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Video Response
MX01 Athletes and Pay
Today footballers and basketball players make millions of dollars. Is it too much?
- Transcript
- Audio Slide Show
- Audio Notes
Jeannie, United States
I do think professional athletes do make too much money, just by comparison with other professions, for example teachers, who I think are a lot more important with the job that they do. They don't get paid enough and then you have people who are just playing a game and they get paid so much money and I think it's a little unfair.
Kate, New Zealand
I think athletes, they don't make too much money, because they're playing exactly what, their favorite sports and they enjoy what they do. However, I heard about the NHL in Canada, the hockey, and their asking for more money, and more money, and I think it's, they should just take the money that they have because they get a lot of money already. They shouldn't keep asking for more money.
Jim, England
I think athletes make far too much money, especially footballers. This is soccer players for those people who speak American English. I think that people like nurses, doctors, teachers, they should be getting more money, not people who play sport.
Rina, Canada
I think professional players do deserve the money they get. They're protraying their image publicly and risking their bodies to entertain us and there's a lot of money that goes into it, why shouldn't they reap the benefits. Why should the owners, or the people that are making profits in other areas, when they're doing all the work, reap all the benefits.
Al, England
Yes, I certainly think, especially professional footballers earn much too much money. One guy called Rio Ferdinand just singed a contract for 100,000 pounds, per week and that's more money than I'll ever earn in my entire life, so I don't think that's fair.
Todd, United States
Ah, no, I don't think they make too much money. I think athletes deserve all the money they get. I mean they make a lot of money, and it seems crazy that they make so much money, but the bottom line is so many people watch their games buy their jerseys. Buy tickets to follow them, listen to them on radio, so they bring in a lot of revenue, and they are the reason that people watch them so they should get all the money that they earn. Maybe they should give a little more to charity, or give some of the money back to the communities, but yeah, they deserve the money they get.
by comparison with
Athletes do make too much money just by comparison with other professions, for example teachers.
Above the speaker is comparing the amount of money that professional athletes make compared to teachers. You can use this phrase to specifically compare two things. It is also common to use the phrase 'in comparison with.' Notice the following:
- Tiger woods is poor by comparison with Bill Gates.
- The moon is very near by comparison with Mars.
portray
They're portraying their image publicly.
To 'portray' something means to present it. In this case it is referring to how athletes present themselves to the public.Sometimes how someone is portrayed and what they are in real life are two very different things. Here Rina thinks that athletes should be paid for having a public image. Notice the following:
- Rappers like to portray themselves as bad, but that's not always true.
- The public image he portrays is far different from
reality.
reap the benefits
They reap the benefits.
To 'reap the benefits' means to enjoy the results of one's hard work. Notice the following:
- Save money now and reap the benefits later.
- He reaped the benefits of his hard work with a vacation
abroad.
the bottom line
The bottom line is that so many people watch their games.
There can be many opinions about the same thing. 'The bottom line' is the conclusion or most important thing that you should remember. Notice the following:
- There are many things you can do to improve your health, but the bottom line is, eat less and exercise more!
- When learning English, grammar is important, but the
bottom line is to understand and be understood.
revenue
They bring in a lot of revenue.
'Revenue' is money that you earn from working or investments. Athletes are very important to how much revenue a sports team will earn. Notice the following:
- Beckham is expensive, but he earns a lot of revenue for the team.
- Because of a losing season, team revenue is down for the
year.