is money destroying the essence of Sports - A Debate?

Answer 1

Nope!!

Answer 2

Yes and no.

It encourages some players to skip college to play. Everyone should go to college, but some really need the money first. Pretty much 85% of the NBA came right out of the slum. So you can't really blame them for putting the million-dollar paycheck before college.

Money also allows some professional athetes to buy their ways out of lawsuits. I don't know about OJ Simpson or Terrel Owens; Ron Artest is just one of those guys that goes in and out of jail all the time; and I quite strongly believe that Kobe Bryant was falsely accused. The Kobe case was the only one out of those that I followed in the newspapers and on CNN.

That's just my opinion. Some athletes commit crimes and then pay off their accusers. But the again, if the so-called victim accepts the money, they aren't really after justice, are they? Let's not get into that.

I only watch the NBA, so I can't argue about the other major sports leagues. But I think that there are a lot on NBA players who don't really enjoy basketball; they just happen to be good at it. It's become their money-making machine, not their hobby. I bet that if the salary was cut, half of the players would leave.

Classic example of money destroying a great team: the Lakers. Contract disputes tore apart a championship team.

But on the other hand, you can't really blame professional athletes for warping American culture. Even if you take all the hedonistic celebrities in every major league, plus their fans, that's still a tiny percentage of all the people in America. Even though athletes influence kids a lot, it's still the kids' responsibility to make their own decisions.

Okay, I think I got a little off topic. So overall, I just think that money has kind of defiled the purity of sports. Most athletes really need it, considering the humble beginning that they arose from. Others just use it to buy drugs and bail themselves out after getting into bar fights.

From a more cosmic perspective, you could also say that money has polluted humanity. There have been countless patently false allegations against professional athletes, I won't bother to list a fraction of them.

In European leagues, players are paid much less. Have you noticed how few scandals they have? The hyped-up, consumeristic, flashy style of basketball today is the reason America hasn't won a gold medal for such a long time.

Money is not bad; the love of money is bad. Read Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations."

Answer 3

Competition is a corner stone of capitalism so I would say no the money is not destroying sports the ignorant consumer and casual bandwagon fan is doing more to hurt sports than money.

That being said if it were not for big business we would not have as much access to sports as we do today. Somebody has to pay for all the media coverage right.

The causal fan who can afford to pay a lot more than the average fan causes ticket prices to soar but teams should be careful with prices. They can use the home market in the US as a model. Once your prices are higher than people who want your product can afford you may be in trouble. That being said there is something to be said about inflation as well.

As consumers we have the power to dictate what we want our sports to look and feel like and I would say professional sports have done a great job of providing what we ask for just look at the enormous revenue flow for pro sports. If people did not want jerk athletes and $8 beer they would not pay for it…

Answer 4

It's funny that a lot of people admire George Steinbrenner as an owner because he will spend money to get players, then they hate the Yankees because they spend money and they hate the way baseball has become a sport of rich teams poor teams. It's good that the players are paid well now, after a century of being underpaid, but money is taking away from sports the main purpose FOR sports: entertainment. It's less fun. People see their favorite teams become less viable than AA teams, they see their favorite players become business yuppies, and the talk on sports TV and in the print media is just as likely to be about this team's budget or that player's salary as it is to be about this guy's on base percentage or that team's winning streak. Steinbrenner et al took a lot of the fun out of the game. Money is important, but it's too pervasive.

Answer 5

I completely agree that it is. The first sign of the apocalypse was yesterday when freaking MIKKI MOORE turned down $10 million from the Nets. This is a journeyman player at best who couldn't find a team to take him a few years back. And the Raptors signing Jason Kapono for $6 million a season when he averages 10 points a game and is VERY slow and unathletic?? Doesn't make sense to me.

The biggest problem I have with the money issue is that team loyalty is completely dying out. Tim Duncan wil stay with the Spurs his whole career, and KG has stayed with the Wolves, but most of the big name players, in the NBA, MLB, and NFL, leave after they sign max deals to sign another max contract somewhere else. It drives me nuts, and I can understand why some fans throw their hands up with disgust.

Answer 6

It has already - look at how many times there have been lockouts. Hell, I would love to take, as I'm sure many here would agree to settle with the league(s) minimum salary.
If the players were smart, they wouldn't need an agent to bargain for them - they could go in and do it themselves. Its the agents whom hike the players going rates and not to mention they 'have' to get their cut of the contract money, plus endorsements.
They get paid crazy money now - are they truly worth it? Hell the utility people (power lines) don't get paid anywhere close to a professional sports athlete and they face the possibility of death. In sports you can get minimal injuries but nothing as severe as going out daily and a good chance of you dying.
FYI - I work in an office at this computer all day.
Greed, all greed but there are instances where an athlete will not be greedy and will play for the love of a championship by giving up higher paying contracts. To me, those stand out.

Answer 7

Money is in fact, playing a very large role in the deterioration of the integrity with which players play their sport. there doesn't seem to be a heart felt love in the games anymore. it's all about business....it's about advertising...marketing products....sponsors....catering to corporate America...."selling" certain players as the face of your franchise...the list goes on.
However, we can't just point at money, because money doesn't do anything by itself. money doesn't walk into a board room and make a decision to give 50 million of itself to a given player. people do that. so in a matter of speaking, it's people's greed and hunger for the money that is destroying the essence of sports.

and i can't leave without taking my shot at the media, and their never ending quest to build...then destroy so many athletes. they paint these pictures of athletes (most of them young and naive) that give the public an image of a perfect person. they provoke companies to look at them to endorse products...they provoke us to see them as super human beings....creating a smoke screen that allows to see only the good. then when the time is right....they blow the smoke away and expose what we should have remembered from the beginning....that these players are only human, flawed, and thus susceptible to making mistakes.

players leave school early for the money....owners pay them big bucks to perform....companies pay them big bucks to advertise their product....we see their faces on bottles...on billboards.. on clothes...and sometimes on the news.
but who is thinking about the emotional welfare of the players?
most of the time, it gets lost in the loads of money passing between owners, commissioners, players, tv, cable, agents...
until we see guys like Pacman on the news. Guys who have no clue that making money at that level requires some serious responsibility.
this is a very good question and obviously a topic that can be debated for years.

Answer 8

yes money is destroying the essence of sports

Answer 9

How? Teams make so much money off player that it makes sense to give some back to the players. I does not bother me that much. But their are guys in sports that will restructure their contract in a minute to help the team.

Answer 10

yes, the greed on both sides of the ball (the owners and players put us thru lockouts), greedy agents, free agency and this unnecessary barrage of marketing to a public of fans who dont make proportionally more money that they can catch lots of games live with their families, like they could in the past when salaries were not like hundreds of millions...where one players contract is almost a majority of what a team is worth (ridiculous)...where money lures every player in every sport away from the fan base that embraced them for years...where there is no more team loyalty...where the players make so much that fans just really cant identify with them...driving cars worth more than most folks homes, while you have to save a weeks pay to take your family to a game, baseball, football, basketball (those floor seats are like thousands)...souvenirs , licensed gear, overpriced concessions...yep...I say yes

Answer 11

Professional sports became a full scale business decades ago.

Major college sports are pretty much the same.