Last year Real Madrid set the record by signing Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur for 86m,

eclipsing the 80m

they had paid Manchester United four years earlier for Cristiano Ronaldo. Prima facie, many would feel that this
exorbitant sum of money was too extravagant and question whether any footballer let alone a 24-year-old
Tottenham winger yet to win a title in his own league can possibly be worth such a staggering sum. Many can only
dream of earning that amount of money in a lifetime, much less in a single transaction. It may seem to the common
man that the amount given to a man who can kick a ball around the field is excessive. However, I feel otherwise,
because the total amount of money that they receive are not just for their talent but may also be for other reasons.
Fun fact: The lesson is that Europes super-clubs especially Real Madrid and Barcelona, as the biggest beasts on the stage are
in the business of buying not players, but icons. Indeed, their lustre, and commercial survival, increasingly depend not on their
decorated histories, but their marquee players. That is why Barcelonas playmaker, Lionel Messi, when he arrived in Kuala Lumpur
on Barcas pre-season swing around south-east Asia (undertaken to maximise the clubs exposure in these lucrative markets), had
a phalanx of security men that would have embarrassed the Pope. It is one of the reasons why the club played such a high price for
Neymar, the superlative young Brazilian whose South American connections render him a marketing goldmine.
Before plunging into my argument, there are certain points that I have to concede. For one, I have to acknowledge
that there are many others who are equally unique and talented in the arts and so on. The salaries of these other
talents pale in comparison to those of athletes. Some sports stars may not be as talented as other less well-paid
athletes, but they are paid a lot more than those athletes. For example, the England football team is made up of some
of the most well-paid sports stars compared to their counterparts from other countries, but they have not won a FIFA
World Cup championship since 1966. It thus seems hard to deny that these athletes might indeed be paid too much.
One might argue that the high salary commanded by sports stars means that there are certain expectations of their
behaviour both on and off-pitch, as they are often looked up by the young. However, poor behavior like drink-driving
and sexual assault suggests that they are not worthy of the money they are given since they cannot live up to these
expectations. Tiger Woods' infidelity scandal and
One of America's greatest sporting icons, Lance Armstrong's constant denial about his doping allegations prior to his
admission in 2013.
Hence, they are paid too much.
The mass media clamor to focus on the stars themselves. Multi-national companies also scramble to sponsor these
athletes so that when the camera takes their photos the advertisers brand names appear. Since many of the athletes
are becoming spokespeople for various sports brand like Nike and Puma, they definitely earn wads of from their
endorsements, thus it may seem that they are paid too much. However, I would like to point out that money that these
sports stars earn from advertisements is not always directly as a result of their talent but more of their marketability
and their star factor. It is not so much because Maria Sharapova can hit a tennis ball across the court that she is in
such demand by advertisers. When David Beckham was said to have lost his magic touch in his freekicks, he was
still often seen on glossy posters for Gillette. Hence, the fact that the huge amounts of money that sport stars earn
does not completely stem from their talent is enough for any discerning people to think that the athletes talents only
constitutes a small portion of the total sum that they get, and thus, it cannot always be said that they are paid too
much money for their talent.
It is about supply and demand at the end of the day. If sports fans are willing to fork out the money to watch their
favorite sports stars in action, who is to say the stars don't deserve what they get?
The benefits brought about by sports stars are not just financial in nature. There are also less tangible but no less
important benefits like the sense of national pride or unity they bring to their country or the motivation they bring to
young people who aspire to become like them. These other benefits could be said to justify their high pay.
Overall, I strongly disagree that sports stars are being paid too much money for their talent, simply because many
are simply getting what they deserve and the total sum of money that they get which many would envy may not
completely stem from their talent. Many are too quick to conclude that they are paid wholly for their talent. Moreover,
the good that these stars can do like engaging actively in charitable work justifies their salaries. After the Asian
tsunami in Aceh, Maria Sharapova donated her winnings from a tournament to aid relief efforts there. I believe that
many critics of this notion are probably envious and it is understandable that it is human nature to constantly engage
in self-comparisons. However, I would like to say that we should cast aside this desire and look carefully into the
careers of these sports stars. From there, we may just understand the reasons for their huge salaries and even come
to appreciate the work that these stars do.