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Are Athletes Overpaid?

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Alec Morris Miss Murfee English 112 D-11 October 26, 2012 Are Players Overpaid? When sports exploded in the 1900’s athletes were paid like regular working citizens. Most athletes had to work over the summer to keep their mortgages paid. In present day, professional athletes are dished out astronomical salaries in exchange for their play. Many of these athletes have the opportunity to be set for life within the first years of their contracts. Eighteen and nineteen year olds are given multi-million dollar contracts. While these athletes are getting paid these ridiculous amounts of money, we have millions of hard working public service members that are getting the tiniest fractions of some of these contracts. In comparison, “each basket …show more content…

I guess it is helping the government but it is just utterly ridiculous. In 2009, NFL defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth signed a seven year deal with the Washington Redskins worth over $100,000,000. Alexander Knight claimed that the Redskins front office had to release 23 employees in order to make room for the big signing. How could a team value one person higher than twenty three just because of a unique athletic ability? This shows the selfishness of some professional teams. Needless to say Albert Haynesworth was a total bust and he was released one season later after failing the teams physical fitness test numerous times. The National Hockey League’s minimum salary is $500,000. The NBA’s minimum salary is over $450,000, and the MLB has a minimum salary of $400,000. So just to start out in any of these leagues, every single player is already making the same if not more than the President of the United States. Now the President not only makes important decisions that affect the course of our country, but he can also affect what happens in the entire world. How could an 18-year-old rookie pitcher with no experience professionally be started out on a base salary making more money than the president? One should be paid according to the value they serve to society. That statement holds no water when talking about professional athletes. It is so clear that these athletes’ salaries are not equal to their value to society. If so, the president would be

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