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So many times I have heard people complaining about how much money professional athletes make, and how much they do not deserve to make such large sums of money, and every time I hear such arguments, I usually say that professional athletes should get the money they make. Here is why.

My argument is not so much whether a pro athlete's work is worth that amount of money, but rather whether they should make that amount of money. Those two things are actually different. For the argument as to whether pro athletes deserve to make the amount of money they make based on the work they do, I would agree with just about everyone else and say no. However, unlike school teachers for example, whose work is undeniably more important than an athletes, athletes actually generate money for their organizations. Lots of it!

Let's see an example. Madison Square Garden has a capacity to hole 19,763 people for a basketball game. At the time this article was written (1/7/08 2PM), the best available seats for season tickets were priced at $1,760 per person (nyknicks.com). By my calculations, 19,763 seats at $1,760 adds up to $ 34,782,880 for the season. That number is for seats alone! Not to mention the profits the Knicks make on merchandises sold at games and in stores. Sadly enough teachers cannot generate that kind of money.

Now back to the athletes. They athletes are the main reason team owners are able to generate that much money in the first place. Therefor if the athletes do not ask for that money, it is left to the owners, who would become even richer than they already are. So before we condemn athletes for asking for ridiculous amounts of money, look at the owners first. Question the ridiculous ticket prices, and the $7 hot dogs at games. Surely if the money was not available, the athletes would not ask for it.

In conclusion, I leave you with this question: If you knew for a fact that your presence at your current jobs was making your company 1 million dollars of profit, would you be content with getting paid 30K a year?

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