Sports have always been an important part of society, weather it be football (soccer), American football, or baseball. From watching the games on TV, cheering on the players, playing the game, or even betting on a game. We have all contributed to our favorite sport at some point in our lives. However, sports do so much more than entertain us, sports provide jobs, influence the economy, and can sometimes cause trouble.
Between the food, the memorabilia, the revenues for live sporting events, and the sponsorships the sports industry makes a ton of money. And between the money and the jobs the sports industry brings, it’s a great contributor to the economy. According to a recent A.T. Kearney study, today’s global sports industry is worth somewhere between $480 and $620 billion. In 2009, the worldwide sports events market (defined as all ticketing, media and marketing revenues for major sports) was worth $64 billion. The biggest contributor to that $64 billion is the American sports industry, which earns $32 billion. As a whole, the American sports industry also contributes about 456,000 jobs. With the two most popular sports in America being baseball in second place and American football in first. The Major League Baseball’s 2013, revenues reached an all time high reaching over eight billion dollars. Meanwhile, the National Football League (NFL) made over nine billion dollars this past year in gross revenue. Helping the economy by bringing in a constant flow of money and jobs.
Football (soccer) is the most popular sport around the world winning the popularity vote in Mexico, Russia, most of South America, all of Africa, and more. Making football (soccer) the second largest contributor to the global market worth. Just under the $3...
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...ns of dollars every year, sports prove to be a reliable source of economic income and provide millions of jobs around the world. Sports are more than just a game or a job to millions of people though; they are somebody’s passion.
Works Cited
. http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/world-map-showing-the-most-popular-sports-by-country.452939685/
. http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/01/nfl-tax-exempt/
. http://college.holycross.edu/RePEc/hcx/Matheson_MegaEvents.pdf
.http://history1900s.about.com/od/famouscrimesscandals/p/munichmassacre.htm
. http://soccerlens.com/football-violence-worst-football-riots/23093/
. http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/12/17/report-mlb-recorded-record-revenues-in-2013/
. http://www.atkearney.com/paper/-/asset_publisher/dVxv4Hz2h8bS/content/the-sports-market/10192
To me the role of sports in society is for men and women of all ages to grow and develop and be responsible members of society and the community. Sports can bring a community together as long as it doesn 't become the religion of who we are as christians. It also gives us a different setting to interact with each other and learn from one another so we can become better as a whole. Coming together as a community and being able to learn and have fun is probably one of the most important aspects to me when it comes to sports. There should be no reason that parents have to get into arguments because of a call a referee makes in their child 's game. Also sports have become a bigger deal in society then just about fun and learning the sport. A great deal of it, at the higher level has so do with economics and social status’. Players with exceptional talent are now seen in commercials and have huge salaries to play sports or even at the college level earn scholarships to get into colleges for free. I mean hey, if your that good then good for you!
Sports bring friends, family and our country together more so than political debates or even church on Sunday. Whether it be football, basketball, baseball or everything in between everyone has their favorite team that they cheer for regardless if they are the shits or number one. Americans will have gatherings of their friends every week of the season to watch games and “support” their teams from hundreds of miles away. Sports have an enormous impact on our society in every way shape and form, whether it is kids pretending to be their favorite super star while playing in the yard or it is co-workers participating in fantasy sports or making March Madness brackets, but which is the most entertaining, is it the professionals that are paid millions of dollars to play or college kids struggling to get by while trying to earn an education?
Sports are a crucial part of an individual 's character. Counter arguments made against having sports at schools are getting more and more public. The arguments make people, think again about having students play sports. Sports are useful because they give players skills they can use on and off the field: strength, leadership, and confidence.
You see sports everywhere, on your TV and even your local park. The value of sports in the average American is astronomical, sports is a major priority in people’s life. Sports teaches young kids how to be successful (and not successful) at life. There is so much that goes into sports that people who never have played will never understand. With each sport there is specific skill that one must master to be good, and with that takes hours and hours of hard work. You can talk about a certain individual’s skill and capabilities that make him great, but the real value of sports lies within a person. Sports creates determination and a competiveness that can be used in other areas of life, not just sports. There are millions of kids who attempt to become professional athletes but as the level of competition increases the number of athletes decreases, very few of them ever becoming a professional athlete but they are able to take what they have learned from sports into different professions in life. When a kid spends hours in the backyard perfecting his swing it can translate to the kid spending hours of hard work in his job. Companies and business like to hire ex-athletes because they already know what kind of person they are, hardworking and
Over the past twenty years, many things have changed and evolved to impact our economy. From cell phones to music to media, we are all constantly affected. The most influential aspect though, in my opinion, has been America’s biggest game, the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl by all means effects our economies in every way, shape, and form. The sport is one of the most complex social institutions in American Society. Sports effect major institutions of society, including: the mass media, politics, religion, education, and family. The Super Bowl gathers thousands of viewer’s attentions including those who do not usually watch the regular season games.
Globalization is erasing country borders. It’s expanding something to a worldwide scale, and generally making the world a little bit smaller. When you think of globalization in terms of sports, the best example is soccer. Soccer is something that started in 1863 as a simple game played in England by people of humble beginnings and not long after that turned into a worldwide phenomenon (Parrish). Soccer has over 3.5 billion fans worldwide. When you really think about that number you realize how big of a deal that is. That’s about 50% of the world’s population. Meaning that 1 in every 2 people watch, play, and generally enjoy soccer. The globalization aspect of it comes in when you know that its regional popularity is in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas: basically, almost the entire world.
Abstract: Society is affected every day by many different kinds of sports. These sports often govern society's way of life. People all over the nation turn their TVs to sporting events, such as golf, during the weekends. Scott Stossel states that "more than six million Americans enjoy watching golf on the weekends." Parents use sports as a teaching tool for their children. Kids learn teamwork and discipline from team sports programs and sports have also helped many students with their grades. Kids who want to compete in school sports are taught to keep their grades up or they won't be able to play, but the greedy coaches and schools often look around grades to keep their "star athletes" in the games. Adults have been affected by sports in their bank accounts. Tax increases for funding a new stadium, golf course and even school programs have hurt the middle class Americans. Sports have taken control of small communities and soon will take control of society
Sports is a huge factor in the American culture. Not only is it a way of entertainment for people but it is a social institution. From television commercials to billboards to people priding themselves in sports gear. Sports is a way for people to express their culture and represent their racial backgrounds. Sports has been an avenue for people to freely be themselves in their own skin color.
"Money makes the world go 'round." Sports could not exist without the presence of money. You have high paid athletes asking for multi-million dollar contacts, while at the same time you have doctors not even making close to that amount. There are corporations buying out sports teams, buying stadiums, and buying everything that has to do with sports. Someone may ask why they do this. Sports are one of the most profitable industries in the world. Everyone wants to get their hand 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 has drastically changed over the last ten years. In the United States, we spend about 13% of all money on sports and entertainment. Sports has obviously done its job; entertained and drained money out of our pockets.
Sports are no longer about passion and competition; these were lost a while ago. All we have left is a structure in which corporations dominate our favorite pastimes. The games are less about enjoyment, and more about increasing the value of “property”. We live in a society in which the entirety of jerseys, stadiums, and even bodies are owned and advertised by people looking to make a quick buck. The question we should be asking is how did we get here?
A recent article in Readers Digest estimates that most Americans spend at least 13% of their income on sporting events and sport related products. Sports has entertained American people and drained money out of their pockets making sporting events an arena of pure economic activity. It has been proven that Americans will purchase tickets to attend sporting events, but this alone does not create enough revenue to keep sports teams profitable.
The economic impact of media sports illustrates the central importance to our culture. For example: Statistics shows that Americans spend more than 60 billion of dollars annually on sports (it is between 1% or 2% of Gross National Product). Being a star in media sports in America means receiving a temporary income in 6 or 7 figures.
Sports may have impacted our culture much more then we thought it would, and keeps impacting. Sports have affected some of the most important aspects of life, such as jobs and money. It has also affected things as little as who we look up to and how we dress. Culture means “the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively.” The definition of sports is “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” So when we put two and two together we get a a nation or world that has changed due to sports. Back in the mid and late 1900’s sports were used to see whose way of life was better. As time went on and keeps going on, we
The sports industry is perhaps the largest in the entire world, stretching its reach anywhere from the US to tiny countries in the middle of nowhere. No matter your age, gender, race, one will be involved in some way with sports at some point in their lives. Sports is a universal language, a treasure that can transcend boundaries and one that is blind to our differences as a human race. Sports has many facets and can effect a numerous amount of activities; one thing is can largely effect is our nation’s economy. Our society revolves around sports, sports teams, sports figures, and anything that has to do with sports. While the sports industry is plagued
In conclusion, it is explicit that sports is a positive influence on athletes, spectators and the world as a whole as it teaches imperative life lessons as well as allows its participants to experience enjoyment, fulfilment and gratification. As mentioned previously sports enables its players to bring out the best in others and create unity amongst groups as team work is so essential. This highlights the views I have in conjunction with the views of Joe Humphrey.