why should professional athletes be paid less

Scores of college athletes are being used to generate money for NCAA sports in a pandemic without the NCAA enforcing any COVID standards. [17], The NCAA reported over $1.06 billion in revenue in 2017 (the most recent available numbers). But as recent lawsuits and even Twitter battles show, we still have a ways to go. Are there other factors that you think should be taken into account? (HISTORIC) See how different sides see the same key events in ongoing conflicts. They shouldn't have to become Maxim models to prove their worth. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. That adds up to about $400,000 a year. 2018: Twenty-eight USWNT players joined a wage-discrimiation class-action suit against U.S. Soccer. If you are interested in equalizing athlete pay, or if you want to push for better compensation for players overall, consider a career in sport management. Professional athletes competing for money rather than for excellence will take the soul and magic out of sports, ruining it in the long run for athletes and for fans. April 12 is now known as Equal Pay Day the day when on average women have. In order for these players to gain respect, they need to have a more significant impact on the community. [29] [30], Further, most college programs do not generate the income needed to run their athletic programs, much less pay athletes. 19, 2021, Adam Liptak and Alicia Parlapiano, "What the Public Thinks about Major Supreme Court Cases This Term," nytimes.com, June 1, 2021, Business of College Sports, "Tracker: Name, Image and Likeness Legislation by State," businessofcollegesports.com, June 10, 2021, Adam Liptak, "Supreme Court Backs Payments to Student-Athletes," nytimes.com, July 21, 2021, Alan Blinder, "College Players May Make Money Off Their Fame, Powerful N.C.A.A. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? College athletes may also play a second sport professionally and be compensated, such as Clemson quarterback Kyle Parker who earned a $1.4 million baseball signing bonus from the Colorado Rockies in 2010 while still playing football for the Tigers. Perhaps more notable is U.S. Soccers pledge to equalize pay between the mens and womens national teams in all competitions, including the World Cup, in the teams next collective bargaining agreements. Does it make any sense that someone who throws a football for a living is paid more than 700 times as much as someone who helps save peoples lives, or that swinging a bat gets you nearly 650 times as much as educating kids? Is MMA any more dangerous than boxing or other contact sports? Team owners and the three big leagues rake in billions of dollars a year. Theres no question that professional athletes are paid too much. In 2019, the average annual income for a US household was $96,955 while the average income of a professional baseball player in the major leagues was around $4.7 million .The rising gap between the average American's income and a professional athlete's income might pose a serious threat to . Haven't signed into your Scholastic account before? This cycle goes as follows: the fewer women who have access to sports, the fewer women have interest in sports, the fewer women who will become professional athletes, the fewer fans, the fewer commercial opportunities for revenue, the less interest in ad buys and investment in women's sport, the less money there is for female athlete salaries, are thriving at the highest levels, all higher percentages than their non-athlete peers. Professional athletes are incredibly talented in what they do. That gap is narrowing slightly, however. In 2018, the average annual salary for an M.L.B. [38] These rules can effectively limit players options to playing in college or choosing another profession altogether. 1,217 will be draft picks, but only 791 will be drafted yearly, meaning about 9.9% of college baseball players will go pro, which is the largest likelihood in NCAA sports. procon@eb.com, 2023 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. (Photo by Damien MEYER). And sport marketers can attract more fans to a league or player, increasing revenue and support. (While thats still a lot, its not nearly as much as their top-level teammates earn.) If it is closed by the federation in negotiations with both teams, the change could funnel millions of dollars to a new generation of womens national team players. And the few athletes who get that far have relatively short careersjust 5 to 10 years to earn a living, compared with 40 or 50 years for other jobs. ], ProCon.org, "Paying College Athletes Top 3 Pros and Cons,", ProCon.org, "Paying College Athletes Top 3 Pros and Cons. Two major moments in this dispute include: The SBNation site Stars and Stripes compiled a full timeline of the USWNTs negotiations with U.S. Soccer over the years. The suit is still ongoing. [34], The major money-makers, football and mens basketball, have very low odds. What are sports like at your school? Others also argue that. But now in the 21st century, the NCAA is a billion dollar company. If so, theyll stop paying to watch or support professional sports teams, leaving the industry in the lurch. Tiger Woods, along with many other professional athletes, certainly think so. College athletes are allowed to compete in the Olympic Games and be financially compensated, such as Joseph Schooling, a University of Texas swimmer, who earned a $740,000 bonus for winning Singapores first gold medal ever at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games for the 100m butterfly. Up until 2020, the WNBA received 20% of their leagues revenues. To fix the problem, and separate athletes who are getting an education just because they want to play a sport from those who actually want to go to college, the United States needs a true amateur or minor league that feeds into professional sports. [13] [14] [41], Gabe Feldman, JD, Professor of Sports Law, Director of the Sports Law Program and Associate Provost for NCAA compliance at Tulane University, noted that the last time the NCAA was at the Supreme Court was in 1984 (NCAA vs. the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma). Given athletes large salaries, more youngsters want to become professional athletes but for the big money, not for the love of the game. In 2019, the average annual income for a US household was, The large amounts of money invested in professional sports in recent years has the potential to drain the true meaning from sports. It is clear that professional athletes do not get paid enough, because they get paid the same amount as actors and they don't do anything physical. But that will always be the case if women's sports aren't marketed properly Thu 9 May 2019 05.00 EDT. Both teams have a salary cap, meaning each team has a limit on how much they can pay their players and some limits on how they can divide that pot of money. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. When the WNBA players' union opted out of its collective bargaining agreement in November, Los Angeles Sparks star Nneka Ogwumike, the president of the union, wrote for The Players' Tribune: This is not purely about salaries. But California was quickly followed by more states. To learn more about the Adelphi University MS in Sport Management program, Ruth S. 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After all, athletes earn more money than teachers, first responders, and members of the military. [31], If students were paid, the NCAA argues, many colleges and universities would have to offer fewer scholarships and the remaining scholarships would be distributed unfairly to top football and mens basketball players because those two sports bring in the most revenue. Tennis players are the only female athletes to rank among the overall top earners over the past decade, with Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Li Na all having appeared multiple times onForbes list. In team sports, though, the picture for women is bleak. 3. The pay disparities in baseball/softball and basketball come down almost entirely to the revenue their leagues generate. Sure, their net salaries may be higher than ours, but they are still lower than we tend to think and much lower than what is published. When asking people whether they think athletes are paid way too much money, most agree with me. Opponents to equal pay for women cite a variety of reasons why male athletes are paid more than women, including viewership, play style, strength, revenue and more. Both mens and womens basketball used the unusual circumstances to play with online options and enhance the at-home fan experience, and the WNBA saw its highest draft viewership in 16 years during the 2020 virtual draft. In 2019, the teams in the FIFA Womens World Cup shared a $30 million prize pool. People in the military leave their families at home to defend and protect the country knowing they may never return. Maybe highly paid athletes (along with team owners) should have to pay a special tax that would help fund better salaries for firefighters, teachers, nurses, and other people who work for the greater public good. They also have the celebrity effect, which draws more paying fans in. Many more try, but don't even come close. Nine other NCAA executives were paid more than $500,000 in 2018, with one paid more than $1.3 million. While 2020 brought unexpected changes to both the NBA and the WNBA, with both leagues seasons affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the CBA still remains. Top U.S. mens player: Andy Roddick, $2,187,719, Top U.S. mens player: John Isner, $411,414, Average of U.S. women in top 100: $1,484,559, Top U.S. womens player: Serena Williams, $4,266,011, Average of U.S. women in top 100: $307,343, Top U.S. womens player: Sofia Kenin, $3,012,043. The players long battle with U.S. Soccer, which is not only their employer but also the sports national governing body, had thrust them to the forefront of a broader fight for equality in womens sports and drawn the support of fellow athletes, celebrities, politicians and presidential candidates. Access this article and hundreds more like it with a subscription to The New York TImes Upfrontmagazine. Thats about $40million a yearone of the highest annual salaries in team sports. Should the college athletics system be revised in another way to compensate amateur athletes? ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Just one woman was ranked among the 100 highest-paid athletes in the . Men's sports generate higher revenue, so male athletes are paid higher salaries. In any other job, if you don't perform to your expectations, you're fired. Professional sports is a money-earning business. The bulk of that figure is back pay, a tacit admission that compensation for the mens and womens teams had been unequal for years. Professional athletes put in years ofhard workand deserve every penny they earn. We'll have to wait and see what. The most important thing here is that we are moving forward, and we are moving forward together.. Their hope is that by moving closer to a 50-50 split, common in other pro sports, they can increase salaries for all players, male and female. Others will mimic as they try to keep up but eventually will fall short in trying to outbid Auburn University, Florida State, the University of Southern California or the University of Texas in the college player arms race. [33], The reality is that the vast majority of college athletes will never play professionally. To learn more about Adelphi Universitys Online Programs download a brochure, fill out the fields below or call us at 888.252.4110 to talk with one of our enrollment counselors. 2017 Perspective-Media LTD. All Rights Reserved, THERE ARE AT LEAST TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY. While compensation for women has improved over the past decade, the gap still extends to even the worlds highest-paid players. Someone who tosses a ball shouldntearn 700 times as much as someone who saves lives. But far more comes from the multibillion-dollar deals made with cable and TV networks to broadcast games. [36], Amy Perko, CEO of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, said of the Gallup findings, Its a positive report for the educational benefits for college sports, and it reinforces the point that weve tried to make over the years. It is true that on average, female athletes are paid far less than male athletes. Proper citation depends on your preferred or required style manual. Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. The team salary cap for the National Pro Fastpitch softball league is $175,000; the Boston Red Sox will split $227 million in 2019. The top players in these leagues earn huge salaries that most Americans can only dream of. @Aussie7s champs at Sao Paulo, awesome signs on #RoadToRio. Here are the proper bibliographic citations for this page according to four style manuals (in alphabetical order): [Editor's Note: The APA citation style requires double spacing within entries. Consent is needed to contact you, but is not a requirement to register or enroll. The pay disparity in professional soccer exists at an international level as well. When basketball player Stephen Curry signed a new contract with the Golden State Warriors in 2017,jaws dropped at his salary: a whopping $201million over five years. In fact, some pro athletes in minor league baseballdont even make minimum wage. However, in 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Fair Play Act that allows college athletes to hire agents, sign endorsement deals, and be paid for the use of their likeness. The National Basketball Association (N.B.A. For example, a student athlete will be compensated for the sale of a jersey featuring their name, or for a sponsorship deal in which they appear wearing a UNC jersey. Women used to rank more prominently among the top-earning athletes, butover the past 25 years, media companies have spent billions on TV deals for live sports content. The odds are even lower for womens basketball at 0.6%. In 2016, ESPN doubled their rights fee to show WNBA games, paying $25 million a year. Think about Jamarcus Russel, the former No. Major League Baseball is a $10 billion-in-revenue giant while the NPF players make an average of $5,000 to $6,000 because of the league's low revenue. However, some may argue that while teachers only provide service to a single classroom, superstar athletes are entertaining fans all around the world, enticing people with a feeling of relaxation and excitement. Another argument is that women's national teams for sports like soccer have far more success than the men's national team. In 2019, FIFA proposed doubling the womens prize pool to $60 million in the 2023 World Cup, and announced that they would spend $1 billion on womens soccer over a period of four years. Thus, professional athletes salaries are a fair compensation for the countless time and energy they put into training and the huge health risksthey take, especially considering that their careers typically end around the age of 35. [25] [26], The study found that [t]he player-level analysis reveals that the existing limits on player compensation effectively transfers resources away from students who are more likely to be black and more likely to come from poor neighborhoods towards students who are more likely to be white and come from higher-income neighborhoods. [25], College athletes are required to make up the difference between NCAA scholarships and the actual cost of living. TakeAlbert Haynesworthof the Washington Redskins. Is it all about defense or does winning have more to do with offense? Women athletes work just as hard as men. Bill gates paid 114.16 every second and athletes get paid 20 million per season, they both work hard for their money. Aspiring athletes get to be superstars because they have some type of rare talent. The lowest-paid N.F.L., M.L.B., and N.B.A. NBA players receive about 50% of the leagues revenues. TakeScottie Pippen, who, despite being a vital asset that lifted both Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, played most of the 1990s under what is consideredone of the worst contractsin NBA history. The starkest gap remains at the very top. It wasnt an easy process to get to this point for sure, Cindy Parlow Cone, U.S. Soccers president, said in a telephone interview. 23, 2018, Craig Garthwaite, Who Profits from Amateurism? An NHL Blackhawks player earned over 124 million dollars in 13 years.Why should athletes get paid so much to play a game? 1, 2021), Colin Dwyer, California Governor Signs Bill Allowing College Athletes to Profit from Endorsements, npr.org, Sep. 30, 2019, Rudy Hill and Jonatha D. Wohlwend, Florida Law Will Allow College Athletes to Profit from Name, Image, and Likeness Starting Summer 2021, June, 25, 2020, Ben Pickman, Colorado Governor Signs Bills Allowing NCAA Athletes to Profit Off Name, Likeness, si.com, Mar. According to the NCAA, the organization provides more than $3.6 billion in athletic scholarships annually to more than 180,000 student-athletes. Divided equitably, each student would receive about $20,000 per year. 7, 2018, Steve Berkowitz, NCAA President Mark Emmert Credited with $2.7 Million in Total Pay for 2018 Calendar Year, usatoday.com, June 2, 2020, USA Today, NCAA Salaries, usatoday.com, Nov. 17, 2020, Ian McMahan, Athletes Are Paying the Physical Price of Playing College Sports, si.com, Oct. 31, 2017, Azmatullah Hussaini and Jules Lipoff, Op-Ed: COVID-19 Is Making the NCAAs Exploitation of Student-Athletes Even More Obvious, latimes.com, June 23, 2020, Meghan Walsh, 'I Trusted 'Em': When NCAA Schools Abandon Their Injured Athletes, theatlantic.com, May 1, 2013, Jon Solomon, The History Behind the Debate over Paying NCAA Athletes, aspeninstitute.org, Apr. If youre interested in learning more, you can visit Adelphis sport management info page and download a free brochure, or call 888.252.4110 to talk with one of their enrollment counselors. Why do athletes deserve high salaries? They make their teammates better, thereby improving the whole team (thinkTom Brady Kevin Durant, and, of course,Michael Jordan, etc.). The athletes leave their families, so they can go to their work, will you do that. In fact, each basket Kobe Bryant scores earns him equivalent to the average classroom teachers yearly salary. Why hasn't anything changed? 4. Soccer and Womens Players Agree to Settle Equal Pay Lawsuit, Andrew Das writes about the case and its implications for other sports: For six years, the members of the World Cup-winning United States womens soccer team and their bosses argued about equitable treatment of female players. From these statistics, many would believe that women and men athletes should be equally paid because of an almost identical stat line that shows equivalent performance.

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