Are Athletes Overpaid? Literature & Language Essay (Essay Sample)

Are Athletes Overpaid?
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Are Athletes Overpaid?
In 2017, Stephen Curry’s new contract with the Golden State Warriors in 2017 raised eyebrows after it was revealed that the basketball star would be making over $200 million in a period of five years. At an annual mark up of about $40 million yearly, Stephen Curry’s salary was set to be the highest earner in any annual sporting event. Consequently, concerned individuals began questioning the logic behind high salaries for people whose career bears little impact on the society. Athletes salaries have been compared to well paying careers like law and medicine and even that could not account for less than a half of what athletes are paid. However, there are reasons athletes are paid this much, professional sports teams rake in billions of revenues each year due to the significant contribution of pro athletes. It is only right then to compensate athletes proportionately for their significant contribution. Athletes are not overpaid; their hard work guarantees huge revenues which they deserve a significant share.
The analogy that athletes are overpaid is factual, however, there are justification to these amounts. Firstly, reporting for Global Sports Matters, (Mathewson, 2019) reported that more than on hundred and six sports franchises in the world are valued at over $1 billion. On top of this, they make a guaranteed millions of dollars in profits from merchandise and overpriced ticket sales. Their revenue point being engagement, these numbers are bound to increase significantly as more people become engaged with sporting activities through TV. For instance, the National Football League tops sporting events in revenue collection, annually this is estimated at $13 billion, much of this revenue is from TV contracts. Statista reports that the NFL will collect $54.6 billion from TV contracts over a period of six years from 2014 (NFL National Television Broadcast Deals 2014-2022, 2020). Given these astronomical numbers, the players salary appear dwarf in comparison, one can almost say their job category is underpaying given the sales revenue projected.