Which job do you think is more important—leading the country or hitting a baseball? Most people would choose the first job; however, many baseball players and other professional athletes make several times the amount of money that the president of a country earns each year. It’s time to limit the salaries of pro athletes.

Some athletes get paid millions of dollars a year. In return, they attend training camps for several weeks a year and play a team sport for a few months. For baseball and basketball players, this means playing several games a week. Football players play one game a week. So these athletes are getting paid for working fewer hours than the average person. At the same time, doctors and teachers work at least 40 hours a week for a tiny percentage of an athlete’s salary.

Huge salaries for pro athletes have hurt sports fans. To pay these salaries, teams have raised ticket prices. Thus, many sports fans cannot afford to see their favorite teams in person. Also, some teams have only hurt themselves by paying multimillion-dollar salaries to athletes. After paying one athlete an enormous amount of money, a team may not have enough money to pay other good players. Once again, fans suffer.

Paying huge salaries to athletes sends the wrong message. It says that being a baseball or football player is a greater feat than being a teacher, nurse, or judge. Sports leagues should help the public see what’s really important. They should limit the money paid to professional athletes.

哪一份工作你覺得比較重要：領導國家，還是打職棒？大多數的人會選擇前者。但棒球員和其他的職業運動員每年的薪水，卻是一個國家總統的好幾倍。該是限制這些職業運動員薪水的時候了！

有些運動員一年可以拿到好幾百萬的薪水，但他們一年只參加幾個星期的訓練營，和幾個月的比賽。對棒球員和籃球員來說，他們一星期只要打幾場比賽，而足球員一星期只需要踢一場比賽。換言之，這些運動員比一般人的工作時數少。然 而，醫生和老師一週工作至少40 個小時，但他們的薪資等同於一個運動員薪水的微薄比例。

職業運動員的高薪也對運動迷造成了傷害。為了支付這些薪水，球隊提高票價，許多運動迷根本付不起錢到現場支持自己喜歡的隊伍。而且支付給運動員好幾百萬的薪水也傷害了球隊本身，在付給一個球員鉅額薪水後，球隊可能沒有足夠的 錢支付其他優秀的球員。為此，球迷又再一次受到了傷害。

付給運動員高額的薪資其實也傳達了錯誤的訊息。它呈現的是當棒球員或足球員，比當老師、護士或法官還要好。運動聯盟應該幫助社會大眾認清什麼才是重要的，是時候設限職業球員的薪水了。