an athlete's career. The best athletes often play for ten to fifteen years…  Well, based on statistics from the same year, the average lifespan of an athlete's career in those sports are 4.8 years in basketball, 5.6 years in baseball, 5.5 years in hockey, and 3.5 years in football,” the author states in the passage. The author is talking about how long their contacts to work are, and how it compares to other people who work every day for a long time, compared to athletes who work for 6 years then their career is over. As stated in the passage, “Compare these three to six years to a non-athlete, who will work in one industry for twenty-five to thirty years.”