Are Pro Athletes Overpaid?

How much is a touchdown worth? For a player in the National Football League (NFL), the answer can be in the millions of dollars.

Earlier this year, NFL quarterback Josh Allen signed a contract for a whopping $330 million to stay with the Buffalo Bills for six more years. The record-breaking deal is the highest guaranteed payout of any player in the league. Allen’s annual salary is enough to buy more than 91,000 Xbox X consoles or to pay for about 64,000 people to get into Disney World for a week!

Allen’s contract has reignited a decades-long debate: Should professional athletes make so much money when the typical salary in the United States is about $62,000?

Some people argue that pro athletes deserve every penny since they possess exceptional talent. Basketball star LeBron James might make scoring look easy, but most people in the U.S. can’t do what he does. His $49 million a year salary in the National Basketball Association (NBA) reflects that, fans say.

But others argue that it’s unfair for pro athletes to receive million-dollar salaries because sports don’t provide the same value to society as other professions. Life-saving firefighters average about $54,700 a year, and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) make about $38,800, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows.

How would you tackle this issue? Consider both sides and decide which team you’re on.

It’s fun to watch a professional baseball player hit a home run. But it’s still just a game, some people say. That’s why athletes shouldn’t be paid more than those with essential jobs, such as nurses, they argue. “I get that people enjoy watching sports, but they’re not necessary. We need EMTs and police officers more,” points out Finnley Rumberger, an eighth-grader from Ohio.

Critics of high sports salaries also argue that the pay drives up the price of tickets and merchandise, which has a negative impact on fans. Tickets to see the NBA’s star-studded Los Angeles Lakers play, for example, can cost a few hundred dollars per person on Ticketmaster. “How is that not affecting my ability to take a family of four to a game?” asks Jeffrey Farr, assistant professor of sport management at the University of Alabama.

In addition, some industry experts say the supersized salaries are unfair because the biggest checks go to only a small fraction of pro athletes—and almost all of them are men. Of the 100 highest-paid athletes in 2024, not a single woman was on the list. And Caitlin Clark, a star rookie in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), had a salary of only $76,535 in the 2024-25 season, despite being credited with bringing new fans and attention to the sport. “WNBA players are dramatically underpaid,” says sports economist David Berri.

Becoming a superstar athlete takes years of hard work, day in and day out, often starting in childhood. So pro athletes deserve big paychecks, many sports fans say. “There’s a lot of training and a lot of effort that goes into being an athlete,” points out Ellie Farrell, a seventh-grader from North Carolina.

Plus, getting to an elite skill level is uncommon, industry experts say. Only about 1 percent of college basketball players make it into the NBA, for example. And when something is extremely hard to achieve, its value is higher because there is less supply and more demand for it, says Nola Agha. She is a professor of sport management at the University of San Francisco in California. “Exceptional talent is very rare,” she explains. That’s why teams see high salaries as an investment. Top talent can help them win and attract fans, who in turn buy tickets and merchandise.

Athletes also entertain millions of people. The most watched program in U.S. history was Super Bowl LIX. “We should be paying them similar to what we see other people in the entertainment industry getting paid,” says Katherine Reifurth, a sports marketing expert at Arizona State University. Actor Dwayne Johnson, for one, earned about $88 million in 2024 after taxes and fees. And for a good reason, fans argue. “Entertainment is important to people’s happiness,” Ellie says.