The Economic Benefits of Sport Stadiums

The sports in today’s world have evolved and are very different from their form 20-30 years ago. The level of competition, the rules, the creation of free agency, equipment, and many other factors of sport have evolved and improved to produce the products we see and talk about today. One of the other factors that has evolved in the last three decades is stadiums. During the October 23^rd lecture of my American Sport in the 21^st Century class we discussed the economic benefits that sport can have on athletes, the owners, the fans, and others. The one subject that I am going to focus on is the economic benefits of sport stadiums. With the progression of sport, has come the progression and advancement of stadiums.

Nowadays, we see professional teams and even some universities building these elaborate, brand new stadiums. In Major League Baseball the design of a team’s stadium has more to do with being a sexy attraction, rather than just being concerned with the regulations and dimensions. Organizations in all professional and collegiate sports are building these luxurious stadiums to house their team. The question is where does the money come from? The team owners of an organization are the ones with decision making and top-level power, but they do not just pull out $100 million dollars out of their own pocket to build a stadium. The money to construct today’s masterpiece pro stadiums comes from aid funds that ownership receives from the public. During our class discussion, we reviewed the four areas of public assistance and I have listed them below:

Public Assistance for Team Owners

Ø  The use of public funds to construct and maintain facilities

Ø  Income deduction on tax revenues

Ø  Tax breaks and rebates

Ø  Control of revenues in public facilities

These facts show that it is the local people who provide a lot of the money to fund the constructions of new stadiums. So shouldn’t it be easy to rule that these new lucrative stadiums are a waste of money and resources? Not so fast, according to Jay Coakley’s text stadiums provide a lot of benefits that justify and repay the community’s financial efforts. On pages 375 and 376 in Coakley’s text, five benefits are stated supporting stadium subsidies:

Arguments to Support Stadium Subsidies

v  A stadium and pro team creates jobs; those who hold the jobs spend money and pay taxes in the city so that everyone benefits

v  Stadium construction infuses money into the local economy; this money is spent over and over as it circulates, generating tax revenues in the process

v  The team attracts businesses to the city, and this increases local revenues

v  The team attracts regional and national media attention, which boosts tourism and contributes to overall economic development

v  The team creates positive psychic and social benefits, boosting social unity and feelings of pride and well-being in the local population

 

Even though stadiums provide these benefits and opportunities, obviously other factors influence the actual effectiveness of enhancing a city. For the people who still see these new sport stadiums as a waste of money or a rip-off to the non-sports fans, I have real-life proof that shows the economic benefits of sport stadiums. The NHL lockout has had a major negative impact on all markets, but locally speaking Pittsburgh. At the beginning of October the NHL cancelled the preseason, directly causing many Pittsburgh restaurants and others to lose business. To closely see the benefits of a stadium through the negative effects of the lockout, look at the Souper Bowl restaurant.

When the NHL announced the cancellation of the first two weeks of the regular season, including three Penguins home games, the owner of the Souper Bowl restaurant, Dave Sypherd replied: “We’ll be in trouble. It will kill us”. Dave Sypherd would continue by saying the lockout is taking away roughly 70% of his business with the removal of Penguin home games. Sypherd also shared that on hockey nights in Pittsburgh; the Souper Bowl has 15 employees on duty to handle the crowds and stays open until 2 a.m. On non-event days, the restaurant has eight employees on hand and stays open until 8 or 9 p.m. As a negative effect of the lockout, Penguin home games are canceled, resulting in those extra seven employees not getting a call into work. The same effect can be found at Cafe Fifth and other local Pittsburgh businesses that taste the whiplash from the NHL lockout. My point for illustrating this article to tie-in with my class information, because stadiums create and provide many jobs, attract business to the city, and infuse money into the city’s economy. As a direct result of the lockout, Pittsburgh and other NHL markets are being deprived of these benefits, creating unemployment and costing each city millions of dollars. Sport stadiums have a major impact on any city and its citizens, making them a beneficial part of the economy.

To read the full article follow the below link:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/nhl-lockout-is-bad-news-for-businesses-near-consol-656250/

The Choice to be For or Against Interscholastic Sports

The majority of United States citizens do not question the existence of interscholastic sports in high schools and colleges (Coakley, 2010; p.472). Even though they are routine, interscholastic sports still generate a lot of debates and arguments. During the September 27^th lecture in my American Sport in the 21^st Century class, we took a close look at both sides of the interscholastic sport argument. If people don’t question interscholastic sports’ existence, then why do they bring so much disagreement? Certain controversies stem from issues such as budget cuts and highly publicized problems in some programs that raise questions about the relationship between the achievement of educational goals, the development of young people, and sports (Coakley, 2010; p.472). When problems and issues arise some people instantly jump to blame interscholastic sport. Sport supporters defend sport activities and obviously defer the blame to other school and non-school elements. Both sides have their valid claims to whether or not interscholastic sport is beneficial to students. From Coakley’s text and my class notes, I have listed the claims for and against interscholastic sport below:

Claims For	Claims Against
Involves students in school activities and increase interest in academic activities	Distract students from their academics and distort values in school culture
Builds self-esteem, responsibility, achievement orientation, and teamwork skills	Enable conformity, dependence, and a power of performance that is useless in today’s society
Foster fitness and stimulate interest in physical activities among students	Turn most students into passive spectators and cause too many serious injuries to the athletes
Generate spirit, unity, and maintain the school as a viable organization	Create a superficial, transitory spirit that is unrelated to educational goals
Promote alumni, community, and parental support for school programs	Deprive educational programs of community support, facilities, resources, and staff
Give students opportunities to develop and display skills in activities valued in society; recognized for their competence	Create pressure on athletes and support a hierarchical status system that gives athletes unfair privileges over other students

Both sides have legit claims to support their respective arguments. I am for interscholastic sports because I believe sports hold values that go beyond the current students and state of the school. The New York Times recently published an article covering how the surprising success of a small Southwestern, PA high school football team has been able to restore pride in their community. The people of Avella have three things to define their community: coal-mining, construction companies, and high school football. Coming into this season Avella High School had totaled 9 wins in the past 11 seasons, having not experienced a winning season since 1994, and having a playoff drought spanning all the way back to 1976. This lack of success over the past 35 years had made a community that was once proud and rich in football tradition lose their Avella pride. At the time of this article, Avella had a 5-0 record and was within one win of clinching a 2012 WPIAL-Single A playoff spot. This year’s success of the team has rejuvenated students to come out and support the team, but has also encouraged more boys to join and play on the team. Just like the claims for interscholastic sport on page 472 in Coakley’s text, this clearly resembles the first four (4) claims listed above. The factor that I found most interesting was how the football team’s success has also restored the pride and support of the Avella community, clearly representing claims 5 and 6 from above. I can personally relate to the people of Avella, because my hometown of Butler, Pa has also endured many years of losing in high school football. This season so far has also been a pleasant surprise from our football team, Butler Area who plays in WPIAL Quad A, as we have ended many losing streaks and are primed to make our first WPAL playoff appearance since 1998. The Butler community isn’t as small as Avella, but we take pride in our football and the entire town is excited and happy at the success of our team. The claims against interscholastic sport are all valid, and I’m sure articles can be found in their favor. In my opinion, all six of the claims against sport are more affected by the individual student’s own beliefs, values, and upbringing rather than sport being the driving force behind them. Interscholastic sports produce a lot more positive and beneficial influences on students, then having a negative effect. Sports, as shown by Avella, can have a positive impact, bring/restore pride, and unite any community. This is why I am and will always be For Interscholastic sport.

To read the entire article on Avella, follow this link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/sports/avella-high-school-in-pennsylvania-regains-football-pride.html?_r=0

If you are interested in following Avella, Butler, or any other WPIAL schools then here you go! http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/highschool/

Current Problems in Youth Sport

In my American Sport in the 21^st Century class, we spent a week discussing the state of Youth Sports. One of the subjects we discussed during the September 25^th lecture was the major problems concerning Youth Sports. One of the major problems that we focused on in class was how the growth of private organized programs is having a negative impact on Youth Sport. Private sport organizations promote and focus on winning and developing children to be elite athletes. On page 139 in Sports in Society, Coakley outlines the 5 major problems that are a result of private sport organizations. I have also listed the CTSA’s Youth Sports National Report Card to show the poor state of today’s Youth Sports.       

Major Problems in Youth Sport

1. Lost their child-centered focus. There is too much emphasis on winning and too little on the child’s experience.

2. Parents who have unrealistic expectations for their children. They undermine their own child’s and the other children’s benefits of playing sports.

3. The failure to adequately evaluate and train the youth coaches.

4. Overemphasis in early sports specialization, leading to: potential burnouts, overuse injuries, and a hypercompetitive culture.

5. Ignored the interests and developmental abilities of children who view sports as a source of fun, friends, physical action, and skill development.

Youth Sports National Report Card

1. Child-Centered Philosophy: D

2. Coaching: C

3. Health and Safety: C+

4. Officiating: B-

5. Parental Behavior/Involvement: D

* A panel of experts brought together by the CTSA used their collective knowledge to issue grades for 25 elements of existing sport programs. These elements were then divided into the 5 categories that make up the report card seen above.

As seen in both of these figures from page 139 of our class text, the major problems in Youth Sport begin with private sport organizations, but are fueled by the coaches, trainers, and involved parents. I completely agree with the points made by Coakley, and in my opinion children play Youth Sports for a variety of reasons, but the consensus #1 reason they play is to have FUN! When winning is overemphasized and the expectations are set to unreachable standards, then sports are no longer fun. Michigan State University published an article that discussed the atmosphere surrounding Youth Sports and the psychological impact it has on its participant; http://www.educ.msu.edu/ysi/news/2012-Jan-25-YES.htm. The main focus is that the actions of the coaches create a positive or negative team culture, which has a very important influence on the personal development of the youth participants. In order to keep our kids involved in sports it has to start with an improvement of our current Youth systems. The best ways to improve is for the youth coaches to create a positive atmoshpere that is filled with encouragement, to wait until the high school level to start putting emphasis on winning and excellence, and to emphasis FUN in the Youth game.

 

Athletes as Role Models

In today’s society, athletes along with other celebrities are put on a high pedestal. In our everyday lives we always hear the good, the bad, and the ugly about professional and collegiate athletes. Children all over the United States look up to these professional athletes and deem them their role model. Athletes know that playing sports at these high levels of competition puts them in the public eye, so shouldn’t they realize this and be a good role model? On September 18^th, in my American Sport in the 21^st Century class we discussed the characteristics that make a good role model.

Characteristics that Define a Good Role Model

ü  Good decision making

ü  Honesty

ü  Commitment

ü  Determination

ü  High moral values

ü  Good sportsmanship

ü  Sense of humor

ü  Fairness

ü  Good self-image

ü  Discipline

 

In our class lecture, everyone in the class partnered up and spent five minutes making a short list of the top 5 best and the top 5 worst athlete role models. We then discussed some of the players on people’s lists. In our discussion some of the top 5 best role models were: Tim Tebow, Serena Williams, Peyton Manning, and Andre Agassi. These athletes all possess some of the above traits.  Some of the top 5 worst role models were: Mike Tyson, O.J. Simpson, Chad Johnson, and Michael Vick. It was agreed that these athletes have all committed their fair share of wrong/in-humane acts that have made them a bad choice to look up to.  

http://www.thebiglead.com/index.php/2012/06/18/tim-tebow-athletes-need-to-come-together-and-be-great-role-models/

 

In this article Tim Tebow shares his words of wisdom on the subject of whether or not athletes should be role models: “What’s so frustrating is, you have in today’s society so many famous athletes,” he said. “If we would come together and be great role models, it would be amazing to see how the next generation turns out.”

 

In my opinion, athletes have a responsibility to be a good role model. I feel this way because as a professional athlete it's common sense to know that you are in the public spot light and everything you do, especially any bad, will make the news. Athletes have a chance to make a major impact on society, particularly to our youth, so it is important that they make a positive and inspiring impact.  Also, I feel that pro athletes should be a good role model so they can represent and respect their team because their organization is the one who gave them the rare opportunity of being a professional athlete. Professional athletes need to be good role models by portraying the listed characteristics to set a good example for children, to positively impact society, and to also represent their team/organization to the best of their ability.  

What is more important: Money or Athletes?



My American Sport in the 21^st Century class lecture on September 4^th introduced the sociology of sport and one of the perspectives that we discussed was the financial part of sport. One of the topics we discussed was the financial importance that sports have for colleges. This past weekend, the 2012 college football season kicked off with many exciting games and a decent amount of mismatches.

A matchup between reigning Big 12 conference champion Oklahoma State and FCS-level Savannah State is the source of my concern. The final score: Oklahoma State 84, Savannah State 0. This final score was not a surprise to anyone, including Savannah State, who knew that they had no chance of winning, let alone competing in this game. So, why play a game you can’t win? It’s fairly simple, for the money. This is also the reason that we will be seeing Savannah State play at Florida State (another BCS power) on September 8^th.  Savannah State's first-year athletic director, Sterling Steward Jr., is the man responsible for scheduling these first two games. In an era where concern for player safety and the study of concussions is front and center in the world of football, scheduling opponents from the division above you certainly is not going to help limit any concern about player safety. This concern gets pushed behind the value of money, because most universities rely on college football to be their highest revenue collector. All official school sports need funding and receive public support and sponsoring by showing their value of common good to the community; and in return receive the support of the public/school government through tax money (Coakley, 2010; p.10). This directly relates to the fact that a lot of universities rely on the money brought in by their football team to fund and support other athletic sports and events.  

Sterling Steward Jr. has earned Savannah State $860,000 by agreeing to send his Savannah State football team, who plays in the lower level of Division 1 (FCS), to play high-marquee teams such as Oklahoma State and Florida State. I do not support this because The Savannah State players are less talented, smaller, and weaker than the top-tier BCS teams. Participating in a “money-grab” game puts these players at a much higher risk of suffering a severe injury. Also, these players will never even touch the $860,000 that they have earned their school.

I say it is time to look at morals and put the livelihood of college athletes above money. The health and well-being of a school’s football team is more important than signing up for two beatings just to make $860,000 for the school’s athletic department budget. To read the whole article you can go to: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/page/BMOC-090412/big-man-campus-weighs-week-1-college-football . The first two parts pertain to this blog. (20. Cupcake cha-ching and 19. Cha-ching -- Part II).