Overpaid Athletes
Being a professional athlete comes with many perks that go far beyond the sport itself. Players in the fields of basketball, baseball, hockey, and many more, have been known to make a lot of money. Some probably make more in one year than many of us will ever make in our entire lives. These high payoffs are the cause of many heated debates constantly taking place, both by sports teams and the general population. Some people view it as a problem and others don't. At the end of August, 1998, just as we were coming back to school, Michael Jordan was putting his signature on a ONE year 35 million dollar contract. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Just that year’s endorsements earned Jordan 40 million dollars. The Flyers just stole center Chris Gratton away from the Tampa Bay Lightning at the bargain figure of 15.5 million dollars over 5 years plus a 9 Million Dollar signing bonus and they still have to re-sign Eric Lindros. Good Luck! Where is all this money coming from? The answer is sports fans like you. We pay for the tickets, T-shirts, and apparel of these teams. They can afford to sign new players when they’re charging anywhere from $45 to $55 dollars a seat for football and anywhere from $25 to $12 . . .
Can athletes play to their ability if money and contracts are in the back of their minds? Athletes are role models to young fans. Instead, they teach us about switching teams if the money being offered is not enough, about not working at all if you do not get enough money, and about not respecting teammates. They should be teaching fans about teamwork, working hard, devotion to the team, and respect. The other is big corporations buying stakes in these teams, bringing in big money. These teams then build enormous stadiums sometimes with taxpayer money and keep the profits. To anyone but Bill Gates, this is an obscene amount of cash. He settled for $68 million over 10 years. Jaws dropped again last week, and not because of the stunning outfit worn by some teen diva on MTV. This sports as entertainment argument, however, ends with Kazaam, a movie basketball star Shaquille O'Neal was paid to star in. Two hundred and fifty-two million dollars. They force you to buy a personal seat lisense for the RIGHT to buy your season tickets, anywhere in the range of $800 to $1500 per seat. Bruce Willis earns multimillions of dollars, despite both North and Last Man Standing. And Barbra Streisand charged something like $1,000 a ticket last year for a New Year's Eve show, though we all know that is well past her bedtime. The players do not want this, because it could cost them money.
Common topics in this essay:
Glenn Robinson, Bill Gates, Minnesota Northstars, Overpaid Athletes, Lindros Luck, World Series, Texas Rangers, Michael Jordan, Space Jam, Bay Lightning, professional athlete, professional sports, baseball strike, athletes professional, personal seat, |
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