Sports and The Economy

Barcelona's president Josep Maria Bartomeu (Left) and chief executive of Japanese company Rakuten, Hiroshi Mikitani (Rright), display Barcelona's new shirt

On October 25, 2016 my American Sport in the 21st Century Class discussed the economy and its' relationship to sports. We discussed how money has become the foundation of sport. Profit motive shapes owners and athletes as salaries and endorsements for athletes continue to rise, while owners sponsorship deals continue to increase.We defined sponsorship in class as fees paid to have a brand associated with a team, league, facility or event. Football Club (FC) Barcelona's current sponsor is Qatar Airways for around 24 million pounds a year, and now will be changing their to sponsorship to the online firm, Rakuten. FC Barcelona one of the biggest soccer clubs in the world and their new deal with Rakuten could make them the wealthiest club in the world, passing their rival club Real Madrid. The sponsorship deal will last four years and Barcelona is expected to make 188 million pounds, with more money to be earned for winning the Spanish Championship or the Champions League. The reason behind paying 188 million pounds is to expand their brand globally. With FC Barcelona having high profile players such as Lionell Messi and Neymar wearing Rakuten on the front, one can anticipate the brand expanding globally.
FC Barcelona will become even wealthier, as they have signed a new 10 year uniform sponsorship with Nike, which is reportedly going to pay 134 million pounds a year. FC Barcelona is planning to use the profit from these sponsorships to pay for seat expansion at Camp Nou Stadium from 99,350 to 150,000 seats.

Barcelona Current Jerseys and 3 highest paid players, Suarez, Neymar and Messi.

In class we discussed who benefits economically from sports and the article confirms that owners and athletes benefit economically from sports. The owner of FC Barcelona is making hundreds of millions of dollars off sponsorship and television deals, while this money is used to pay their players high salaries such as Lionel Messi, who earns $250,000 a week.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38003752

Deviance in Sports

Arian Foster discussing deviance in college sports

On November 10, 2016 in my American Sport in the 21st Century Class we discussed deviance in sports. Deviance in sports consists of fighting, bounty hunting, academic cheating, performance enhancing drugs, gambling and illegal recruiting practices. College athletics, specifically FBS-Divsion
1 football schools have been scrutinized for illegal recruiting and academic cheating. University of North Carolina was scrutinized for having "paperless classes". These classes were for athletes and the class would only meet one to two times a semester with a paper due at the end of the semester. Having these academic standards is only harmful to the student-athletes. In the documentary titled "Schooled, The Price of College Sports" discusses the "paper classes" and how they harm the student athletes. There was a quote in the film that states, "student-Athletes are getting a degree not an education" and this is a very true statement. At Division 1 football schools, the boosters are more focused on the football team winning games then the student-athletes doing well in class. This is not beneficial to the student-athletes long term as some student-athletes receive a degree that does not allow them to pursue a career after graduation. This is just one of the many examples of deviance in college athletics.

Maria Sharapova press conference admitting to a failed drug test

As far as professional athletes, the biggest concern is performance enhancing drugs. In class we discussed the reasons for professional athletes taking performance enhancing drugs. We discussed the physiological reasons, psychological reasons and the social reasons behind performance enhancing drugs. For physiological reasons, the athletes want to prevent injuries and reduce fatigue, while they also can take performance enhancing drugs to steady nerves (psychological reasoning) and for the fear of not winning (social reasoning). The article from CNN discusses how performance enhancing drugs have been a problem since 1960. Anabolic steroids are defined as natural and synthetic substances that help build muscle mass, enabling athletes to train harder and recover quickly from strenuous workouts. Many athletes are taking stimulants because they increase awareness and decrease appetite. With the busy schedules of athletes sometimes the stimulants claim to help them to stay alert, while athletes take HGH (Human Growth Hormones) for improved endurance and strength. Maria Sharapova, arguably one of the most talented female tennis players in the world, admitted to failing a drug test at the Australia Open and was suspended for two years but the suspension was reduced to 15 months. Recently this summer, the IOC announced that 271 out of 389 Russian Athletes were cleared to compete in the Olympic Games, while the other 118 Russian Athletes were banned because of a doping scandal. Also, in the article the Kenyan sprint coach is sent home for posing as an athlete for a drug test, while the track and field coach tried to bribe journalist in advance to warn them about drug tests.
As one can see deviance in sports is an increasing problem that can be hard to prevent. There are many supplements that can help an athlete pass a drug test if needed. My opinion on this is a mixed feeling, I do not think it is right for athletes to use them but I understand why they would take Performance Enhancing Drugs. Despite performance enhancing drugs having health risks later down the road, each athlete faces immense amounts of pressure from coaches and teammates to win and not fail.

 http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/06/us/performance-enhancing-drugs-in-sports-fast-facts/index.html

Research Reveals 18-24-Year-Olds Are Turning Away From Sports On TV

On November 1st, 2016 my American Sport in the 21st Century Class we discussed social media and sport. During class we discussed how social media and sports are dependent on each other. The sport industry has grown because of media coverage, and sport gives media information to cover. During the class we learned that sports and media are two of the most successful businesses in the U.S.A.
Roles of the media include
1. Inform
2. Entertain
3. Educate
4. Advertise

Screen shot of Sports section on twitter, As you can see instant access to information of your choosing.

With social media now taking off, 18-24 year olds are starting to get away from watching television. Instead they have instant access to sport information through the use of social media. Twitter has taken off and the flow of information through twitter has increased. Sports make up for about 49.7 percent of twitter chatter. Netflix has gained the popularity of young people as you can watch shows without any commercials and at your own leisure. YouTube has taken off as well, because of their live streaming feature that allows you to watch highlights of a game and can see all the important action without watching the entire game. The sport that could be affected the most by millennials is football, specifically the National Football League. Across the first four weeks of the season NBC's Sunday night game was down 13 percent, ESPN's Monday night game was down 17 percent and CBS Thursday game down 15 percent.
These numbers are significant because in class we discussed how pro sports are driven by market forces and television revenues. With TV ratings down, the NFL needs to find a way to focus their attention towards the millennials.

Can Click on the Tune In screen and watch NFL live on Twitter

The ratings are not just down for the NFL, but for Sky Sports, BT and Eurosport Channels. I believe that social media could have an impact on sports. The impact that social media is less. People aren't inclined to watch sports on Television simply due to the fact they can check the scores of multiple games or find out about breaking news instantly on twitter. I also believe that if TV ratings continue to drop for sport broadcasting stations will see more of their episodes being broadcasted on social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Global/Issues/2016/11/14/Media/Turning-Off-Sports.aspx?hl=social%20media%20and%20sport%20&sc=0

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