November 5, 2010
The large salaries of professional athletes
A lot of people are arguing if the drastically increased salaries of professional athletes had a negative or positive impact on the athletes and the sports. Some people say that they are overpaid, some say that they are not, but what we surely know is that ticket prices have gone up year by year.
The increased salaries of professional athletes affect negatively on the sport. Nowadays, sports teams basically exist to provide entertainment. The more the team is paid, the more they are expected to win, such as New York Yankees. Salary caps are a good way to try and make teams, so the closer two teams are, the more interesting the game will be. Teams have moved from an American past time to a multi-billion dollar business. Team owners are picky, they are trying to get the best athlete available and usually the contracts they sign are insane, for example, David Beckham’s salary is $50,000,000 per year. Obviously, owners want a return on their investments and ticket prices are one of the places this money comes from. This makes it harder for people with families to go to their favorite game, because if you have a family of four, it will cost around $600 for tickets and souvenirs for the kids, and food. The average cheese burger at a football game is around $6.00. Rising costs of beer, hot dogs, and even peanuts are prohibitive.
The enormous salaries of professional athletes also affect negatively on the athletes. There have been many problems with the way athletes have been acting off the field because of the money they have. The young athletes become spoiled and quickly learn to feel entitled to get what they want and when they want. The athletes do not have to worry about consequences because most athletes can easily afford an expensive advocate. The saddest part of this story is that athletes should be role-models to kids, not the bad example.
The high salaries are ruining the sport, and also some...