Corruption of Professional Sports Organizations However, America’s love for sports makes it blind to the detrimental effects these sports organizations can take on our community and the corruption that is entrenched in their leadership. These multi-billion dollar corporations somehow escape legal condemnation for their selfish actions. I chose this topic because I think a lot of people see sports as a joyful distraction from real-world problems, a representation of the purity of America. In reality, American sports have systemic flaws that need to be addressed, and more people need to be educated about them. Sports organizations misuse and abuse their public funding and player profitability, a problem that can be seen at both amateur and professional …show more content…
These multi-million dollar organizations pretend that they need public money to support new stadiums, when in reality they are fully capable of privately providing the necessary funds. Aaron Kuriloff and Darrell Preston reference Judith Grant Long’s 2012 book, “Public/Private Partnerships for Major League Sports Facilities.” to highlight this issue. They note, “Taxpayers in the U.S. spent about $10 billion more on stadiums and arenas for professional sports teams than they forecast. The average public-private partnership worked out to cost cities 78 percent and the teams 22 percent” (Kuriloff & Preston, 2012, para. 1). An example of a privately funding stadium can be seen in New York City, where the Giants and Jets collaborated to build the $1.6 billion MetLife stadium. Former Senate Finance chairman Bob Packwood uses this example to show that private financing is possible, and that owners will steal public money if they are able to (Kuriloff & Preston, 2012, para. …show more content…
First, the politicians that control state and national legislative bodies block any reform to stop public subsidies. Bradley, cited above, explains that the people in Congress who support these initiatives have way more power than those that oppose it. Initiatives made to regulate subsidies in New York and Minnesota both failed in committee (Bradley, 2014, para. 56-58). Second, sports teams threaten to leave the city if taxpayers don’t fork over their money. P.A. Groothuis, K.B. Johnson, and J.C. Whitehead write, “In 1994, the owners of the Pittsburgh Pirates announced that baseball could not survive in Pittsburgh without a new ballpark” (Groothuis et. al, 2004, pg. 517). In the past and present, teams have used their soft power to persuade or even blackmail cities into paying for endeavors that the organizations can provide independently without question. So, it can be seen that subsidizing sports stadiums has an economically detrimental effect on the public as a
Siegfried, J., & Zimbalist, A. (2000). The economics of sports facilities and their communities. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, , 95-114.
Some of the most prolific franchises in sports, like the Oakland Raiders and Baltimore Colts of the National Football League, have moved to other cities breaking off their loyalty to the hometown fans. More important than the actual moves are the more frequent threatened moves. When teams “play the field” and explore the option of playing in other cities they are able to lure interested cities into giving them just about any royalty they want. New stadiums are only the beginning. The willingness to threaten departure has secured for teams a variety of land deals, lower taxes, more revenues from parking and concessions, control of stadium operations, guaranteed ticket sales, renovation of stadiums with luxury seating, control over neighborhoods and transportation systems, and that’s only the beginning of the list.
The focus of professional sports has evolved from one of teamwork and camaraderie to one of avarice and greed. The specific problems in recent years that have stemmed off this overwhelming greed include exorbitant salaries, lockouts (or work stoppages) in professional sports, and the growing disparity among team payrolls. Most recognize these issues as major problems; however, others overlook the greed and see validity in the financial aspect of today's sports world. They argue that professional sports are thriving and should not be modified.
Within a community is a sense of unity, which for many is brought together by the young athletes of the community. In his article “High School Sports Have Turned Into Big Business,” Mark Koba of CNBC highlights that within the last thirty to forty years high school football has escalated into a highly revered tradition in which not only communities, but highly successful corporations have begun to dedicate millions of dollars towards (Koba n. pg.). This highlights the status of sports within the community and may explain part of the reason schools would favor sports over other programs. Because sports programs can often turn over big profits for schools, they tend to dedicate most of their excess funds towards sports, and rely on sports programs to create large profits for the school. When school administrators see how much sports unite, excite, and benefit the school, they develop a respect for sports and consider it a necessity to provide a good sports program for their students and community. Also in his article, Koba quotes an interviewee named Mark Conrad who is the associate professor of legal and ethical studies at Fordham University 's school of...
Abstract: The Stadium construction boom continues, and taxpayers are being forced to pay for new high tech stadiums they don’t want. These new stadiums create only part-time jobs. Stadiums bring money in exclusively for professional leagues and not the communities. The teams are turning public money into private profit. Professional leagues are becoming extremely wealthy at the taxpayers expense. The publicly-funded stadium obsession must be put to a stop before athletes and coaches become even greedier. New stadiums being built hurt public schools, and send a message to children that leisure activities are more important than basic education. Public money needs to be used to for more important services that would benefit the local economy. Stadiums do not help the economy or save struggling towns. There are no net benefits from single purpose stadiums, and therefore the stadium obsessions must be put to a stop.
Zimbalist, Andrew S. Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism And Conflict In Big-Time College Sports. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Ticket prices can have a major impact on professional sports. The difference in ticket prices are what helps and hurts attendance at professional sporting events. When it comes to ticket prices there are many factors that can affect the price per ticket. In this review there are three main categories that are being focused on: (a) attendance, (b) pricing strategies and (c) ticket sales. Each category has different factors that affect ticket prices differently. In attendance, there was the economic crisis that started in late 2007. Strikes can happen at any time in professional sports. There is also the probability about the opposing team and its affect on ticket prices for those events. For pricing strategies, there are two main strategies that can be used for a professional sports team: (a) variable pricing and (b) dynamic pricing. The final factor discussed is the team’s decision process of setting ticket prices. There are four main areas that are being reviewed for ticket sales: (a) tactics used to increase ticket sales, (b) team owners’ role, (c) second hand ticket markets, and (d) price inelasticity. This review will show substantial evidence in each category that affects ticket prices for professional sports in America.
People believe that paying college athletes will ruin the tradition and innocence of the game. However, people forget that Olympians get paid, and most of them are amateur athletes. "Gold medallists from the United States receive a minimum of $15,000 for their success (from the U.S. Olympic Committee and the national governing body of the winner's sport), USA Today, Final Ed." These Olympians can also capitalize on endorsement deals and other additional bonuses, most of which are illegal in college athletics. The innocence of the game is already in jeopardy, in a June 24th, 1996 issue of The NCAA News, " Studies indicate that 75 percent of underclassmen have received cash or gifts from an agent." That’s a pretty high number, three out of every four are involved in illegal activities involving agents, and 90...
Financial aspects and profitability of college athletic programs is one of the most important arguments involved in this controversy. A group of people expresses that college athletic programs are over emphasized. The point they show on the first hand, is that athletic programs are too expensive for community colleges and small universities. Besides, statistics prove that financial aspects of college athletic programs are extremely questionable. It is true that maintenance, and facility costs for athletic programs are significantly high in comparison to academic programs. Therefore, Denhart, Villwock, and Vedder argue that athletic programs drag money away from important academics programs and degrade their quality. According to them, median expenditures per athlete in Football Bowl Subdivision were $65,800 in 2006. And it has shown a 15.6 percent median expenditure increase fro...
Abstract: Collegiate athletes participating in the two revenue sports (football, men's basketball) sacrifice their time, education, and risk physical harm for their respected programs. The players are controlled by a governing body (NCAA) that dictates when they can show up to work, and when they cannot show up for work. They are restricted from making any substantial financial gains outside of their sports arena. These athletes receive no compensation for their efforts, while others prosper from their abilities. The athletes participating in the two revenue sports of college athletics, football and men's basketball should be compensated for their time, dedication, and work put forth in their respected sports.
In the sports world, as much as in the political, social or corporate world, ethics is put to the test at all times. Most athletes spend their career trying to overcome many barriers in order to gain notoriety and achieve good results with the objective of winning titles and, especially, to have great future opportunities, as for example, being awarded with an athletic scholarship.
Professional teams can get paid by the public, have city ownership, and they can also get out of the professional team business (Eitzen, 1996). If cities decided to get out of the professional team business, they would be safe from the negative effects of stadiums and arenas being built (Eitzen, 1996). New arenas and stadiums may bring in a lot of money for the teams and owners, but it causes a lot of issues for communities and poor people. Not only does it take money away from the poor but it also takes allot of money away from the children who need more school supplies because money is taken away from the schools in
For one example, in 2009 the New York Mets had their home diamond Citi Field open. This stadium cost 850 million dollars. This stadium would have been hard to pay for if it had not been for the 616 million dollars paid by public subsidies which included the state of
Yost, Mark. Varsity Green: A behind the Scenes Look at Culture and Corruption in College Athletics. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 2010. Print
Sports are one of the most profitable industries in the world. Everyone wants to get their hands on a piece of the action. Those individuals and industries that spend hundreds of millions of dollars on these sports teams are hoping to make a profit, but it may be an indirect profit. It could be a profit for the sports club, or it could be a promotion for another organization (i.e. Rupert Murdoch, FOX). The economics involved with sports have drastically changed over the last ten years.