Recently, many stars in some of America’s top professional sports leagues have faced consequences for their poor behavior. NBA superstar Anthony Edwards received a one game suspension after picking up two technical fouls in one game. He has received 17 technicals this season, which is the most in the league. In 2024, Rashee Rice, an NFL wide receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs, got into a six car pile up going 119 miles per hour. The Chief’s first round pick in 2024, Xavier Worthy, was recently arrested for assault charges. In July of 2023, Jordan Addison, a wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings, was arrested for a DUI while driving 140 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone. Controversy arose when Addison was able to continue playing in the NFL.
Some believe the NFL should not have allowed Addison to continue playing in the league after the incident.
“I think that he should have been suspended and fined heavily from that, because what he did was very dangerous,” junior Cruz Pena said.
Professional athletes receive substantial attention throughout their careers. The average salary in the NFL is $3.2 million per year, which is around nine times the average doctor salary in the United States. This is why many students believe that athletes should be held to a high standard.
“Younger kids look up to them while they’re playing their sport and they want to be them,” said senior Landon Jakubsen.
Athletes can reach astounding levels of fame with some of the most recognizable household names, like Michael Jordan, Lebron James, and Tom Brady, coming from professional sports.
“Athletes get a lot of recognition and a lot of people know them, so they should be held to a high standard,” said Pena.
In the cases of Rashee Rice and Jordan Addison, the NFL failed to hand out any sort of punishment. The league chose to leave it up to the law to decide their consequences. Pena believes leagues also have a responsibility to take action when misconduct occurs.
“I think that both the league and the law should punish them. Suspend them from games, but also give them charges on their criminal record,” said Pena.
In many cases, leagues use fines as a means of punishment when players step out of line. Jakubsen believes that fines are an adequate way of penalizing players.
“Fines are a good punishment, but they have to be big enough because they get paid so much,” Jakubsen said.
The NBA recently came under fire by Warriors forward Draymond Green, who claimed the league is set up for players to fail financially because of the fine system. Green has accumulated roughly $900,000 in fines throughout his career, yet holds a net worth of $80 million. Pena also believes that fines should be large in order to account for the astounding income of the athletes.
“I think they should get heavy fines because they make a lot of money, and small fines like $20,000 aren’t going to hurt them,” said Pena.
With behavior among professional athletes on the decline, it will be up to the leagues to decide how they want to approach disciplining their athletes. One thing for sure is that something must be done in order to restore the public image of leagues and the athletes in them.
