Initially I was going to write this paper arguing that professional athletes are overpaid . I wasn't sure that I would be able to write 8-10 pages on that topic though so I decided to write my paper on why athletes make as much as they do.
Thesis: Contrary to popular opinion, professional athletes deserve their salaries due to their rareness and talent, the huge revenue they draw, the demands of their job, and society’s emphasis on sports and entertainment.
Talented, Rare, and Hard to Replace
One reason that professional athletes make so much money is because they are extremely talented at what they do. In order to be a professional athlete you have to be the best of the best. To become “the best of the best” requires hours and hours of practice. These athletes are born with amazing athletic abilities and then must develop and fine tune those abilities to become professional. Those that make it into a professional sport have been playing since they were little kids. Their childhood lives were dominated by the sport that they play. These athletes have devoted hours and hours of practice and training to become the best. Very few people possess the talent that it takes to become a professional athlete. Looney stated, “These athletes have skills, amazing skills, that are incredibly rare. They do things routinely that we can’t do in our dreams.”
These statistics will give you an idea of the chances of making it into the National Basketball Association (NBA). According to the National Federation of High Schools, there are 18,150 high schools in the country with a basketball program. That adds up to 545,844 high school basketball players who could potentially make it to the NBA. Only the best high school players will have the opportunity to play on one of the 345 division one college basketball teams. Each college team has a roster of 12 players which means there are 4,140 division one basketball players in the nation. This being the case, there are only 4,140 spots for these 545,844 high school players to fill. This means there is a 0.0076 percent chance that a particular high school athlete will go on to play on a division one college team. The top players at the collegiate level may go on to play in the NBA. There are 60 draft selections in the NBA and only 34 of them make the team. Once you take into consideration overseas players and those that go to the NBA right out of high school, the odds are 10 out of 545,855 that a high school player in this nation will eventually make it to the NBA. This being the case, there is only a 0.000018 percent chance for high school athletes to become a professional basketball player. Clearly, only the most talented athletes in the nation are good enough to play a sport professionally.
Professional athletes are very rare and the demand for them is high, therefore their salaries reflect that. It takes a certain body to play a professional sport. For example, the average NBA player is six foot seven and weighs two hundred and twenty pounds. It is very uncommon to find someone with a large enough body to be a professional athlete. On top of that, those who have the right body build then have to have extreme athletic talent. The mix of these two qualities is very rare and hard to come by, thus the high salary. Part of the reason that professional athletes are paid so much is because they are extremely rare. Not many people have the body build or athletic ability to compete as a professional athlete, let alone both!
Since professional athletes are so rare, they cannot be easily replaced. Typical jobs like teacher, fireman, or secretary are fairly easy to replace in the sense that there are many people who are qualified and meet the requirements needed to complete the job. How do you replace a Kobe Bryant who is six foot six, averages 29 points per game, and has led his team to win five
NBA championships? It’s simple, you can’t. He is a one of a kind player which is why he earns $24,806,250 annually. No one else can do what he does. Top professional athletes earn millions of dollars a year because they are extremely rare and are very difficult to replace.
NBA championships? It’s simple, you can’t. He is a one of a kind player which is why he earns $24,806,250 annually. No one else can do what he does. Top professional athletes earn millions of dollars a year because they are extremely rare and are very difficult to replace.
I could be wrong here, so you'll have to look into it if you want to add this in, but I am fairly certain another reason professional athletes need to make so much money is they have a lot of people that see a portion of their salary. (Agents, trainers, etc.) Don't get me wrong, I definitely agree with your points, but that's just something more to think about. Once again, I may be wrong. Nice work though. As a sports fan I'd be interested to read the finished product.
ReplyDeleteyou have some great stats! this is a very interesting topic because it seems like (in my eyes) we spend waaaay too much money on athletes and athletics in general. i mean props to whoever decided to monetize playing a simple game!—but we put too much emphasis on it. i'm interested to see how the full paper will turn out. if you sway my opinion, i'll be impressed! and with your paper as it is right now, it seems like you might be doing just that.
ReplyDeletewow i really like your topic, I'm really jealous! That sounds like it will be a lot of fun to write! Good luck, i can't wait to see how it turns out
ReplyDeletealso, you have a great opportunity from some sweet alliteration in the first few words. instead of "contrary to popular opinion," say "contrary to common opinion." change one word and you change initial reaction of the reading. cool, huh?
ReplyDeleteI am very impressed with your paper so far. The statistics are great and your paper is easy to follow and agree with. One thing I would say to fix is to watch out for being so repetitive in your analysis of the information, but overall I am excited to read more!
ReplyDeleteThat is a really interesting way to look at things. I would actually be interested in reading the rest of your paper once it is finished. I never realized how unlikely it is for someone to become a professional athlete is.
ReplyDeleteLooks pretty good, but there are a few issues that could be addressed:
ReplyDelete-In the first paragraph, you use the term "hours and hours of practice" several times, which is something that should generally be avoided.
-Who is Looney? You don't tell us who he is, or why his opinion should be important to us. (also, I don't know if you need to cite that quote or not, but...)
-In the second paragraph you start out saying "These statistics will give you an idea..." Using "these" generally implies that you are referring to something that came before that sentence. Changing it to something like "Here are some statistics" or "The following statistics" would help clear it up a little.
-In the last paragraph you say "It's simple, you can't." The comma probably ought to be a colon, and there really shouldn't be any contractions in formal writing (unless that has changed, too...)
Other than that, it seems pretty good (though I might suggest working the salary thing in a little earlier than the third paragraph, it sounds a little forced there). Keep up the good work.
thanks for the feedback guys.
ReplyDeleteWow, this is really really well written! You've worked really hard on your topic already and have really great progress. Your topic really interests me and I'm excited to see what else you write in your paper. I think you have really good examples and great analysis.
ReplyDeleteYour paper looks like it is coming along. I liked the statistics you embedded throughout your paper. Overall I thought it was good, and you followed your thesis well.
ReplyDelete