Basketball star LeBron James made $33 million last year. And that probably doesn't surprise anyone. We're used to watching professional (职业的) athletes make and spend millions of dollars.
But there was a time when professional athletes could barely buy a car. In the 1940s, most basketball players made between $4,000 and $5,000 a year. That's about $50,000 in today's money.
For most sports teams in 1950, there were two main ways to make money. They sold tickets to games and popcorn (爆米花) in the stadium. For fans, it was a good deal. You could see a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball game for 60 cents. For players, the deal wasn't so great. There wasn't much money to go around. So salaries (薪水) stayed low. In some professional sports, players couldn't spend the offseason working out. They had to get second jobs so they could pay the rent (租金).
In the 1960s, television changed everything. In 1950, only 1 in 10 American homes had TVs. By 1960, 9 in 10 homes had TVs. And people sure loved watching sports.
At first, team owners were worried about TV. They thought fans wouldn't pay to come to the stadium anymore.
But the TV networks paid millions of dollars for the right to show games. That's when sports teams started to get rich.
Finally, the teams shared their wealth with players. In 1974, several baseball teams wanted a player named Catfish Hunter, who chose to play for the New York Yankees. They paid him $1 million just for picking their team.
Since then, athletes have only gotten richer. In 2018, the highestpaid player in baseball will make $33 million. In basketball, the average salary is about $7 million a year.
Are sports stars worth the money? Many fans seem to think so. They will pay crazy prices to cheer for their favorite players.
