Sports salaries too high?

Junior Scholastic, May 11, 2009

NEWS FACT: Last December, pitcher C.C. Sabathia signed a seven-gear contract with the New York Yankees worth $161 million. That's the largest amount ever offered to a pitcher in Major League Baseball. Does Sabathia deserve to make $23 million a gear?

A recent poll by Rasmussen found that one in three Americans thinks the government should cap athletes' salaries at $1 million per year. For Ben Roethlisberger, a star quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, that would mean a big salary cut. He took home more than $27.7 million last season.

Alexander Knight, a student at Grambling State University in Louisiana, thinks that such outsized pay reflects poorly on our society. "It is sad that we live in a country where we pay people a lot of money to entertain us, but pay people very little to inform us. If it were my choice, teachers would be the highest-paid professionals," Knight, a self-described "huge sports fan," wrote in his school's newspaper.

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Stuart Sternberg, owner of the Tampa Bay Rays, sees no problem with big salaries in sports. "It's still America," Sternberg recently told a reporter. "People should be able to make what they make."

What Do You Think?

Should government cap sports salaries?

YES

Kennedy Mann, 12, a sixth-grader from Georgetown, Kentucky, thinks that there should be limits on athletes' earnings. "Their jobs are important," she says. "However, there are also people who aren't famous whose jobs are critical."

Liam Batson, 13, a seventh-grader from Quincy, Massachusetts, agrees. "Doctors and firefighters save people's lives, and teachers teach the youth for the future," he tells JS. "It isn't fair that someone who is trying to score goals should be paid millions of dollars."

NO

Taylor Scott, 12, disagrees with classmate Kennedy Mann. "The [employer] decides what he or she is willing to pay. Athletes get more money than others because it takes skill to play sports." Taylor points out that players' salaries are paid out of the money made from ticket sales--not by the government.

Siobhan Brier, 13, an eighth-grader from Scranton, Pennsylvania, sags: "Capping the salary of athletes doesn't solve the problem of hard work and little pay for people who have jobs such as garbage [collector]."