Proposal Essay on Professional Athletes Salary
Professional athletes make more money than the people we consider real-life heroes. People’s salary should be based on the value their work brings to society. However, athletes get paid double or even triple the price of doctors and other people who majorly help the nation because of the entertainment they bring. The reason why professional athletes receive millions and millions from a society paying doctors less is that people spend more to be entertained than they pay for other things. The athlete’s salary comes from society. People buy expensive tickets to a game, purchase team hoodies that are officially licensed and travel mugs. People want to wear costly jerseys for their favorite teams, buy highly-priced beer, and food to support their teams. Funs spend lots of money to show support to teams, which in return sends the funds to the entertain industry of these athletes and make it possible for them to get paid highly.
People decide to spend their hard-earned month’s salary on a one day game. The money people put in line to support football, basketball, and other games teams show how much they are inspired by the athletes (May & Stengel 1990). The inspiration from athletes makes people more willing to spend their money on them. Thus makes the athletes believe they are worthy, and they deserve big salaries. The only way for the professional athlete’s salary to be made fair is through people balancing the expenditure they send to games with the ones they send to other services like medical. For instance, if people made more money on medical donations than tickets to games, then doctors will earn a salary equivalent to their service impact on our communities.
Another reason why athletes are highly paid is due to the limited period of their careers. A professional athlete lasts a lot less than people in other occupations. A pro athlete needs lots of money to last way after their career services are terminated. Also, athletes have risky careers, and they suffer lots of physical stress during and after retiring, which requires expensive medical bills. For that reason, the wages given to the athletes are justified by the risk they take to be playing each day and putting their physical health in danger. The physical problems combined with the fact that most insurance companies are unwilling to cover pro athletes, then it makes it fair for them to earn more than the average person.
To solve the wage gap between professional athletes and other average person offering valuable service is by adjusting the athlete’s risks as well. The health insurance companies should come out willingly to fully cover athletes. Give assurance to them that the health risks they are likely to suffer after their careers are fully cover (Nixon, 1992). Also, if the retirement age for the athletes were to be extended, then athletes would not need to demand huge payments. The huge is to cover them in the long run after short termination. Balancing the risks will also get the budget for the professional athletes down and be fair for them to earn equally as the people we consider real-life heroes.
References
May, M. L., & Stengel, D. B. (1990). Who Sues Their Doctors-How Patients Handle Medical Grievances. Law & Soc’y, Rev., 24, 105.
Nixon, H. L. (1992). A social network analysis of influences on athletes to play with pain and injuries. Journal of sport and social issues, 16(2), 127-135.
Roderick, M., Waddington, I., & Parker, G. (2000). Playing hurt: Managing injuries in English professional football. International Review for the sociology of sport, 35(2), 165-180.