The Ethics Of Scamling Money : Giving Voice To Values

Many people believe that professional athletes are “above the law”. In reality, they are human beings like you and me who, no matter what the circumstances, can and will be charged like an average person. The offense of the crime can certainly come into play on whether or not a professional athlete who commits a crime should be allowed to play again.

Athletes want to be associated with agents who are reliable. Rosa states, "Athletes and entertainers face intense pressure and temptation, but many do not receive the education and counsel they need in order to plan for a secure financial future," (as cited in Levaux, 2015, p. 1). Sports are just a part of what athletes have to deal with, there’s also public relations. Any professional athlete has their own platform so when it comes to media relations, it would benefit them to have communication skills. A lot of athletes sign their first contracts when they’re still young so they have little experience dealing with media or huge amounts of money. That’s where agents come in and help them with managing money, and keeping them away from bad endeavors. The Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act ("SPARTA") aimed to deter sports agents from engaging in certain overreaching activities and to prevent the unknowing violation of NCAA regulations by universities and athletes (Willenbacher,

“People are more likely to pay attention to a TV commercial if one of their favorite players is talking, than they would be if the owner of the company was the star” (Miller). It is the association with the known and likeable character which may attract people to follow celebrity endorsements. It may also be the association with success which the athlete is characterizing. Whatever the case may be, Miller gives tips of what marketing companies look for before persuading a player with an endorsement:

Everyone in life makes mistake, it’s part of life and we learn off them. Yes professional get away with crime and its wrong, I believe that whoever you are, rich, poor, famous, a professional athlete or just a normal person, if you commit a crime or break the law you need to face the consequences for your actions. We have laws

Shapiro also offered the players services that included entertainment, yacht rentals, paid vacations, prostitutes, nightclubs, jewelry, and abortions. Not all of what he offered was right but he still should have been allowed to pay the players bounties. The bounties he paid players caused him to suffer in court the most. He was sentenced to a total of twenty years in federal prison. Also, at Ohio State University, five players were suspended for five games for trading signed memorabilia for cash and tattoos at a tattoo parlor. Because of the “no pay” rules, student athletes cannot receive any pay from that sport or any form of future assistance. Should the “no pay” rules no longer be a factor, the NCAA would not have to deal with as many scandals that involve the paying of athletes. The only way to eliminate or greatly reduce the number of scandals is by implementing a change in the NCAA Division I Manual.

If we were to slip up while on the job, that can reflect badly on the coaching staff and the athletes involved, so I take my job seriously. When I read the book, however, I was shocked at how Ridpath was treated for just doing his job. It seemed to me that the athletic department at Marshall had the same interests when it came to exploiting their athletes for money. According to Leopkey, people and groups within the organization can have different goals and as such will engage in conflict (2016b). They understand that sport is a multi-billion dollar industry, and they want to gain the most from it. Meanwhile, there was an ethical dilemma going on at Marshall because there were differences in morality based on the people involved. For example, Ridpath had to go think about his morals at Marshall. I feel like he used moral reasoning because he had to decide “whether a particular action is right or wrong, or whether we have a moral obligation to act in a particular manner towards others” (Leopkey, 2016a). In this case, the particular action was reporting the violations. It’s clear that Marshall did not have an established compliance system, especially since Ridpath stated that “I found out more stuff that was going on in my department out in the street than I did as an employee” (Ridpath, 2012). So

Over nemouse years the world has evolved and many changes have taken place. Regardless of your age, gender, religion or race its seem that sports has been one of the things that brings everybody together in the end. Whether it be sharing an interest for the same sport in general or the same sports team. With this being said corruption has entered the sports community, it is not about bringing your team together for the sake of enjoyment. Being victorious is now what is expected among your team, coaches, fans and yourself. Now Athletes and coaches are doing whatever it takes to win. Whether it be breaking the law by placing bids or accepting bids, committing fraud and willingly taking illegal performance-enhanching

Anyone who has been involved in an organized sport, whether it is backyard football or a high school sports team, knows that these sports all have organizations that are responsible for setting rules, determining conditions of play, and penalizing individuals who infringe the rules. Some of the organizations like the National Football league and the MLB are familiar to most people, the rules they follow are not generally understood by anyone who is not closely associated with the sport. Most fans and sport critics assume that what is happening inside these organizations are of little concern to them. However, this is not the case. In the MLB, the New York Yankees spend an excessive amount of money every year to obtain big name players. A

Their fellow sports personnel gets to indulge in this gargantuan amount of money made off them, while they do not even get a minuscule percent of it. According to Stanley Eitzen, in his article “College Athletes Should be Paid,” in the year 2000, some football coaches were paid a minimum of 1,000,000 dollars in compensation. Considering this staggering figure, it is almost impossible to fathom why athletes are not being compensated something, out of all the money they generate. As a result of this deprivation of financial support, some athletes end up violating school policies. There were reports of athletes who have accepted improper benefits from coaches, fans and “boosters.” According to Dan Wetzel, in his article “Chris Webber deserves apology from Michigan, NCAA for disassociation treatment,” Former Michigan State basketball player Chris Webber, accepted money from “team booster” Ed Martin which resulted in a “humiliating 10 year disassociation penalty.” There have even been instances when athletes sold their jerseys and championship rings. These incidents resulted in suspension and expulsion of student athletes and the firing of coaches. Most, if not all of these cases, could have been prevented if universities have stepped in, and provided the financial help their athletes needed.

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

To rebuild damaged reputation players will quite often take less paying contracts from top performing teams. Such players will always work towards switching teams when lured with better packages. This will lead to higher attrition rate. This will also damage loyalty of players for teams and teams will face hard time retaining top performers.

Whether it be baseball, football, soccer, or basketball, sports are appreciated not only in America, but all over the world. One of these sports that is particularly popular in America is Football. The immense crowds of people who sit at a stadium or on the couch to watch a game never fail to recognize every single play on the field; however, many fans pay little to no attention to one of the most important components of the game, the player-association relationship. When signing a contract with an NFL team an NFL player is effectively dedicating his life to his new organization. His duty is to play for his team in order to make the organization money, and money they make. In the NFL last year “each team received $226.4 million” (Brady 1).

An athlete prefers the best public image possible and to obtain that image the player must only associate themselves with individuals that are held in high regards and highly respected in the public’s mind. An agent that has participated in questionable acts could taint an athlete’s image. Therefore, an athlete would want no association with that agent

Many times in a Ponzi scheme the offender targets people they do not know personally but not Madoff. He had family, friends, employees and even charities and non-profit organizations as investors. “He tapped local money pulled in from country clubs and charity dinners, where investors sought him out to casually plead with him to manage their savings so they could start reaping the steady, solid returns their envied friends were getting” (Colesanti, 2012). “Levy invested $100,000” for Dell’Orefice, who felt honored to be a part of the “exclusive fund” (Lewis, 2010). Sheryl Weinstein, who was a friend of Madoffs for nearly 24 years, lost her entire savings to Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. “The charitable foundation of philanthropist Carl Shapiro had invested about 45 percent of its assets ($345 million) in Madoff's fund” (Auerbach, 2009). It is “estimated that Madoff's scam cost Jewish philanthropies at least $600 million, and

Sports Agents have not been around for a long time. “Until the 1970’s, very few players had agents because teams would not deal with agents (Masteralexis, 244).”