Opinion by J1 reporter Megan Szwanek

Football. Soccer. Basketball. It’s no secret that no matter the sport, men seem to love them. Whether it’s playing, coaching, or watching sports,

males are always the center of attention in the sport industry. However, in recent years, the world has come to realize some ground breaking news.

Not only do men love sports, but women actually do too! Not only do we love sports, but we want to dedicate our lives to excelling in whatever sport we want. Unfortunately, the opportunities for women in professional sports are nowhere near the opportunities for males, making it difficult for women who love sports to make their dreams a career.

Girls sports in general get less attention than male sports. If you think about professional male sports in comparison to women’s, the venues are generally not as nice and they are not able to hold as many people. Women’s sports don’t get as much coverage on TV or in the media as male sports. Not to mention the fact that women’s professional sports didn’t even EXIST until years after male professional sports. The WNBA was only created after the NBA had been around for 51 years.

There’s also the issue of salary when it comes to male vs. female professional sports. Though women are just as passionate, dedicated, and hard working for their sport as any man, our bank accounts don’t show for it. The top earning female athlete of 2015 was Maria Sharapova with $29 million. However, the top earning male was Floyd Mayweather with $300 million, which just happens to be over ten times more.

The best part is the majority of Maria’s wealth comes from endorsements rather than the actual sport of tennis. She earned $6.7 million from tennis where as Floyd received $285 million from boxing. Guess hard work doesn’t always pay off.

Another way of proving how much men’s sports are obviously favored over women’s is with the number of professional sports teams. Here are the ratios of the number men’s to women’s professional sports teams:

Hockey 30:4 (NHL)

Basketball 30:12 (NBA)

Baseball 30:6 (MLB)

Soccer 20:9 (MLS)

Football 32:wait this doesn’t exist (NFL)

As you can see the number of professional sports teams is definitely weighted in men’s favor, especially since women don’t even have a professional football team; or any football teams in the country for that matter. And no, the “football” teams of women wearing lingerie do NOT count. The fact that women are not even given the opportunity to play for an American football team at any level is an issue of equality that desperately needs to be addressed.

As women, we need to show the world that not only are we great at playing the sports we love, but that we deserve recognition and attention just as much as the men. That our sports are just as important and entertaining to watch, even if we have more clothing on than our underwear. Ladies, we are a force to be reckoned with and we need to show these men who’s team captain.