Should professional athletes earn millions of dollars from playing? Athletes shouldn't be making millions and millions of dollars while top jobs make much less. There are doctors who save lives every day and don't even earn a tenth of what some athletes earn. It's crazy to believe that someone is actually worth hundreds of millions of dollars and all they have to do is play a sport; a sport that millions of people would play for free if they had the chance. Where does all this money come from to pay these superstar athletes? It comes from the fans. The same fans who cry when their team loses celebrate when they win and pay six dollars for a beer and seven dollars for a deluxe hot dog at their team's game. Ticket prices continue to rise every year. How fair is it that fans pay at least $100 to go to a game and watch their favorite player jog with a ball on the ground or not play at his best, or a player misses a game because he is "ill or injured." If a hard-working person were absent a couple of days a month because they were sick or injured, they would undoubtedly be fired. In the case of athletes, they go on a two-week paid vacation, otherwise known as a 15-day disabled list. How much money does someone really need to be able to eat every day, have a home, and provide for their family? All of this can be accomplished with an income of $40,000 to $50,000. The average American family generates approximately $51,000 (Noss). A person has to work approximately thirty years before they can retire, which gives them a career earnings of $1.53 million. Some people may not think this is terrible, but they haven't considered the income of a professional athlete. The average NBA player makes about $5.15 million…middle of paper…perfect and commits crimes and stuff? Works Cited Noss, Amanda. “Household Income: 2012.” American Community Survey Summaries. Np, nd Web. April 9, 2014.Doyle, Frank. “Viewing the Annual Salary of Professional Athletes.” How to make money in professional sports. Huffington Post. Network. April 9, 2014.Lefebrve, Matt. Professional athletes are overpaid and selfish. Quinnipiac Chronicle, April 1, 2006. Web. April 9, 2014. "Doctor: Salary." Salary prospects. News from the United States. Network. 9 April 2014. Staff, ed. "Professional basketball." LeBron James hits the mark with endorsement deals. USA Today, May 22, 2003. Web. April 9, 2014. Badenhausen, Kurt. “Lebron James Endorsements Analysis: The Numbers.” . Forbes, January 1, 2014. Web. April 9, 2014. “Average Beginning Teacher Salaries 2011-2012 by State.” National Education Association. National Education Association, nd Web. April 9 2014.