The Impact of Sports

Introduction

"Sports has become big business in every sense of the world" (Davies, pg. 155). By taking a close look at sport as a business, it is more than obvious that sport has become a huge part of the economy. Not only because of the fact that the term "sport" in the present practically goes hand in hand with the term "money", but also because of sport's influence on politics, the operations of major corporations, and the human as an individual.

The economic changes associated with sports came so fast that even the regular sports fan often feels stunned. Sometimes it feels that the world of sports is no longer controlled by actual sport, but rather is dominated by hard-driving player agents, labor negotiators, hard-nosed owners, millionaire players, and skillful lawyers (Davies, 1994). Even sportswriters now tend to write more about salary negotiations or player holdouts than about the outcome of games. Some people are even already predicting an alienation of the traditional sports fan due to the ridiculously high player salaries (Davies, 1994).

A big influence which made sport become what it is today is certainly the phenomenon of big sport events, such as the Olympics, the Soccer World Cup, and the Super Bowl. These are events in which practically everybody interested in sport turns back into the traditional sports fan and enjoys the humongous entertainment factor of these events. Why else would it be that during the Super Bowl the highways empty of traffic and shopping malls are suddenly barren of customers (Eitzen, 1993)? And how is it that the Olympics have become one of the largest media events of our time? In Sydney in 2000, there were over 16,000 broadcasters and journalists present for the Olympics, and the estimated number of viewers who watched the games on television was about 3.8 billion! But where did this all develop from? And where is it going?

The development of sport throughout history gives a great view on how the nature of sport and how it has lead to social changes over time. Many modern discoveries from prehistoric times have been made in France, Africa, and Australia in forms such as cave art, which have found to be more than 30,000 years old! One example are the findings, which show pictures of ritual ceremonial behavior. Even though there is not much direct connection to what is considered a sport today, the findings do show that there was definitely activity going on in that time, which eventually developed more and more and was considered to be a sport later on in history (The History of Sport, Wikipedia).

There is also evidence which supports that as early as 4000 BC, sports were already around that would also meet today's

definition of sport. From this evidence, it appears that gymnastics had been really popular in China in this time of history. There have also been monuments which indicated that a lot of sports were already well developed for several thousands of years before; these sports included swimming, fishing, javelin throwing, high jump, and wrestling. There is also evidence that some sports developed from ancient Persia, which would be polo and jousting as well as the traditional Iranian martial art of Zourkhaneh (The History of Sport, Wikipedia).

By the time of the Ancient Greeks, a great deal of sports had already been established. Sports such as wrestling, running, boxing, javelin, discus throwing, and chariot racing were dominant. As the evidence suggests, at this point of time in history sport was actually influenced by a government institution, the military culture of Greece. Also at this time in history, the first "Sport Event" was implemented, the Olympics; these games were held every four years in a village called Olympia.

Ever since, sport has been increasingly organized and arranged up to the present century. Activities which were necessary for survival became regulated activities. In the beginning, they were performed for pleasure, but later on, on an increasing scale, for competition. Examples of these necessary survival activities include hunting, fishing, and horticulture (The History of Sport, Wikipedia).

The Industrial Revolution and the implementation of mass production gave people an increased amount of leisure time, and therefore more opportunities to actually confront themselves with sport. This caused an increase of spectator sports, greater accessibility, and also less elitism in sports. These trends kept going, especially because of the development of mass media and global communication. This development had a huge influence on the popularity of sport in general as well as to sport on the professional level (The History of Sport, Wikipedia). Today, this development has almost reached an outrageous level. The money which now circles through the economy and is caused only by professional sport itself (for example, player salaries) is so large that it's hard for the average person to even comprehend, even when written down on paper!

Although many people understand how big of a business sport is, most still cannot imagine the impact on the economy and how strong the force of this business is today.

Impact on the Local businesses

History of Professional Sport from the 70's to the present

"In the United States, when the Super Bowl comes on television, the world stops" (Eitzen, pg. 198). As already stated in the introduction, once the Super Bowl comes on television, people tend to turn into fanatic sports fans, especially in the United States. Even though the Super Bowl is probably the most outstanding event and shows the highest impact on local and national businesses, this is also true for events going on all year long. The development between money and sports in the time from the 1970's to the early 1990's is overwhelming. Just consider the following facts:

Ð'* "The rights to televise the 1992 Summer Olympic Games cost NBC $401" (Eitzen, pg. 162).

Ð'* In 1991, the average American family, which was considered to have an average of four people, had to pay almost $200 to attend a San Francisco 49'ers game (Eitzen, 1993).

Ð'* To stay in the category of Football, which is obviously one of the most important sports in the U.S., every school which competes in the Rose Bowl receives $6.5 million (Eitzen, 1993).

Ð'* In 1991, 233 Major League Baseball players had salaries of more than $1 million (Eitzen, 1993).

Ð'* In 1973, the New York Yankees were purchased for $10 million. In comparison, and also as an illustration