Ridiculous Salaries

By: Tristen L.

LeBron James makes $30 million a year just from Nike; Copyright: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/21/lebron-james-reveals-the-nighttime-routine-that-sets-him-up-for-success.html

Professional athletes shouldn’t get paid the way they do. They are paid a ridiculously high salary, and vital jobs in America are paid significantly less. People think that they should get paid more because it takes up a lot of time and to make it worse on top of the money they get for playing.

The other side says that athletes sacrifice important aspects of their life, like their health and family, so they deserve the compensation. Theguardian.com a sports website says “players in the NBA travel up to 40,000 miles per season.” Yes, athletes do sacrifice things, but vital jobs are paid significantly less like a pediatrician or a teacher. According to Salary.com, “an average pediatrician salary is $196,562 and an average teacher’s salary is $49,171.” Forbes say that “the minimum salary in the NBA is $562,100”, and that’s just the lowest.

People say that professional athletes deserve their salary because they spend a lot of their time preparing in their youth, high school, and college. BestCollegesOnline.com says that student athletes spend about 30 hours a week on school and about 20 hours a week on athletics. They choose to spend their time preparing for the pros and become a professional athlete. Schools also are now spending more on athletics than actual education. Hepinc.com says that Alabama and Clemson spend around $300,000 to $350,000 between both teams on just one single player.

The most insane part is that they don’t just get paid to play; they have endorsements and commercials and others ways of bringing in money. Their salaries are getting ridiculous with these added ways of income. LeBron James will earn more than $30 million annually from Nike, and he has other endorsements from Coca-Cola, Beats by Dre, Kia Motor, and Blaze Pizza. That’s not including his paycheck from the NBA. CNBC.com estimates that with his contract with the Lakers he will make $154 million in 4 years.

These are the reasons professional athletes should not get paid the way that they do. It isn’t fair to all the hard working Americans who have important jobs in our country. I’ll leave you with this: Why do we as Americans put athletics over education in our country?