As a discipline, sociology is concerned with the study of how behavior impacts society.. An analysis of sports reveals that it has ubiquitous social status and observes a hierarchical organization. Notably, as current trends indicate an increase in the number of people expressing an interest in sport, the implications of the preceding statement will only become more pronounced. At the macro level, sports influence the conservation of cultural codes, norms, values, and social institutions. Equally, the effect of advanced technology, industrialization, modernization, and globalization has highlighted the relationship between money and economics. Consequently, it is necessary to discuss the impact of money not only on athletes but also the professional, college, and youth sport levels.
Undoubtedly, sport has not only penetrated every educational level, but it has also entered the economic and cultural systems. Sage, Eitzen, and Beale (2019) examined the various complex forces that influence sport. In their text, they argue that the lack of proper regulatory procedures and systems creates conditions for such ills as fraud to thrive in sports. According to these scholars, modern sports places tremendous emphasis on achieving monetary gain. Consequently, individuals who participate in sports face immense pressure to prioritize the pursuit of monetary rewards at the expense of maintaining the integrity of sports. In essence, Sage and his colleagues contend that money has corrupted sports and stripped it of its novelty, reducing it to a mere transactional endeavor.
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Youth sports
Youth sport refers to events whose participants are below the adult age comprising those within an educational system, that is at primary and secondary levels, as well those outside said system. Also, these events can be either formal or informal. Therefore, the focus of this section shall be limited to money’s impact on high school and its preceding levels. According to Sage, Eitzen, and Beale (2019), activities at this level could belong to any of their above-mentioned categories, providing a micro analysis of the influence of money at this level. Arguably, the opportunity to learn culturally relevant sports skills, the development of desired values, attitudes, and social relationships should inform the objective of programs at this level. However, exceptions exist and there are those that exhibit corporate designs (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019). Because parents and guardians have better social and economic knowledge than their children and their belief that sporting activities are beneficial to the latter’s development, there has been an inevitable increase in community-sponsored youth sports programs and elite youth sport: organized and corporate respectively.
Sage, Eitzen, and Beale (2019) note that there are several problems with youth sports. First, adult intrusion robs youth off the values of play. Second, the social norms being learnt may differ from those that are dominant in North American ones. Also, organized sports threaten the conventional education experience while protracted training and competition increases their risk of both chronic and acute injuries. Then, with ultra-emphasis on winning is eroding the self-fulfilling potential of sports participation (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019). A analysis of sports indicates that today, youth are facing immense pressure to become ultra-competitive and there are instances where young sports men and women resort to violence to secure victory (Guttmann, 1988). Considering the influence Sage, Eitzen, and Beale (2019) place on corporate sports role in the growth of organized sports, one can attribute that the listed problems to the character of North American society as sport remains a microcosmic representation of society. Therefore, money has impacted this level by eroding the values of play and the engagement in physical activity for enjoyment.
College level
This level enjoys a practical and historically unique position in the organization of sports in Northern American society. Historically, college sport has defined the direction of sports in general (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019). Still, not only does it function as part of a feeder system benefitting from high school and non-school sports programs but it also feeds into the professional sporting level. In their definition of corporate sports, Sage, Eitzen, and Beale (2019) note that participants exchange the pleasure in the activity for external rewards, potential profits for the universities and other businesses as well as entertainment for alumni and fans. It is at this level that organizations blatantly make a spectacle out of sport and sell it as entertainment akin to popular entertainment forms (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019: Guttmann, 1988). Furthermore, not only do colleges and universities have monopolistic or near-monopolistic powers, but they use the same to pursue profits, crushing opposing organizations and merging leagues to control player salaries. College level sports must access the resources to recruit talented student-athletes and run successful athletic programs. This exposes it to the influence of corporate sports.
The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) is an exemplar corporate sports organization. As a result of its influence, students have been robbed of the political power to participate in decision making and are essentially exploited for profit. Contrasting Division I and Division III institutions reveals the level of commercialization and corruption of sports and the academic credibility of the former. Division III institutions balance academic and co-curricular demands and activities to the benefit of the student-athletes (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019). Conversely, Division I student-athletes are talented and specially trained individuals providing entertainment to paying audiences. Therefore, their demands vary distinctly from Division III student-athletes. Division I men’s basketball and American football games generated approximately $ 12 billion in annual revenue for the NCAA (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019). Effectively, it is an industry that is now an integral part of mass media, entertainment, and the sporting goods and equipment industries. For example, American multinationals in media and refreshment industries have, in sum, invested billions of dollars for exclusive marketing and advertising opportunities. Further, the revenue and expenses of Division I institutions runs into millions of dollars (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019). However, this is an arrangement that exploits both the student-athletes and the standing of universities as institution of higher learning.
The revenue generation model also informs power politics and dynamics. Colleges are dependent on marketing revenues to conduct athletic programs that are credible enough to attract talented student-athletes and generate more revenue through challenging for higher sporting honors. Here, the media industry has enough power to influence the scheduling decisions for their own benefit and at the likely expense of the student-athletes (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019). Likewise, coaches and other members of the athletic department have enough power to demand better compensation packages which universities are compelled to implement due to the competitive environment of Division I. Fundamentally, all of this is possible because the universities suppress the rights of their student-athletes by engaging them in one-sided contractual agreements prior to enrollment. The agreements that the students are forced into make it nearly impossible for them to demand fair compensation for the sacrifices that they make and the commitment that they demonstrate (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019). Furthermore, it also contributes to the conservation of North American social norms and characteristics.
Professional level
The influence of corporate sports can be seen at the professional level of sports.. At the microcosm level, professional sports reflect numerous North American societal characteristics like ultra-competitiveness and the use of varying degrees of violence as a form of entertainment. The manner of organization, the games played, the degree of emphasis on competition, the manner of compensation for participants and of rule enforcement provide distinctive points (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019: Guttmann, 1988) Plainly, at this level, nearly all decisions that are made are driven by monetary concerns and considerations. To further understand how money has damaged professional sport, it is necessary to consider some statistics. Plunkett Research estimates that United States sports industry was worth approximately $ 472 billion in 2016; bigger than the auto and motion picture industries respectively (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019). Betting on recent Super bowl games has attracted approximately $ 4.8 billion per game and sports video games generate more than $ 1 billion in sales revenue (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019). Given the volume of money associated with the professional level, the inescapable conclusion is that money is a primary driving factor in decision-making.
While they are separate academic disciplines, there is a clear association between sport and sociology. Using sociological concepts, one is able to understand how the monetization of sport creates power imbalance and fuels inequality. The wealthy who wield immense influence exploit young, vulnerable and talented athletes for profits. How professional teams function offers insight into the mechanisms through which the monetization of sport and athletics serve as the manifestation of inequality. These teams form leagues that are functional self-regulated monopolies (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019). Monopoly affords these leagues several economic advantages at the expense of the public, the government, and the players. For example, because of the Sports Broadcast Act of 1961, national cable and network systems bid for the leagues’ television rights. Again, monopolistic practices limit players’ bargaining power and choices (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019). Therefore, professional team leagues monopolize the market to control and exploit both the public and the government.
Corporate sports ownership perpetuates economic inequalities and opporession because it is overrepresented by billionaires. Most of these teams are driven only by the search for better markets and higher profits and use their perceived economic power to manipulate municipalities into subsidizing stadia construction costs to encourage presence. Still, owners exploit the principle of supply and demand under monopolistic conditions to extract as much revenues from both fans and taxpayers (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019). Owners treat professional sports teams as speculative investment vehicles, often buying them for their potential economic value appreciation. Furthermore, the demand by players for better compensation and the resulting opposition from owners of leagues and sports teams make it clear that there is a constant struggle between the pursuit of profit and the welfare of sports men and women (Sage, Eitzen, & Beale, 2019). Furthermore, because sport does not happen in a vacuum, it is not immune to the prevailing social challenges and is mostly a tool for conserving societal characteristics and ideals.
Conclusion
Sociology and economics are fundamentally intertwined and they underscore the relationship between sports and society. According to some scholars, an economic system influences not only social stability but also confidence in society’s future. Others assert that economic systems are used to conserve economic status systems and perpetuate the exploitative and oppressive practices of the wealthy class through ownership and control of the forces of production. Sport has influenced every aspect of. The focus on profits has led to the corruption and commodification of sport to the detriment of its intrinsic value and the participants’ enjoyment. From the sport level typology continuum, it is evident that the influence of money is evident through the growth of organized sports at the youth level. Furthermore, said continuum positions the informal and organized levels as feeding streams for the corporate level. Impliedly, the corporate level offers messaging and leadership to the other levels. Evidently, despite the corrupting influence of money on sports, to some degree, this association is informed by necessity.
References
Guttmann, A. (1988). The Destruction of the Body. In Guttmann, A. (1988), Whole New Ball Game; An Interpretation of American Sports (160-207). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press
Sage, H.G., Eitzen, D., S., & Beal, B. (2019). Sociology of North American Sport (11th ed.) . New York: Oxford University Press
