The Business of Soccer in America
Soccer (Football) is said to be the world’s most popular sport in the world, USA are one the few countries where soccer isn't the main sport. The beautiful game is a game of passion; fans coming together to form a ‘religion’ but all this fun and excitement come down to money. The football business is one that generates a great deal of revenue from betting to tickets, TV and shirts sponsorship and transfer deals. You can argue it’s the richest sport in the world. Here in America we are late boomers to the soccer craze, which is why our league isn't as strong as other like the Barclays Premier League, LA LIGA, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A etc. In the year 1996, MLS was founded and the association was not favorably disposed to by the general public. As time went by, more Americans accepted and grew interest in sport. The Major League Soccer and United States Soccer Association (USSA) have since had hard time attracting revenue due to numerous problems.
While looking at these numerous problems I remember at a time my uncle told me that the business of soccer is good business, there is so much wealth to the be tapped if done correctly. The bad transfer system makes it difficult for European based players to move the United States. Average players like Kaka have tried to move to clubs like Los Angeles and have had deal not been able to go through because we have an Americanized sports version of a salary cap, so that everything is fair. In life and sports “Survival of the fittest” so why make an artificial environment that counter to nature? Players who deserve high wages like superstars deserve it and should have to suffer for one who performs subpar. These caps makes superstars like Kaka, Fran...
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Cause A. Over the past few years inflation of player contracts has made it hard for the smaller market teams to play competitively w...
As stated in my thesis statement, the sport of hockey has been forced to compete with the growing mass popularity with other sports such as basketball and football. There once was a point in time where hockey had just as much popularity as those sports but because people are finding more interest in those sports, the National Hockey League found itself in a “drought” of unimportance with other sports. With not televising the sport as “commonly” as other sports.
America’s newfound favorite pastime, football, came from a bizarre chain of events. Football started when a soccer player got fed up with just kicking the ball, so he picked up the ball and ran to the goal. His actions of picking up the ball and running with it fathered a new European sport, rugby, which was soon brought over to American shores, and was altered slightly, the shape of the ball and a few other small rules. The sport became organized into a league and produced the NFL(National Football League). The NFL had a slow beginning, but has picked up popularity, currently having a $9 billion yearly revenue.
Overall, compelling points exist supporting or not supporting a salary cap in baseball. Teams have the benefit of a salary cap existing, and out of that, a balance in free agency forms and a sense of championship parity develops too. On the other side of the spectrum, teams can use the Moneyball method of recruiting and signing players, along with tax implications and revenue sharing to balance out payrolls. The main factor in deciding if a salary cap is appropriate is the factor of fairness among the teams. Therefore, based off the support the research provides, the implementation of a salary cap is necessary.
The economics of baseball has grown since the beginning and has become more complicated every year. Baseball players are now making millions of dollars to do something that they love and enjoy. It's not their fault the money they can receive has reached the million mark, even for some of the less talent of ball players. This has happened to all sports, but especially to the American pastime. Baseball is more of a business than just a game and many things have made it this way. A lot of reasons have contributed to the rising salaries there is today and it will not stop there. The amount of baseball contracts will keep rising each year.
Franklin starts by giving reasons why he has used soccer to explain the failure of globalization and also clarifies that his objective is not to argue economic changes and factors, but to address cultural issues. In the first part of How Soccer Explains the American Culture Wars, the author goes into depth that how and why soccer entered into his life and what role his parents played to ensure that their child excelled in the sport. He then talks about the cultural divide in America; the different mindsets of the elite and the working middle class and how individuals from these classes reacted to the introduction of soccer in America in the 1980’s. Moving on, in the second part of his analysis, the author sheds light on the hateful comments of some eminent Americans such as Tom Wier, Jack Kemp, Allen Barra and most importantly Jim Rome. These individuals have openly expressed their hatred for soccer and they believe that it is “not a sport”. To counter claims and criticism made these men, Franklin presents some facts and figures that clearly state that over the years soccer has managed to make its way into the American culture, while the most American sport i.e. Baseball has lost viewership. This section is summed up by differentiating between the stances of two contrasting groups towards globalization. In the last part of the
Starr, M. (2004, January 6). Freddy Adu: a strong kick for the American soccer. Newsweek. Retrieved March 17, 2004, from http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3067737/
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...
Soccer has a important place in the history of several countries. It is the most popular sport in the world. I will be exploring soccer’s place in American history and how it has been growing in America throughout the years. I will explore how soccer got to America and how it has spread across the nation. These questions and more will be answered as I explore soccer in America.
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In the modern day United States the sport American football has become not only entertainment but also a tradition whether it’s watching the BCS college championship or watching the super bowl with the family. The sport of American football is unique to the United States and has grown and became iconic over the years and has become a part of many Americans lives. American Football was made in 1869 and was modeled after the sport of rugby. They took the basics of rugby and changed it to make it fit better for them. The game has changed over the years but it also affected many Americans as the tradition of Monday Night football has begun. The game has had problems with the United States government as it was said to be too dangerous to play, this lead to an upgrade in the equipment and they tried very hard to make the equipment well ensuring player safety throughout the sport.
Soccer Today soccer is classified as one of the most popular sports in the world, from Europe to South America. A synonym for soccer is “Football.” Soccer is played in approximately every nation of the world. The sport has a lot of international fans, with spectacular stadiums worldwide (Auerbach). Soccer is a sport that brings countries together from all around the world to play.
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The number one recommendation for American teams is that they should focus on building teams to which players and fans would be loyal to, and then they will build success and gain revenue in the process. This can definitely be a changing factor for sports in America.