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. As Jon Solomon, Editorial Director for the Sports and Society Program at the Aspen Institute explained, The most glaring example occurred when the University of North Carolina was found by outside parties to have organized fake classes that enabled dozens of athletes to gain and maintain their eligibility of the 3,100 students who took the fake classes over 18 years, 47.4 percent were athletes North Carolina avoided NCAA penalties by essentially arguing that the NCAA should stay out of irregularities in college courses. [24] The NCAA polices athletes finances but does not ensure a quality education. 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. Consider that ten of the biggest outdoor sports stadiums in the world (excluding auto racing venues) are American college football stadiums. In the N.F.L., the average was only $2.7million, but oneof footballs highest-paid players, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, just signed a four-year contract for $134 million. 1 overall pick in the '07 draft. 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. The 2020 agreement was also a big step forward in terms of WNBA players salary potential. This trend holds a significant effect on players salaries: It helps some athletes get oversized contracts (what doPatrick Mahomes teammates think about his $503M contract?) But many players say this is not enough. 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 . Moreover, in my mind, if these athletes want to continue to be rewarded with the fame and fortune that is unfairly bestowed upon them, they must prove to the world that they are going to be positive role models for future athletes, and those who admire them. The National Basketball Association (N.B.A. The EEOC never publishes a response, but the players received a 30% raise among other benefits in 2017. The truth is, some professional athletes make huge salaries because millions of people are happy to pay money to see those players make the amazing catches and breathtaking plays we love to watch. While both mens and womens soccer players are seeing salary increases alongside the sports rise in popularity, men still far outearn women. In fiscal year 2019, the collective expenses of the 65 Power Five schoolsthe largest and richest Division I schools in the NCAAexceeded revenue by $7 million. Anyone can read what you share. 2021, the NCAA was composed of [n]early half a million college athletes [who] make up the 19,886 teams that send more than 57,661 participants to compete each year in the NCAAs 90 championships in 24 sports across 3 divisions. [1] [2], The NCAA is seemingly the final authority to decide whether college athletes should be paid to play college sports. 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. Obviously, what these individuals must not be aware of is the most important man in our nation, the president, who makes critical decisions that affect the entire world every day, only makes $400,000 a year. [11], Additionally, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a case (National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Shawne Alston, et al.) 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. Opinion: Women athletes do not deserve equal pay | HS Insider Plus, making it to the pros takes years of hard work. ProCon.org is the institutional or organization author for all ProCon.org pages. about whether the NCAA is violating antitrust laws by restricting college athletes compensation. ], [Editors Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries. In today's society, one should be paid according to. Being put through the kind. This is just one of the ways that professional sports are working to improve pay inequality. More than half the people in the United States make less than $62,000 a year. But now in the 21st century, the NCAA is a billion dollar company. While I do understand that making it into the pros is not an easy thing to do, and thatit takes a tremendous number of hours of hard work and dedication every day to earn a job in professional sports, these people do nothing more than entertain the general public. But its important to remember that those athletes are an essential part of enormously profitable companies. Gender equity in tennis has been in the spotlight for decades, stretching back beyond Billie Jean Kings threat to boycott the 1973 U.S. Open. Another sign of growth toward pay equality is that tennis players from both the ATP and WTA have come together to campaign for a larger share of tournament revenues. Compare those wages withthe national average salary fora firefighter: about $45,000 a year. Teaching is one of the most economically important occupations because our future economy relies on the education of its youth, yet teachers are paid astronomically less than the average professional athlete is. In fact, each basket Kobe Bryant scores earns him equivalent to the average classroom teachers yearly salary. are thriving at the highest levels, all higher percentages than their non-athlete peers. But the long fight that set key members of the womens team against their bosses at U.S. Soccer ended on Tuesday just as abruptly as it had begun, with a settlement that included a multimillion-dollar payment to the players and a promise by their federation to equalize pay between the mens and womens national teams. Aside from federal, state and city taxes and pension, which everyone pays, players also need to pay agent fees, a $10,000 union due, and aJock Taxfor each of their away games, among others. Fox Sports say the pool-play game versus Chile had record viewership for a Women's World Cup group-stagematch. Tiger Woods, along with many other professional athletes, certainly think so. Student athletes should get paid, college students say - CNBC Firefighters can abide in the fire station for up . When fans look at professional athletes salaries, its easy to say they make far too much money for playing a game. Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate. As of June 10, 2021, 18 states have passed NIL laws; five more states have passed bills that were awaiting the governors signature to become law; 14 states have introduced NIL bills; and one state has a bill passed by the Senate and awaiting a House vote, according to the Business of College Sports. For example, fair market value for a University of Texas football player was $513,922. Professional sports is a money-earning business. What kids learn from successful ballplayers like him is that Its okay for me to use illegal substances, because in the long run, it will pay off by earning me an enormous contract.. procon@eb.com, 2023 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. We compare average salaries of male players vs female players across sports like basketball, soccer and tennis, and highlight some of the major steps forward in the pursuit for equal pay. Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, stated, traditions alone cannot justify the NCAAs decision to build a massive money-raising enterprise on the backs of student athletes who are not fairly compensated. This is about a six-foot-nine superstar taking a red-eye cross-country and having to sit in an economy seat instead of an exit row. The current deal with the league ends in October. Up until 2020, the WNBA received 20% of their leagues revenues. Money is not everything, and being money-hungry can be harmful in the long run. They make their teammates better, thereby improving the whole team (thinkTom Brady Kevin Durant, and, of course,Michael Jordan, etc.). They argued about whether they deserved the same charter flights as their male counterparts and about the definition of what constituted equal pay. It Threatens the Future of Sports. [23]. Next, some MLB players will earn more in one game than the average American household makes in 10 years. All rights reserved. In 2019, 14 million people watched the U.S. Womens National Soccer team defeat the Netherlands to win the FIFA Womens World Cup10.5 million more viewers than their 2001 finals appearance. Take, What The Hell Are They Thinking? 1. Jim Treleaven: Should College Athletes be Paid? Whether professional players receive salaries or individual prize money from competitions, male athletes in basketball, golf, soccer, baseball and tennis make anywhere from 15% to nearly 100% more than female athletes. But theyre still earning way too much money. A handful of big sports. 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. As professional sporting brings in a ridiculous amount of money in general, we should find a way to invest more in our female athletes and pay them the same as their male counterparts. Agents can be advocates for fairer wages and better benefits. While President Obama is hard at work reviving the economy, the unproven rookie in the MLB is earning way over that figure. However, its not the athletes fault that their wages are so high. 2. 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. Schools would also have to cut unprofitable sports including gymnastics, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball, and wrestling. 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. 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. Nike hasnt made asignature shoefor a WNBA player in over 20 years. These infamous players must grow up, and prove to America that they can be positive role models for kids on and off the field. [32] Discrepancies between mens and womens sports such as the weight room during the 2021 NCAA basketball tournament would only worsen. They claim, for example, that women can earn a . [24], B. David Ridpath, EdD, Associate Professor of Sports Administration at Ohio University, noted, The only amateur quality about college athletics is that colleges refuse to pay their players. Ridpath explained, The United States is the only country in the world that has a significant portion of elite athletic development and commercialized sport embedded within its education systems. Someone who tosses a ball shouldntearn 700 times as much as someone who saves lives. As there can be only one best, who is it? 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. 8, 2020, Steve Goldstein, Nine out of 10 New Jobs Are Going to Those with a College Degree, marketwatch.com, June 5, 2018, Gallup, A Study of NCAA Student-Athletes: Undergraduate Experiences and Post-College Outcomes, gallup.com, 2020, Greta Anderson, Study: College Athletes Have Better Academic, Life Outcomes, insiderhighered.com, June 24, 2020, Griffin Connolly, Wealth distribution is bad except when it comes to college athletes' money, top Republican senator suggests, theindependent.co.uk, Sep. 15, 2020, B. David Ridpath, A Path Forward for Reforming College Sports, jamesgmartin.center, Jan. 15, 2020, Molly Hensley-Clancy, NCAA Vows to Improve Conditions at Womens Basketball Tournament, as Outcry Continues, washingtonpost.com, Mar. U.S. Soccer Says Women Don't Deserve Equal Pay Because They Have Less Skill Thats about $40million a yearone of the highest annual salaries in team sports. The gender pay gap is still a big problem. However, the men still come out ahead internationally. That gap was once seen as an unbridgeable divide preventing any sort of equal pay settlement. Sorry, an error occurred and your vote could not be processed. Analysis: What equal pay in women's sports really means Sport Management Blog: Olivia Franks 4 Tips for Success, Male vs Female Professional Sports Salary Comparison, 2010 Mens World Cup: $420 million, $30 million winners share, 2011 Womens World Cup: $5.8 million, $1 millions winners share, 2018 Mens World Cup: $400 million, $38 million, 2019 Womens World Cup: $30 million, $4 million winners share. However, the past decade has seen some attempts to narrow that gap. 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. Was this the outcome you expected? People in the military leave their families at home to defend and protect the country knowing they may never return. The National Football League, Major League Baseball, and the National Basketball Association generate billions of dollars in revenue. There is no guaranteed money. After all, athletes earn more money than teachers, first responders, and members of the military. 23, 2023. 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. This quote suggests the importance of teachers in our society, rendering the fact they should be paid more than professional athletes. 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. Under the terms of the agreement, the women a group of several dozen current and former players that includes some of the worlds most popular and decorated athletes will share $24 million in payments from U.S. Soccer. The top WNBA salarywas $117,500 last season, compared with $37.4 million in the NBA. has approved a historic change to allow student-athletes to be compensated for use of their N.I.L., with schools and conferences allowed to adopt their own additional policies . In fact, some pro athletes in minor league baseballdont even make minimum wage. These players are apart from their families and have to stay in hotels and eat out at many places. First, the average Cubs player earned over 6 million dollars in 2012. Sports betting is now legal in the majority of US states. Is this for the better? 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. [47], By Jan. 2022, without a clear NIL structure from the NCAA, some schools were questioning how to navigate deals for players or whole teams without violating NCAA policy. Top athletes can do things that mere mortals can't. Most have paid a heavy personal cost to get there. In 2018-19, the federation reported total revenue of $115,128,170, a growth of 160% over the last decade. In 2016, ESPN doubled their rights fee to show WNBA games, paying $25 million a year. Thirty-eight members of the women's national team sued the U.S. Soccer Federation last March, accusing the federation of failing to promote gender equality. Sports teams know that to stay profitable they need to win, which is why they sign the best players available. Consider the pro position of the National College Players Association that paying college athletes is a civil rights issue. In U.S. The odds are even lower for womens basketball at 0.6%. But do these athletes really deserve all that money? 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. Are there other factors that you think should be taken into account? However, with fans willing to paymore than 100% premiumson tickets to see individual players, likeLeBron James, franchise players have extra responsibility to live up to their star power.
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