Nfl Economy

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The National Football League (NFL) and football in general have been a major staple in American culture for over half a century. The violence, excitement, and entertaining nature has caused the NFL to be the first corporation to own a day of the week: Sunday. However, the recent discovery of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease, in deceased football players has lead to endless amounts of debates about the end of football and its reign. On one hand, the NFL is a billion dollar corporation that provides jobs and economic output for countless amounts of people; not even accounting the millions of people who live and die by the game. Lower levels of football leagues also have major benefits and links to decreasing …show more content…

The workers get paid and spend the money elsewhere, simulating other jobs and markets. The NFL has a massive impact on the American economy, with billions of dollars being shifted every year. It is difficult to provide an exact number on how many people make money through the NFL, but the payroll is massive regardless. “The league supports about 110,000 jobs in NFL cities— not just tailbacks and punters but hotel workers and sports-bar owners. Overall, the games add about $5 billion to the broader economy in NFL cities.” This fails to account for those making money based of writing and reporting for the teams through other media sites. A new stadium is built roughly every 4 years, so add on the massive amounts of construction workers and company designers to the list. The corruption around player safety results in financial opportunity for not only others, but the players too. Over 25% of former NFL players go on to work with teams or media in some form after they retire. In addition, a lot of lower class adolescents use football as a means of earning a check, “when you look at all of those guys coming out of the South, those guys who have been disadvantaged, who have absolutely nothing, they’re going to want to play just for the money. They’ll sacrifice themselves to take care of their families and so forth” (Source C). Many of these players possess no other skills or talent, and they either die poor or die with …show more content…

Indeed, their options are limited. The consumers are the fans, and the fans have complete control on what the NFL does if they want their money. "In 2016, the NFL pledged $100 million in support for independent medical research and engineering advancements in neuroscience related topics. This is in addition to the $100 million that the NFL and its partners are already spending on medical and neuroscience research." (Source F) The NFL does not seem to care much about player safety, but instead the fear of losing out on money. Past players are all suing the league for not revealing the dangers of the game, and the league continues to lose millions. The rate of concussions has blown up over the last few years, but this might be a positive development. Just a decade ago, a player would be knocked out cold only to rejoin the game just minutes later. The modern style includes the dreaded blue tent, where if a player fails concussion tests they are not allowed to return. More concussions are being diagnosed, a contrast to sending a player back in who doesn’t know where he is due to insufficient protocol. The NFL Players association has also made a major impact on the future of the game and what needs to be done (Wire Reports). Unfortunately, the fans are opposed to simple changes in the game, and miss the blood and violence of years past. 2011 saw kickoffs almost eliminated due to the

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