Impact of Professional Sports Teams on Local Economies (Research Paper Sample)

Impact of Professional Sports Teams on Local Economies
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Impact of Professional Sports Teams on Local Economies
One of the most common recreational activities that attract huge numbers of participants and fans is professional sports. It is common and popular because most people use their leisure time by attending games and matches in stadia or watch over televisions. The rise in the popularity of the game has thus attracted the interest and attention of investors as one of the fields that are capable of ensuring goods returns on investments. Most multibillions businesses in the world accrue huge profits from their investments in professional sports (Baade, Baumann & Matheson, 2010). Additionally, the Forbes List of the Richest shows that most of the individuals in the top slots have connections with sports. Some of them have invested in professional sports by owning clubs or teams. Others are players. This has made most people to have the notion that the contribution of professional sports to economies is significant. On the contrary, most local economies benefit from limited impacts from professional sports.
Three ways are used to show the limited nature of the impact of professional sports on local economies. The first issue addressed is that most local governments have to bear the cost of construction of new stadia. Secondly, the consequences of player strikes on the economy are discussed, highlighting the lockouts that sprout between the local economies and professional franchises as a result of the same. Finally, the impact of professional sports on local economies is also shown through the fact that other employment opportunities have better, higher wages than individuals involved in professional sports and teams.
Construction of Stadiums and Arenas
Current studies show that most of the finances that are used in the construction of stadiums and arena are provided by the local governments (Coates & Humphreys, 2012). The management of these professional facilities is done using revenue and income from broad-based and special taxes. Some of the sources of broad-based take that thee counties, states, and cities use include sales of the property while special taxes refer to revenues such as taxes charged on the consumption of drugs like tobacco and alcohol, as well as car and hotel rentals. Most of the cities and states use public funds to construct these stadiums with the hope that hosting professional sports will help in raising returns.
Financial and sports analysts also estimate that mega sporting events improve the economic activity of the city in which they are hosted. For instance, soccer derbies such as Manchester United versus Manchester City are believed to increase the income of the franchises in the city because the event attracts thousands of soccer fans (Dwyer, 2014). That has also led to the claim that professional sports enhance the local economies because of the high spending of the fans, creation of employment opportunities for facility management, and revitalization of CBDs. However, counter research studies have shown that the analysts greatly exaggerate the economic returns, making them incorrect and overly ambitious and optimistic. Economic analysts have successfully proven that most the money that fans spend on sports days and professional sports events would have been still spent on other issues with or without the sports (Gratton, Shibli & Coleman, 2013). Additionally, the greater amount of money that is acquired from professional such as charges for entrance are given back to the sports facility, with minimal been channeled back to the economy.
The evidence produced on this matter shows that introduction of a professional sports team in an area is not a guarantee that the living standards of the residents will be improved (Siegfried & Zimbalist, 2013). It only increases the option of the recreational activities that the people can enjoy. The stadiums and arenas spent much of the income rather than channeling it to the economies. As such, they do more of the realignment of the leisure industry than enhance the local economies.
Player Strikes and Lockouts
There are cases where several games have to be cancelled because of disagreements between the players and management of professional sports clubs. Such cancellations are what are known as player strikes and lockouts (Dwyer, 2014). Analysts show that income from sports decrease when these player strikes and lockouts take place. However, opponents of the idea suggest that most of these player strikes and lockouts have no significant effects. They claim that some local economies benefit slightly when they happen.
It is evident that strikes that were done by professional teams between 1969 and 1996 led to an increase in the real per capita income. However, such research studies are contrary to the majority who believe that sports act as the economic engines for local economies (Gratton, Shibli & Coleman, 2013). The proponents of the idea point out to several reasons that explain the phenomenon. They claim that substitution takes place in private spending in such a case. People divert their attention to other sources of entertainment other than sports activities. They also claim that professional sports are more expensive compared to other forms of recreation. As such, if these sporting activities were eliminated, the government expenditure would be less. The amount of taxes collected would also be reduced. As such, the taxpayers would retain much of the money in their pockets. It could thus be concluded that the economic contribution of sports is not as significant as thought.
Employment and Wages
One of the claims that most local politicians make is that the construction of stadiums and arenas is one of the ways through which the government can create jobs for the jobless. However, this is just but a tactic that they use to get funds for the constructions (Gratton, Shibli & Coleman, 2013). Such funding is done using income from tax; hence, it requires vivid accounting to be disbursed. On the contrary to such claims, researchers have shown that there are hardly any significant job opportunities that are created by sports teams. They have also shown that funding professional sports activities has negative effects on the payrolls (Lertwachara & Cochran, 2010). The amount of money required to ensure that the professional sporting facilities are fully refurbished is obtained from other sectors of the industry. As such, development in sports implies that some other industries have been demeaned. ...