Maureen Sulik

Composition II

Lindsay Milam

9 December 2005

For the Love of the Game? Or the Money?

Today's professional athletes make enormous salaries and they are only going up. Every year we hear about how some new professional athlete just signed a contract worth a record amount of money . Then the same next year we hear about how another athlete is signing a new contract worth even more than before. In fact, most professional sports minimum salaries are over $100,000 per year. And furthermore, the entire “game” has become corporate, and seems to no longer hold any value in society. Professional athletes are making too much money in a society that’s salaries and wages are traditionally based on the value of ones work.

Whose fault is it that these athletes make these huge salaries? According to most people you ask, it is societies fault. It is the fans’ fault. And that is right. We are the ones who go to these sporting events and pay $50 for a ticket, and $100 for a jacket, and $20 for a hat. We are the ones who support these professional sporting teams, and in turn the players. The reason these ticket prices go up constantly are partly because they need to make more money to pay for our favorite stars, but mostly because they know, no matter how much, the fans will pay it. If everyone was to stop supporting their favorite team by not going to the games, or by not buying the jackets, or by not watching them on television, do you think the salaries would start to decrease? Yes they would. Nobody is going to get paid $100 million dollars if the money is not there for him to be paid with.

According to Marshall Burrow, Michael Jordan made 33 million dollars a year, and another 40 million a year in endorsements. (Do Sports Players get Paid too Much so Ticket Prices Go Up). This is equivalent to about $170,000 a day. Is anyone worth $170,000 a day? In my opinion, Jordan's salary is not at all reflective of his value in society. To put this in...