Sports and economics

America is a nation that has always been fascinated with sports. As we grew as a country, organized sports have grown alongside, eventually resulting in the commercial behemoths of today, such as the NCAA and the NBA, among others. And to the athletes of these sports,the amount of attention they receive is often equaled by their pay checks. In an article by Allen S. Sanderson, he points out the intense scrutiny athletes face, while other branches of the same industry merit far less attention for their actions, especially their salaries. For example, when Alex Rodriguez signed a 10 year, 252 million dollar contract the sporting community was rocked with an explosion of astonishment and criticism. But when an actor like Ray Romano from Everybody loves Raymond makes 1.8 million per show, is passed off as the norm. Additionally, the fact that colleges put SO MUCH money into their sport programs, and are not restricted in doing so. Mr. Sanderson points out the fact that the NCAA has complete control over student sport scholarships, something the U.S justice department "overlooks." Similarly, don't you find it odd that high school super athletes get hammered with criticism for skipping college to go pro, but actors can go right from their GED, or even drop out to acting and no such fuss is made? Take for example Lebron James. He could have gone to any college he wanted to for free for basketball, something he was encouraged to do by the NCAA, but instead chose the allure and fame of being a pro athlete right away. While i believe this to be wrong and that college should be a student athlete requirement, his decision had a huge effect on the economy. When the commercial world came to realize the enormous potential and skill of this athlete, they wasted no time in taking advantage of that. Within months you could find his face everywhere, in commercials, on shirts, cards, and even bubble gum. This demand for Lebron related goods in turn creates jobs and bolsters the economy. this is part of the reason why we as a nation care so much about sports and not as much as acting or TV personalities. Personally, i agree with Mr. Sanderson. I think more attention and resources should be poured into the minds of our nations, not the muscle. Colleges should advertise there brilliant minds, not their star quarterbacks. It is in the highest of interests of our nation to hold up the high bar of education, to keep it from sinking to even lower standards. So, to conclude, why do we care about sports so much, maybe it does have its benefits, but maybe its not the best thing for us either. Perhaps our materialism and obsession with entertainment will be our downfall someday, but who knows.

sources: Library of Economics and Liberty