For the Love of the Money
The minimum salary for an NBA player is almost 300,000 dollars more than the average salary of a person in the United States according to Luke, Duccets 2004 article for the New York Times titled “Athletes pay for fun and, sometimes, pay.” This is completely ridiculous because people that really do not contribute that much to society other than entertainment should not be paid more than people that do jobs that contribute to society. Even though professional athletes and professional teams bring in a lot of money, the money that they bring in should be spent on other things such as improved facilities and given to charities. Players salaries need to be cut so money could be given to charities and more money could spent on to improve facilities of the team.
First off, Athletes make too much money, for example, Zlatan Ibrohimovic; a professional soccer player makes 15,000 more in a week than the average person in Sweden, his home country. Players also get money from endorsement deals with companies according to James deacons 2008 article titled” spoiled sports.” These are usually for the players that are the best in their league or best in the sport. The best players always get the most money from their salaries because they are the best players. For example in 2009 Tiger Woods made 2.5 million dollars in prize money from golf tournaments. From endorsement deals he made nearly 65 million dollars. Even though this isn’t the average endorsement deal it still shows how over paid athletes are. If part of their salaries were cut it would not greatly affect them. The minimum salaries in sports should remain the same but the maximum salaries should be decreased.
Secondly, with extra money that isn’t given to players, some could be given to charities of the team’s choice. A portion of all income could be given to charities that help people in need. It could be given to families that are hungry. According to Alec Wilkinson’s September 13, 2007 For the Milwaukee journal titled “Sports Play” he states that a deal could be made to give up to 3% of profits to charities. Since professional athletes can’t be forced into giving money. The money that is put aside for charities could be given out to charities of the team/players choice. If the professional teams did this it would also give the kids that look up to them some good morals. There are tons of little kids that have a favorite professional athlete and want to grow up and be just like them. If these kids see their favorite