Sport and money

Sport and money. Intercollegiate sports and money have always been a hotly debated topic.

Rules prevent any college athlete from accepting money. Whenever some basketball player is found to have accepted a gift, the sports pages are full of the scandal. As a result, some college teams whose members have violated the rules are forbidden to take part in competitions. Several universities like the highly respected University of Chicago do not take part in any intercollegiate sports whatsoever.

Many other restrict sports to those played among their own students, so-called intramural sports and activities. Those who defend college sports point out that there are no separate institutions or universities for sports in the U.S. as there are in other countries. They also note that many sports programs pay their own way, that is, what they earn from tickets and so on for football or basketball or baseball games often supports less popular sports and intramural games at the university.

At some universities, a large portion of the income from sports, say from TV rights, goes back to the university and is used also for academic purposes. Generally, however, sports and academics are separated from one another. You cannot judge whether a university is excellent or poor from whether its teams win or lose. In the United States, however, there are attitudes towards the mixing of commercialism, money, and sports, or professionals and amateurs which often differ from those of other nations. The U.S. was, for example, one of only 13 countries to vote in 1989 against allowing professional basketball players to compete in the Olympics.

Similarly, American professionals in football, baseball, and basketball are not allowed to wear jerseys and uniforms with advertising, brand names, etc. on them. The National Football League does not allow any team to be owned by a corporation or company.

Most Americans think that government should be kept separate from sports, both amateur and professional. They are especially concerned when their tax money is involved. The citizens of Denver, Colorado, for example, decided that they did not want the 1976 Winter Olympics there, no matter what the city government and businessmen thought. They voted no and the Olympics had to be held elsewhere. The residents of Los Angeles, on the other hand, voted to allow the Summer Olympics in 1984 to be held in their city, but they declared that not one dollar of city funds could be spent on them. Because the federal government doesnt give any money either, all of the support had to come from private sources.

As it turned out, the L.A. Olympics actually made a profit, some 100 million, which was distributed to national organizations in the U.S. and abroad 10, p.196-197 . 3.1.3. Women s Collegiate Sport The past two decades have witnessed a large growth in women s sports in American universities and colleges.

This is a natural process related to increased participation of women in all areas of labor and public life. Women play virtually all sports that men do with the exception of American football and baseball. Softball is a popular women s sport. In the US, field hockey is a sport that is played primarily by women. The growth of women s sport has also been enhanced by the erosion of old-fashioned misconceptions about women s ability to play physically demanding sports.

The old notion sometimes expressed that women were the weaker sex appears increasingly absurd in light of evidence that at the outer limits of endurance women may well last longer than men. One of the spurs to the increase in women s collegiate sport is the presence of federal legislation, informally called Title IX. For the most part, however, athletic departments around the country try to maintain a balance of opportunities for men and women 2, p.292 . 3.1.4.