I sat in math class, eyeing the clock and waiting for the bell to ring. It had been a normal day at school, but at home, things were going to be different because the Warriors playoff season was starting. When the bell rang, I ran out the door, ran to unlock my bike, and quickly pedaled home. When I finished my homework, I joined my parents, my grandparents, and my younger brother in the living room and sat down in front of the TV. My whole family likes to watch the Warriors but for a special reason—the players. At that time my favorite players were Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. Watching Curry shoot deep threes or Durant scoring a lot made watching the Warriors a lot more fun and exciting. Watching your favorite team and players win can bring a lot of joy into your life. I think that because athletes bring us so much joy and team owners make a lot of money off of them, they deserve their high pay, but there are many other workers who should have higher wages.

Athletes deserve to be paid a lot since, without them, leagues wouldn’t be as profitable. Writing for Scholastic.com, Fred Bowen writes, “Lower salaries wouldn’t necessarily lead to lower ticket and hot dog prices for fans who go to the games. The billionaire owners of the N.F.L., M.L.B., and N.B.A. teams would likely pocket the difference.” Even if athletes were paid less, instead of creating cheaper ticket prices and higher stadium worker salaries, the extra profits would likely go to the team owners. By paying athletes less, it may do nothing but make the rich team owners even richer. Bowen also writes, “Without the players, the leagues wouldn’t exist. Players’ salaries are simply their share of all the cash these hugely successful businesses bring in.” Athletes like LeBron or Curry get a lot more people to watch their games since they are so good. When I get home from school, I want to finish my homework early so I can see athletes like Klay or Curry play. A lot of people are paying not to just see their favorite teams play, but also their favorite players. If people stop paying and watching, the team owner makes less money, which is why team owners will pay so much for athletes to play for their team.

Athletes deserve to be paid a lot, but their salaries are hard to justify when there are so many workers who are underpaid. According to ESPN reporter Bobby Marx, the average salary for an NBA athlete in 2021 is around 10 million. Writing for Scholastic.com, Jesse Spector says, “Compare those wages with the national average salary for a firefighter: about $45,000 a year. It’s about $56,000 for a schoolteacher and nearly $74,000 for an emergency room nurse.” When putting salaries of athletes and firefighters side by side it may seem unfair that firefighters have to risk their lives but are getting paid so much less than someone that plays a sport. However, if basketball players' salaries suddenly were smaller, it would not mean that firefighters' salaries would get any better. Jesse Spector also says, “However, it’s not the athletes’ fault that their wages are so high. The main problem is the huge amount of money involved in professional sports. Team owners and the three big leagues rake in billions of dollars a year.” Athletes make a lot of money because professional sports generate a lot of money. One way to change this could be teams being owned by cities instead of private owners. Then the huge sum of money being generated by the teams could go towards paying teachers and firefighters and other workers.

Having a local team with superstar athletes can encourage you to watch them more. People feel pride if their teams are playing well. While growing up, it's always fun to watch your favorite player dominate. It also can bring you closer to friends or family.  If these athletes weren’t getting highly paid, they might want to leave your local team and your team wouldn’t be the same without them. If we were to lower their salaries, it wouldn’t help a lot either since most of the money would go to the team owners rather than the stadium workers. But when the salaries of athletes are compared to jobs like teachers, firefighters, or nurses, it seems unfair that those other professions get paid so little for saving lives and teaching the younger generation, while athletes get paid so much for playing a sport. While athletes deserve their high-paying wages, I believe that all workers deserve to be paid more.