When looking into the history of our culture, there are many subtopics that fall under the word, “history.” Topics such as arts and literature, food, and media fall into place. Among these topics reside sports. Since the beginning of time, sports have persisted as an activity intertwined with the daily life of people. Whether it is a pick-up game of football in the backyard, or catching an evening game at the local stadium, sports have become the national pastime. According to Marcus Jansen of the Sign Post, more specifically, baseball is America’s national pastime, competing with other sports (Jansen 1). Providing the entertainment that Americans pay top dollar for, live the role models, superstars, and celebrities that put on a jersey as their job. As said in an article by Lucas Reilly, Americans spend close to $25.4 billion dollars on professional sports (Reilly 4). The people that many children want to be when they grow up are not the firefighters or astronauts told about in bed time stories. These dream jobs or fantasies have become swinging a bat or tossing a football in front of millions of screaming fans. When asked why so many dream of having such job, the majority will respond with a salary related answer. In today’s day and age, the average athlete is paid more than our own president. The cold hard facts show that in professional sports, the circulation of money is endless. Certain teams in professional baseball and football are worth over millions of dollars. Consequently, the teams who are worth more are able to spend more. The issue that arises with this philosophy is virtually how much more? League managers, team owners and other sports officials have sought out a solution to the surfacing problem. Is it fair to let...
One must question if the increasing salaries in sports may have caused players to forget the reasons they began playing in the first place. What happened to the days of playing the game because it was your childhood dream to play at Wrigley Field or Yankee Stadium? The times have changed and so has the entire sports industry. The game has changed from being played on the court or field to being played behind closed office doors or out on the golf course, but are the players all to blame?
Professional sports were beginning to be organized in the 1850s. At this point, their salaries, although they were still higher than the average person’s, were not too outrageous. In the 1880s and 90s, baseball players in particular were making on average about $1,750 annually. Even though this was three times the salary of an industrial worker of the time, they were not happy with this amount of money and felt they should be earning more (Baseball n.d.). In the 1970s, the worlds of professional sports took a drastic turn. According to an article by J.L. Carnagie, “Two words described sports in the 1970s: big business. Owners and athletes in major professional team sports knew there was money to be made in their games, and they went after it.” (Carnagie, n.d.) Athletes, especially, realized how competitive teams were becoming, and they were well aware that talent was in high demand. In the beginning of 1980s, the best athletes were demanding even more money; and the majority of the time, they got what they wanted. By end of the 1980s, many athletes were making over a million dollars (Carnagie, n.d.) These increasing salaries were very ironic because when professional sports began they were intended to be a showcase of players’ talent and athletic ability. Professional sports leagues were also supposed to be similar to the Olympics in that they would be free of politics and influence of society. However, by the 80s, they had become all about the star athletes and how much money they could make. By this point, professional sports had evolved into an industry that was focused on entertainment and money, rather than the sports actually being played (Carnagie, n.d.).
Throughout the years sports have become more popular in our society. The average American watches at least one of the major sports if not more, but how do these professional sports affect our economy? Many believe that they can bring more profit and jobs to an economy, but is that really the case, or do taxpayers spend a lot of money for a sports team that does not draw in the revenue it is suppose to?
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 were created for the enjoyment of beings and friendly competition. Today society has shifted the friendly competition to more of a money based system rather than fun and games. The typical athletes’ road to success is starting from a young age, playing in high school, and then receiving a scholarship for College and all athletes overall objective is to constantly get better and play professionally. Universities have really manipulated athletes in the world today giving them “free education” for the exchange of their blood, sweet, and tears, while they receive revenue that athletes bring in yearly. It is very evident that College athletes deserve to be paid, and universities need to find a way to pay them a reasonably amount because of all the revenue they bring into each of their universities.
In brief, when you turn on your television and see Sports Center discussing athletes’ salaries, there will be critics and supporters, no doubt. There always will be. In reality, though, you know that these athletes are not entirely deserving of the money they receive. An athlete’s performance on a television screen alone is not nearly enough to get millions of dollars. So then why are we willingly handing these people this amount of cash? Why do we not keep in mind the variety of other things our money could be usefully going to instead? The check these athletes procure is in no way proportional to their valiant effort in a game or their aid in helping a sports team advance.
Back in 1965 if you were playing professional baseball for the richest team in the league you would be earning approximately 35 000$ a year, being the case you’re a standout type player, a “franchise player” as there also referred to. Thirty-five years later, if you were to hand 35 000$ to a super star, they would turn and laugh. For in today’s game, 35 000$ would not even come close to covering the signing bonus. Somehow over the last thirty-five years or so professional sports has turned from a loveable pastime into a greedy business. The majority of players play no longer for the love of the game; they play only to fatten their wallets. Players in professional sports have somehow lost what brought them to play the game that they loved so much as little children, passion! Players in today’s modern era have traded their passion for glory.
The sports business is a business that thrives in the American society. People crave the game atmosphere, the jerseys’, the excitement, and the togetherness that sports bring. This business will always be vibrant, and it is one that will not fall for a long time; especially in this nation. There is an enormous income because of it. The athletes that risk their physical health, that take up many of hours of their day, and put in the hours of hard work do not get what they truly deserve. D1 athletes deserve a pay for their full-time jobs because of the income they generate.
It is the study of resource allocation, distribution and consumption, of capital and investment, and of the management of the factors of production. (http://wikitionary.org/wiki/economics)