Professional Athletes Are Overpaid

Professional athletes are among the most wealthy and well known people in the United States and around the world. Athletes such as Derek Jeter, Michael Jordan, Peyton Manning, and Tiger Woods are all admired by millions of people for their impressive athletic abilities. Most professional athletes are very talented, dedicated, and very hard workers. But do they truly deserve all the praise people give them and multimillion dollar contracts simply because they are good at playing sports? Some athletes truly do not, because even while knowing they are being looked up to by thousands of young boys and girls, they still set bad examples. But regardless of if they are good role models or not, no one should be paid millions of dollars merely because they are good at playing sports.

Most professional athletes worked very hard throughout their lives to end up on the teams they are on today. Then once they make the team, they most likely still work very hard by exercising vigorously in practice and weight rooms, trying their hardest on game days, and doing what they can on a regular basis to improve themselves. Although this takes much commitment and hard, physical work, they do not deserve millions of dollars for it. This year, the median salary in the NFL is around $770,000 for one season! The Washington Redskins have the highest payroll at $123 million and the New York Giants have the lowest at $76 million. The national average that a teacher makes in one year is $53,000.

It is not logical for someone who is playing football, basketball or any other sport to be making hundreds of thousands more a year than a teacher who helps out other people on a day to day basis. Professional athletes do nothing to improve the lives of others—other than themselves and their teammates—when they do their jobs. All they do for other people while on the job is to entertain. Other professions such as a nurse, firefighter, police officer, or teacher help others on a daily basis, possibly risking their own lives, and still do not get as much credit, respect, or money as people who play sports for a living. But to many Americans, sports and entertainment have a greater priority over these people and therefore professional athletes are well paid and well known.

As a result, professional athletes are treated like celebrities, and unfortunately can get away with doing practically anything. One example was when a NFL player murdered a man and only received a slap on the wrist. In June of 2009, Donte Stallworth of the Cleveland Browns was sentenced to thirty days in jail for manslaughter after making a confidential, financial settlement with the family of the victim. Donte was driving after a night of drinking in Miami Beach and hit Mario Reyes, age 59 while he was on his way to the bus stop after getting off from work. Although this was an accident, it was an accident that was caused by and illegal action by Stallworth. He could have faced up to fifteen years in prison, but because he co-operated and had the money to make a settlement, he was treated differently.

Unfortunately cases like this occur all the time with professional athletes and rich and famous people. It is not fair for people to be treated differently (especially when it comes to the law) only because they are rich and famous. If anyone else in the general public, who was not wealthy, had committed the same crime, they would have had to carry out the jail sentence. Something needs to be done to stop these kinds of things from happening because this is not true justice. Also, professional athletes need to be more aware of what they are doing because there are millions of people—including young children—who look up to them.

Professional athletes are role models for young boys and girls everywhere and should take that into consideration before they do things they really should not be doing. Several athletes have set bad examples for children by doing drugs, being involved in shootings, taking steroids, and participating in many other illegal activities. One example was when Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was caught in a photograph of him smoking marijuana.

The picture was released three months after he won a record of eight gold medals in the Beijing games and it was broadcasted on the news and online everywhere. Many young children most likely saw this and were either disappointed or it may have encouraged some to try it because they just witnessed their favorite athlete doing it. Although, several professional athletes learn from their mistakes and usually turn themselves around by correcting their behavior. Others do not even do anything wrong at all and make great role models for kids.

There are several professional athletes who make great role models by performing well in games, expressing good sportsmanship, donating to charities, and getting involved in their communities. All professional athletes should behave this way because they have such great influences on the lives of other people. Although even if they are great athletes and role models, they still do not deserve to make as much money as they do and they should not be treated differently than the general public when it comes to the law.

It is sad that in society today our priorities are so messed up that we give those who play sports for a living, hundreds of thousands more a year than other people who make a difference in the world every day. If we lived in a world without professional sports to entertain us, life would be a little more boring, but we would live on. But if we lived in a world without doctors, firefighters, policemen, teachers, or construction workers, life as we know it would cease to exist. Paying professional athletes as much as we do is ethically wrong and we should give other people such as teachers the respect and payroll they deserve, because they make a difference in the lives of others every day.