Reasons Why Professional Athletes Go Broke

Young athlete’s main goal to attain is to become a professional athlete. Many want to become a professional athlete due to the money, others for the love of the particular sport that they are interested in. There is a downside in becoming a professional athlete, that many young players are not aware of. This downside is that professional athletes’ go broke faster than they are drafted into the leagues. Many professional athletes such as NBA and NFL players go broke due to career duration, overspending, family issues, and lack of financial knowledge.

After watching ESPN’s 30 for 30, Broke, my mind starting pondering this question of why and how so many professional athletes are blowing through the millions they make while playing their specific sport? It is amazing that someone can spend that much money so quickly. What are they buying and who are they buying things for? Where are they spending it? Where do they go wrong? When did this trend start and will it continue in the future? What are the league officials doing in order to prevent this tragedy from happening? These are some of the questions I will try to answer throughout this paper.

Furthermore, there are also bad sides to being a pro athlete, so the money is not an easy make. Having all that money, it may be thought that a pro athlete 's life is easy to live with all that money in their pockets. They might say that money can get them out of almost any problem. Even though some athletes get paid large amounts of money, there are a lot of down sides to being a well-known and paid pro. For one, the publicity might be overwhelming, not to mention all the criticism an athlete receives for a poor performance. How would it feel to walk around town having cameras flashing everywhere you go, waiting to catch you at the wrong moments for a photo just to be uploaded for the world to see? Pros have no privacy. Having no privacy means one cannot enjoy life outside of the sport. Having to worry about every move doesn 't seem fair because they also want a life outside of their desired profession. Before criticizing pro athletes and saying they get paid way too much, one should also realize that their lives aren 't so easy. Yes, they have money, but money doesn 't make life easier for these athletes.

When people typically view professional athletes they see the lavish lifestyle, they see the big contracts, and figure that they must be set up financially for the rest of their life. This is not the case though as becoming a professional athlete is similar to hitting the lottery just genetically. Being an athlete creates a large amount of income early in life, but that income decreases to zero once retirement comes around. The documentary Broke is a compilation of interviews and incidents that occurred which showcase the poor money management done by professional athletes. Whether the athlete played basketball, baseball, football, or was a boxer it did not matter there were multiple instances where an athlete that made millions in

Lebron James and Freddy Adu are both young athletes and with millions in their pockets with a countless number of endorsement contracts. Whether it is high school athletes skipping college and discontinuing the development of their education for millions of dollars, or teenagers signing contracts with businesses for massive amounts of money, youth sports programs are changing rapidly. However, American high school athletes are not financially, physically, or mentally prepared to tackle and endure the pressures of professional sports.

For decades, American Football has captivated this nation as one of the prime sources of entertainment. With the culmination point, the Super Bowl, attracting more viewership than any other televised event in the country, the sport has seen a tremendous growth since its origination in 1920. In an era of economic struggle, job shortage, and high-cost of living, those with above average physical abilities can find the lure of professional football to be extremely attractive. With the wealth and fame attached to a professional career, many of our youths share the common dream of achieving football star status. In order to attempt this lofty goal, many kids enroll in this contact sport at an early age, often times with the support of their parents.

Most athletes come from poverty or a struggling home and the only thing that helps them is playing a sport they love. A report showed that “86% of players living off campus living below the federal poverty line,” (National College Players Association). This is with a “full scholarship” these athletes still live a life where they struggle and don 't have enough money to survive in the real world. The case can be made that if they make it all the way where they become professionals, they can earn a lot of money. However, the percent to play in the National Football League (NFL) is slim, in fact, there is a 1.6% chance for a college football player to go to the NFL (NCAA). With 72,788 players in the NCAA, there are 16,175 eligible players to go to the draft, but only 256 draft spots. With all those numbers there isn 't a great chance to get drafted and make millions of dollars where you can set up your family forever. So, those other 15,919 players who don 't get drafted have no financial security, unless they graduate from college with a degree. However, people

When they were in college they never had time to get a job, because they were spending their time doing either school work or practicing/playing the . Also if the athlete is good enough to make it into professionals they will have to manage more money. Tiffany Patterson stated, “One aspect I find lacking in this topic discussion is the ignoring of the very real fact that a lot of athletes are very financially irresponsible.”.

Imagine yourself watching College Football on a Saturday afternoon, but then you realize that most of these players won’t even get to play in the NFL. NFL players get paid millions of dollars a year while college athletes don’t get paid at all. Every college athlete dreams of playing at a professional level at their sport. Less than 2% of college athletes get to play professionally. College athletes train for an average of 45 hours a week, which is 5 hours each day. Some of them are offered a scholarship to college, but they get nothing after that. Sometimes players are supposed to play professionally, therefore, spend all of their time training and get injured. This would most likely lead to professional sports teams not wanting to pick him or her because of the injury. Even those who do play professionally may not have the best financial management skills

All around the world sports are the topic of discussion, both teams and athletes bring forth millions of viewers to see what a sports team is made up of. College is where a student gets the opportunity to shine. If a college athlete possesses a significant amount of talent they have the potential to become a professional. At a college level, students don’t receive payment; regardless of what level an athlete is on, when an individual has a natural talent the individual should be paid for doing what he is good at. This idea of not paying student athletes needs to change because these student athletes have become involved in a craft and deserve compensation for their involvement. Three key elements that is discussed in this essay will give probable cause for athletes to be compensated. The three factors that are analyzed in this essay is the commitment of time that a player sets into his or her sport, the large debt accumulated while in school, and the amount of money colleges earn through student athletes. All three aspects are valid reasons as to why colleges must start paying their athletes.

College athletes arguably possess a similar and often equivalent skill set to that of a professional athlete and may even train just as hard as a professional athlete. However, a college students relationship to athletics is no different than a high school student who participates in their schools athletics program. These young athletes participate in their chosen sport without any expectation of monetary compensation in return. In fact, many athletes at non-professional levels pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars annually to participate in their chosen extracurricular sporting activities (Alderman, 2013). This is their choice and they are not financially compensated for it. These athletes play for the joy of the sport, life lessons and in some cases, the hopes of one day becoming a professional athlete.

While some athletes leave college early, others stay in school and finish their degrees before they pursue their dreams of professional sports. They patiently wait until they graduate from college before pursuing the professional level and for most athletes, this is the right path. “Other athletes have put their education first while still reaching the professional level” (Clary). Athletes need to make sure that they have a backup plan if their life’s athletic goal does not come true. If athletes are paid in college, there is a good chance they would stay in college to finish their degrees and make more mature money decisions.

Growing up, there are countless young boys, who have the dream of someday being a professional football or baseball player. Going outside and letting the imagination of being on the big stage and making the final pitch to win the World Series or the final Hail Mary throw to win the Super bowl. As a young kid, the dream of one day being the best and be paid to play a sport they grew up loving and playing. Although the sports of football and baseball are both very popular, there are a substantial amount of differences between

These Pro Athletes are also getting paid a lot of money becauses they are really well in their sport and why are they doing well. It may because they have a lot of talent and put a lot of time into training but also a lot of it could be the use of a performance

The passages present a discussion about arguments concerning whether or not professional athletes are overpaid. This is an important debate since professional sports represents a multi-billion-dollar-per-year industry. The two positions argue whether or not professional athletes should be paid the large yearly salaries they are paid. Both viewpoints have valid claims warranting consideration. For example, evidence suggests that people with far more important jobs are paid much less than professional athletes; in contrast, opposing evidence suggests that since professional athletes generally have short careers and must train very hard to build and maintain their skills, the higher salary is justified. While both sides of the issue have valid points, the viewpoint that professional athletes are not overpaid is the best-supported position, the position supported by the preponderance of the evidence cited in the passages. The strongest and best reasons supporting this position are that professional athletes must endure grueling and intensive training, they generally have short careers that often end in injury, and the amount that they are thought to be paid is often inflated. Accordingly, these reasons and opposing viewpoints will be discussed next.