Reply: Pro Sport (Relevant to my blog 2 topic)

I'm posting this as a separate blog because the links to my comments aren't working on my page.

Mike,

I am in agreeance 100% with your opinion.

The introduction of ridiculously high amounts of money at top level sport was an inevitable co-factor of increased access to sport through the media. This opens up the avenue for athletes to use their profile by selling themselves through endorsements and other media related activities. Cash flow through television, merchandising, and ticket sales (let alone club-pokie machine profits) put clubs in a position to offer vast sums of money to players who will enhance profile and performance. Look at David Beckham; you can't say that the LA Galaxy have made a poor investment for the club and the entire league when national interest is raised to an immearsurable degree. Sport is a business and the bottom line is money (achieved through winning) which means that officials may need to tweak the rules to stop teams adopting negative tactics ie. rugby union. Cricket has been at the forefront by introducing limited overs and twenty20.

It is worth noting that many athletes use their profile for the betterment of the world through charity activities.

Popularity of sport plus increased exposure have combined to give elite athletes their huge pay packets. Sport is like a religion and can act to galvanise entire nations like when the socceroos made the top 16 at the last FIFA world cup.

What I'm trying to say is that the beauty of sport also acts as its downfall because of that dirty word: money. As long as every man and his dog spend most Saturday nights glued to the tv watching their beloved team go around drinking a beer (the brand of which is conveniently painted all over the ground, getting an inkling for some KFC when the adds come on, buying merchandise and sports gear for the kids which is endorsed by the big footy star) sports stars will demand vastly inproportional sums of money compared to the rest of us and good on them.

In saying that I completely agree with you that sport has changed what it is about. I loved the days when representing a club meant working your way up through the juniors. This was a time when loyalty ruled and money wasn't an issue in sport. The game eg. rugby league was far more accessible and the players were just regular blokes who had to work just as hard as everyone else for a living. That realness has left the game forever because players are celebrities now and in affect separated from the rest of society due this status. Look at the Melbourne Storm, it really bugs me that a team from Melbourne has won the NRL when I think only one player is actually from Melbourne! Their feeder club is Brisbane Norths for crying out loud. Clubs should receive substantial subsidies to enable them to sign local players. Or better yet, local players should not even count towards the salary cap in the NRL (their salary could be regulated in some other way).

They definitely deserve their rewards and I'd much rather see the players reep the benefits than the club officials and media broadcasters hoarding all the money. In saying that there's plenty to go around!

Ps. I'm sick of all the Raiders players leaving so they can go and live in the big city and become stars! The nature of sport put teams like the Raiders in big trouble even though they have one of the best junior development areas in the country, how sad.

Keith