Final answer:
Professional team sports athletes' salaries can be similar to those of other top professional entertainers, with factors such as career length, taxes, and savings influencing their overall economic impact.
Step-by-step explanation:
Compared with other top professional entertainers, professional team sports athletes' salaries are similar.
While salaries in professional sports, such as the NBA, are incredibly high for top athletes like Stephen Curry, who earns about $43 million a year, this level of income can be comparable to top entertainers in other fields like music, film, and television.
However, there is a large salary stratification within professional sports itself, with the lowest paid NBA players earning just over $200,000. It's important to consider the career length, taxes, and savings when comparing these salaries. Athletes, due to generally shorter career spans and higher tax brackets, save a significant portion of their earnings. This economic behavior impacts how much money is cycled back into the local economy compared to locally-owned entertainment formats.