Is it morally acceptable for athletes to receive enormous salaries for so little work?

Question

I believe that these people work long and difficult hours and should be recompensed for their sacrifices: soldiers, doctors, research scientists, teachers, psychologists, & social workers. What is your opinion?

Answer 1

I agree with you mostly. Teachers should be paid more first, then probably tie for soldiers and social workers. Doctors, and Im sure the scientists who actually discover or do work worth of merit..are getting paid the big bucks too. Maybe not so much as stars or celebrities. Yet with fame and fortune, you lose privacy.

Well there's always been 4 general catergories that make stars. Movies, Television, Music, and Sports. When you are the best at what you do, you should probably get compensated well for it. Are sports players grossly overpaid? OF COURSE! That was the problem with free agency. Before that all players cared about the teams they were on and it was more about the game.

Consider how they're just receiving a cut of the pay for all the ticket sales, food, merchandise, etc that their team generates.

Answer 2

I understand your point. The importance to a well functioning society is clearly more about having great teachers and doctors etc.

One of the diffences though is the ability to become a teacher or doctor many people have. The ability to hit an 80 mile per hour major league curve ball is very rare. Athletes can practice long hours in hopes of reaching the elite level but few ever make it. You just can't teach someone to run at near olympic speed then stop immediately cut to the right and shake off 260 linebackers like Barry Sanders could. Where maybe 1% of the population is capable of being a doctor the ability to be a an all star professional player is .000001%.

The fact that there are few who can do it combined with the willingness of people to pay for the athletic entertainment make it very financially rewarding. The market is huge for sports entertainment.

Also pro athletes work long hours at their respective sports.

Answer 3

Keep in mind thatA athletes are entertainers. They spend just a few hours on the feild or court, and their privet lives are also effected by people bothering them. Also consider that they only work for a few years. After that they have no insurance, no retierment, and that they can be traded or let go with out much say from them. Where they live, and thier schedules or how much time they get with thier families is determined by thier bosses. Don't forget practice times to stay at the peak of your game. Holidays are spent on the road, and injury is the death of a career. I think they get paid just the right amount for what they put up with.
I also agree that many people are not paid enough for what they do for a job, and that they often give up just as much in the case of soldiers and the like. Teachers are to me the most important jobs in the world. They put up with kids that parents pay others to take care of, nad often work many hours at home. With out them we as a country would have no future. Many scientists and other important professionals can say they were inspired to their jobs by a teacher.

Answer 4

Athletes work hard. If they have be noticed by a national team of any kind, they need to be in to shape - which includes gym time, practice time, plus any study time to make up for the time they were away playing games ( college). They dont spend enough time with their families becoz they are on tours. They need to be play well if they want to continue getting paid what they get.
And all athletes dont get paid ostentatious amounts - only ones with charisma,talent and attitude do.
If you want to make money and that is important to you, go for a job that can let you achieve your dream. Everyone knows being a teacher or a social worker is not the best way to earn a million bucks by the time you are 40.
I dont think morals have anything to do with it. If you can make tons of money the right way, you should! !!!

Answer 5

Yes, because their work (output, product, whatever you want to call it) is worth that to those paying their money to see them.

If the athletes weren't getting the money, then the promoters, etc, would, and they're doing even LESS work.

You have a flawed sense of economics.
It's not how much work you do that your pay is based on, it's the value of the product or service.
That is (and should be) dictated by the buyers, nobody else.

The guy who plumbs your house may work no harder than the guy making clay trinkets that sell for $1.00 at a craft store, but which is more valuable to you?
Water for drinking, showers, cooking, etc., is.

Answer 6

We live in the biblical House of Jacob, babylon. A man made prison. With idolaters and a generation that in their eyes that can do no wrong.

Answer 7

they provide entertainment for millions of people, i dont think it is fair but if i was offered that much for doing something i liked doing i wouldnt think it was moraly unnacceptable for me to take the money. + the people you list don't do any more work than football players, they work their asses off, probably harder than any of the others u mentioned except soldiers.