Sports Industry Analysis Paper

Do you think professional athletes are overpaid? You might think they earn more than what they are worth for playing half a year, but athletes have many things which contribute to their salary. Some of these things include their earnings from endorsements, ticket sales, performance, merchandise, their social contributions, and TV ratings. Although there are many factors that contribute to their salary, professional athletes may be overpaid because as a society, we contribute to their success. So, in the end, part of the athlete’s salary comes from the people who support the sports in the first place. These are just some of the reasons why athletes are paid so much money.

The National Football League (NFL) is an example of the incredibly successful industry generated by the sport. This business has been, and continues to be, the highest earning sports league in the United States. Average revenue that a franchise earns in the NFL is 286 million dollars, with the closest industry trailing behind being Major League Baseball (MLB) averaging almost 50 million dollars less (Gaines). Another aspect to observe with this comparison is putting in proportion how much more is made per game since football has significantly fewer games. The NFL creates its leading revenue in only a 16 game regular season, whereas the MLB falls short after playing 162 entire games. Putting this into perspective, an NFL team generates an average 17.8 million dollars a game, but an MLB team generates only 1.4 million dollars a game. Revenue

The NFL continues to remain the most lucrative professional league. According to Forbes Magazine the NFL’s 32 teams are worth on average, $1.7 billion, which is more than any other sports league. In contrast the world’s top 20 soccer teams have an average value of $976 million. The NFL has been successful despite the severe brain injuries that have been suffered by the athletes of their sport. Even though they continue to generate billions of dollars each year, the NFL is in danger of losing

While growing up in the state of Texas I was introduced to National Football League (NFL) at a very young age. Not only was I obsessed with great players like Emmitt Smith and Michael Irving, I had a more finical appreciation for the lucrativeness associated with the NFL. My young adulthood as well as my teenage years was spent playing and learning football with the aspirations of hopefully making it to the NFL. Unfortunately, my playing days ended with tryouts at Texas Tech University, but my love for the game has remained stagnant over the years even till this day. The NFL today is Americas most watched sports league and has taken the crown as the most lucrative and unique economic force in sports. Forbes offered approximations stating that on average, the NFL generates more than $6-9 billion a year in revenues alone. A third of the individual franchises in the league were appraised at over more than $1 billion while the other franchises average nine figures or higher. The NFL as an organization generates its revenues through a multitude of ways ranging from huge television contracts, in-stadium ticket sales, advertising ads paid for by sponsors and merchandise. Their business model unlike most other leagues, is centered on a hard salary cap on player contracts which provides cost certainty with its sponsors. In this paper, I will examine the economic and historical narrative associated with the growth of the NFL’s

At the beginning of the twentieth century and the outset of the professional sports industry the existence of underpaid players at the premier level of athletics was a legitimate problem. It was this problem that played a role in the fixing of the

Many fans throughout the U.S. blame the high priced contracts on the athletes, but they are not the source of the problem. In a sense, the athletes are just getting their piece of the pie. What the athletes make

“On the television today the media overwhelms the United States with advertising of athletic competition. Every March, one cannot help but hear the results of the annual postseason college basketball tournament entitled “March Madness.” However, it was football that led to the increased popularity of college athletics. “March madness brings in as many as 50 million fans. Many of whom will watch the game on television, thanks to a lucrative contract that pays the college sports governing body about $700 million for broadcast rights in one year alone.” The NCAA recently signed a $10.8 billion TV contract. “Most head coaches pull in seven-figure salaries and NCAA executives get paid more than that. According to reports, more than a dozen NCAA employees collectively earn more than $6 million in salary a year. Emmert would not disclose his annual salary to “Frontline,” but he walked away from $900,000 a year as president at the University of Washington. His predecessor at the NCAA earned as much as $1.7 million a year.” The NCAA is now a business of signing billion-dollar contracts and paying everyone except the stars of the show. If the NCAA can find the money to pay coaches, executives, and chairmen seven-figure salaries annually then it should be easy to find money to play the players. They put their bodies on the line, and are often afflicted with career-ending injuries that hand them a one-way ticket out of sports forever.

Sports stars aren’t getting paid enough each year to play sports because people who don't play are get paid a lot , the best players on each team should be paid the most, and MVP winners should be the most paid on their team. This topic is important because it need to tell the teams that the best players should be paid the most. A solution to this problem is to pay the best players the most. The best should be paid the

Professional football is known to dominate all other American sports. Prime-time football is an essential part of American culture. Each year anticipation for the start of the new season builds as dedicated fans eagerly await for game time. People can’t help but love the high energy and intensity each game provides. Once a favorite team is picked, fans follow the season in hopes that their team makes big at the Super Bowl. Whether going to experience a game in person or being able to watch it on T.V the love people have for football is evident. The National Football League’s popularity draws in the largest amount of fans who fill stadiums to full capacity and even more viewers who watch the broadcasts. The NFL is a huge market that many consider displaying monopoly power. I believe that the NFL is indeed a monopoly due to the lack of competition/substitutes at that level, the high barriers to entry, and their economies of scale.

Athletes and the sports industry have turned into a multi-billion dollar business annually. Stacked on top of that is that leagues and educational institutions receive multi-million dollar media contracts each year. This is so that broadcasters such as NBC, FOX, and TNT have the rights to broadcast that team or leagues games. The surge of money in the sports industry has led to an influx of agents into the world of agent athletes.

The value of entertainment in our society is arguable. We as a society constantly search for new ways to entertain ourselves; professional sports are a major contribution to our source of entertainment. If those who support athletes and their sports have no problem paying to see them,

Sporting events is a place for people to go, relax, have fun, and do something they enjoy doing, watching sports. However, the average family finds it difficult to buy tickets to them and still there are 66,960 fans that attend an NFL game. (Wikipedia) The public contributes to the athletes’ salary and then complains about how

Economic theory introduces us to four different types of markets: perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly. Professional sports teams operate in an environment that is different than the typical business structure. The goal of this paper is to look at this industry, in particular the NFL, in an economics context and gain an understanding of the market structure of this unique industry. To do this I will discuss a brief history of the National Football League in the U.S. and how this organization is structured. I will also discuss typical market structures and type of

The passages present a discussion about arguments concerning whether or not professional athletes are overpaid. This is an important debate since professional sports represents a multi-billion-dollar-per-year industry. The two positions argue whether or not professional athletes should be paid the large yearly salaries they are paid. Both viewpoints have valid claims warranting consideration. For example, evidence suggests that people with far more important jobs are paid much less than professional athletes; in contrast, opposing evidence suggests that since professional athletes generally have short careers and must train very hard to build and maintain their skills, the higher salary is justified. While both sides of the issue have valid points, the viewpoint that professional athletes are not overpaid is the best-supported position, the position supported by the preponderance of the evidence cited in the passages. The strongest and best reasons supporting this position are that professional athletes must endure grueling and intensive training, they generally have short careers that often end in injury, and the amount that they are thought to be paid is often inflated. Accordingly, these reasons and opposing viewpoints will be discussed next.

Sport Obermeyer is a high-end fashion skiwear design and merchandising company headquartered in Aspen, Colorado. Over the years, Sports Obermeyer has developed into a dominant competitor. Sports Obermeyer's estimated sales in 1992 were $32.8 million. The company holds 45% share of children's skiwear and 11% of adult Skiwear market. Sport Obermeyer produces merchandise ranging from: parkas, vests, ski suits, shells, ski pants, turtlenecks, and accessories. These products are sold throughout U.S. department stores in urban areas and ski shops. With increasing demands and rising competition, Sport Obermeyer needs to have an edge on the market. Starting in 1985 with a joint venture in Hong Kong