When first assigned the capstone project, you could physically feel the wave of anxiety hit my first period class. Most of my classmates had the same reaction - “oh no”. The thought of coming up with an idea to focus on for our final project was daunting. However, I had a different perspective on the situation. During the first semester of this year I was taking Economics with Mr. Curtis. Throughout the course of the semester, Mr. Curtis introduced us to many interesting concepts. One of which had a particular impact on me and demanded more attention. He showed us a news article about how there was a certain percentage increase of economic activity in the cities where Lebron James was traded to. We soon moved on to a new topic, yet for some reason I was not able to stop thinking about that article. It is so interesting to me that an individual athlete can have substantial impacts on the communities around them. As time passed, I was forced to place this idea on the back burner and had to continue on in school. This was until capstone came around and I immediately knew what my research topic would be; “To what extent do professional athletes impact community economies?” That concept had been simmering in my head for months so I was excited to begin developing my ideas.
It’s safe to say that I have had a passion for sports for what seems like my entire life. I can’t remember a year where I didn’t play at least one season of a sport. Most of the time it is actually more like two or three seasons where I alternate between baseball, soccer, football and essentially everything in between. Similarly to every other athlete, if i'm not currently playing a sport then i'm either talking about or watching it. Sports culture has had enormous growth in the past few decades and is continuously evolving. In recent years, the elite professional athletes have become some of the wealthiest and highest paid people in the world. What most people don’t realize is that athletes have also shifted into being public figures. Everytime an athlete promotes a brand or makes an appearance in a commercial or on tv, they attract the attention of some sports fans who may not have otherwise paid attention to. Another key economical impact from athletes is their brands. Lebron James’s sneaker brand is endorsed by Nike which accumulated almost $340 million in 2015.
Modern sports culture is unique in the sense that never before has there been something so unifying. Sports is one thing that a large percentage of the world can be grouped together by. You might want to be tall to play basketball or strong to wrestle, but anyone can sit back and enjoy the experience. One of the best examples of sports bringing people from across the globe is the Olympics. Every 4 years, billions around the world tune in to watch the grand spectacle and support their country. Clearly there is a large audience for sports, but more importantly there is a large market. Countries that host the Olympics experience huge amounts of economic activity from ticket sales and tourism. However, in some cases, countries actually create economical problems for themselves by hosting which could place them in serious debt.
My first experience with sports economics was actually during last year's (2019) excursion. Almost half a year before I started taking economics with Mr. Curtis, my friends and I were in his excursion aptly named “sports economics”. I credit that experience for piquing my interest into this world. The majority of the research I conducted was based off of some of the un-resolved questions I had at the time. My composition journal was useful during my preliminary drafts when I was trying to form some ideas. We learned about all of the economical components that go into designing and constructing a new sports stadium such as location, traffic, and how it would be financed. During the second week, the entire excursion took a trip down to south Florida where we had a personal tour of two professional stadiums. Having a hands on experience talking to the guide and being shown around added valuable information to our perspective of what it actually takes to manage a stadium as well as the effects it has on the surrounding area. My favorite take away from our trips was the idea of how professional sports helps the employment in their respective cities. No one initially thought of how beneficial sports were in that department. After some consideration, you realize how many people it takes to maintain that facility, then there are vendors and other workers that are necessary during events. There is also an entirely different field of work such as the security and the officers conducting traffic. All of these positions get filled by the local citizens which promotes and improves the city's economy.
It’s safe to say that I have had a passion for sports for what seems like my entire life. I can’t remember a year where I didn’t play at least one season of a sport. Most of the time it is actually more like two or three seasons where I alternate between baseball, soccer, football and essentially everything in between. Similarly to every other athlete, if i'm not currently playing a sport then i'm either talking about or watching it. Sports culture has had enormous growth in the past few decades and is continuously evolving. In recent years, the elite professional athletes have become some of the wealthiest and highest paid people in the world. What most people don’t realize is that athletes have also shifted into being public figures. Everytime an athlete promotes a brand or makes an appearance in a commercial or on tv, they attract the attention of some sports fans who may not have otherwise paid attention to. Another key economical impact from athletes is their brands. Lebron James’s sneaker brand is endorsed by Nike which accumulated almost $340 million in 2015.
Modern sports culture is unique in the sense that never before has there been something so unifying. Sports is one thing that a large percentage of the world can be grouped together by. You might want to be tall to play basketball or strong to wrestle, but anyone can sit back and enjoy the experience. One of the best examples of sports bringing people from across the globe is the Olympics. Every 4 years, billions around the world tune in to watch the grand spectacle and support their country. Clearly there is a large audience for sports, but more importantly there is a large market. Countries that host the Olympics experience huge amounts of economic activity from ticket sales and tourism. However, in some cases, countries actually create economical problems for themselves by hosting which could place them in serious debt.
My first experience with sports economics was actually during last year's (2019) excursion. Almost half a year before I started taking economics with Mr. Curtis, my friends and I were in his excursion aptly named “sports economics”. I credit that experience for piquing my interest into this world. The majority of the research I conducted was based off of some of the un-resolved questions I had at the time. My composition journal was useful during my preliminary drafts when I was trying to form some ideas. We learned about all of the economical components that go into designing and constructing a new sports stadium such as location, traffic, and how it would be financed. During the second week, the entire excursion took a trip down to south Florida where we had a personal tour of two professional stadiums. Having a hands on experience talking to the guide and being shown around added valuable information to our perspective of what it actually takes to manage a stadium as well as the effects it has on the surrounding area. My favorite take away from our trips was the idea of how professional sports helps the employment in their respective cities. No one initially thought of how beneficial sports were in that department. After some consideration, you realize how many people it takes to maintain that facility, then there are vendors and other workers that are necessary during events. There is also an entirely different field of work such as the security and the officers conducting traffic. All of these positions get filled by the local citizens which promotes and improves the city's economy.