Someone asked me if I thought sports were overemphasized in America and if I thought athletes’ salaries were too high. My response was an emphatic NO.
In many instances, people view sports as mere recreation and at the same time fail to equate them to legitimate career paths. It is easy to look at the exclusivity of professional athletes and recognize the tribulations against reaching the goal, but we don’t often compare those odds to other professions. Consider, for example, baseball– a sport that offers high school sportsmen the highest opportunity to become professional. By Sports Digest’s account, teen athletes have less than a 1% chance of becoming professionals. However, more than 400 high school seniors throughout the U.S. are drafted by MLB teams each year. In some cases, when one delays this opportunity for the sake of collegiate sports, the likelihood is high that a player’s value decreases between that last year of high school and senior year of college.
Judging by the numbers, it may be easier to become a professional baseball player than a medical doctor in the U.S. According to data taken from St. George’s University, the 2018 class of accepted applicants for medical school averaged an undergraduate GPA of 3.7 and MCAT score of 511. Other sources demonstrate that a mere .08% of aspiring doctors completed medical school. Another study showed a statistically significant correlation between medical school dropout and student mental burnout, and predictions suggest that 44% of students pursuing medicine will not graduate with their peers due to finances, burnout, and failure to meet expectations. Acceptance into medical programs are few and far between as well. Albany Medical College in New York has an acceptance rate of 1.35% (2022 data reports), Boston University School of Medicine admits 2.78% of its applicants, California University of Science and Medicine, just 1.78%, and the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, has a 0.98% acceptance rate.
What about salaries? Although we tend to focus on the wages posted in the media, in many cases, the big numbers do not reflect the details. For example, some professional sports contracts do not guarantee the figures reported by the media. Other contracts provide only a small base pay with heavy incentives. Athletes might not see half the amount that was offered at signing. Also, minor league baseball players and developmental basketball leagues are both overlooked in terms of professional athletic salaries. Furthermore, sportsmen who struggle on NFL practice teams earn as little as $12,000 a year. Rarely do we compare professional baseball players to fast-food employees who make $15 an hour. Still, in many cases, sixteen-year-old cashiers make more money than some minor league athletes.
To be fair, baseball players will have signing bonuses depending on how high they are ranked in a draft pick, and depending on other circumstances that agents negotiate. Those drafted in the top rounds typically receive fixed maximum signing bonuses. The bonuses function as a hedge on living expenses since players are away from the support of mom and dad. In truth, a high school senior’s $150,000 signing bonus isn’t a net gain; considering the student is good enough for the draft, the parents would likely have invested an average of $71,000 in travel ball to develop his/ her skill set over an eleven year period of the athlete’s life.
Travel leagues have turned baseball into an elitist sport. For one thing, parents pay $2,500 to $4,000 for their child to be on a team. Next, spend money on expensive baseball bats and gloves. Then, to really hone their child’s craft, they pay for batting lessons on the side and spend hundreds of hours inside batting cages. Then, strength coaches, speed camps, airplane tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals, and team dinner costs also have to be factored in. Over the course of one year, parents pay $7,000 to $10,000 in travel ball expenses. Considering how travel league baseball begins at an average of ten years old, a family could have invested in seven years of exhilarating, yet expensive, summers by their child’s senior year.
The road to athletics does not end with the high costs. Children with a propensity for playing sports may go underdeveloped in their skillset because so many public schools lack experienced or knowledgeable sports coaches. Additionally, inner city schools do not often have the academic prowess to prepare athletes for a University education. Such realities lead to other financial problems and investments, and it is worth noting that few professional baseball players attend or graduate from their local public school. In addition to the payouts mentioned above, private education and tutors increase the burden. Otherwise, athletes are compelled to travel outside their communities to suitable public schools and hope that residential rules and cultural differences do not get in the way. Some may even opt out of competing with their local high school teams in favor of gaining extra training from private arenas.
Overall, I think that parental commitments coupled with athletes’ skills and willingness to sacrifice the typical reality of average teens, places them in a deserving position for signing bonuses, if fate approves. The commitment is no different from high schoolers who dream of becoming doctors and test repeatedly to achieve an ACT score of 30 to be accepted into medical programs.
Our organization, Irene, Peggy-Jean, and Geraldine Charity (IPGC), exists because we want to help parents and their athletic children offset the astronomical costs of developing their talents. We believe that too many young people are unable to realize their dreams while watching privileged others excel. Our goal is to support parents who choose private school over public education, PSAT tutors for extra academic support, and speed camp. Our Peggy-Jean scholarship targets families with skilled athletes. We want to do our part in keeping their dreams alive and providing opportunities to make them a reality.
Additionally, we consider the student who isn’t an athlete but makes the same sacrifices. The dreams of those students are equally important to us, and IPGC wants to be a part of changing the representation of urban youth in medical school, technology, and more.
In April 2022, we were proud to accept our first donations. We are appreciative of all those who have since joined our efforts.