Money is ruining sports. To what extent do you agree?

"Money is power, and you ought to be reasonably ambitious to have it." (-Russell H. Conwell, 1877) In todays day age money can indeed influence many decisions. We have heard several times of the clichd saying, Money cant buy everything but is it really so? True, maybe it cant buy love, happiness, or peace of mind, but it can buy political office, and once you have that the other pieces fall into place. Although sports and decisions related to it are considered to be fair and non-political, in the recent years, money has become a deciding factor especially for sports franchises that want to put together winning teams, and for cities that hope to keep their teams and the civic pride and prestige they bring. The article by Pulitzer Prize-winning sportswriter Dave Anderson of the New York Times on money and sports clearly examines the all-persuasive role of money in sports. From the rising costs of players and coaches salaries to some team owners demands for new publicly financed stadiums, money has to a huge extent, commercialized the sports sector. Match fixing; gambling, bribing and the use of political power all depict the evil side of sports. Paying huge sum of money to players to lose has become an increasing trend. Also many investments are made in developing nations to build more and more stadiums when there are already more than enough. How do politicians and franchise backers justify using public funds for stadiums built exclusively for a private enterprise? Stadium supporters usually promote the potential for economic redevelopment and growth as a result of a new facility, along with emotional value and pride. But the actual benefits are somewhat unclear and hard to quantify. Article 3 of the FIFA rule book defines it as neutral in the matter of politics and religion. However, FIFA has not really been able to maintain that. In the fallout that followed last weeks voting to give Russia the 2018 world cup and Qatar the 2022 world cup, FIFAS general secretary commented: Its a political decision to open up to the world. It was the same with hosts South Africa. Besides, Qatar has huge resources. But what about the extreme heat there? You cannot aircondition the whole country! Whatsoever, FIFA is convinced of having made the best choice. This clearly shows us how FIFAs decisions are entirely based on the principles of petro-dollars. Votes are every now and then lobbied to make the bids of the nations successful. In some ways or the other, sports also contribute in increasing the social gap. Looking back, the history tells us how gladiators fight took place in the coliseum. The situation was of Win or die and those who fought were the slaves. They were the source of entertainment for the elites and the high class. Although such extreme form of discrimination does not exist today, many sporting activities do lead to social discrepancies. For instance, New Jerseys Giants Stadiums where the pro football New York Giants and Jets play, added an additional 46 luxury suites in 1998 to go with their 72 existing suites. Some of the new suites had a season cost ranging from $156,000 to $350,000 per suite, compared to the average onegame ticket price in the National Football League in 1997 of about $38. The cost of these luxury suites has quadruped by now. Some may argue that sports have not been fully commercialized and are solely played for the passion of playing. However, they must not overlook the fact that players who once used to play the game for the love of it, often spending money from their pockets, are now increasingly demanding a compensation package befitting a CEO of a large multinational corporation! Greed! Professional Sport today has been evolved into total commercialization and money has become the driving factor for many players. In one year, a famous Indian cricketer does more advertisements and endorsements than the number of games he plays. Should not he be concentrating more in his games? Baseball, Americas most

popular professional sport for most of the 20th century has a history that reflects the rise of money as a dominating factor in pro sports. For nearly a century, baseballs reserve clause gave franchise owners great leverage over the players by dictating that no player could move to another team unless traded or released, limiting the players ability to negotiate his salary. Money can also buy a winning sports team. In recent years the New York Yankees shelled out the most bucks for players and in return won four playoff titles in five years. Noticing that, the Texas Rangers went and signed shortstop Alex Rodriguez to a $252 million contract in the hope that people will finally stop thinking theres an outfielder on the team named Walker and hes played by Chuck Norris. If hes smart, (he must be since anyone who can extortnot really extort but negotiate that kind of money) hell sock most of it away. After all, a baseball career cant last forever. If he plays his cards right he should have enough money when he retires to buy himself, oh, as many as four Senate seats. In todays world, Money to a great extent has jeopardized the honorable and unprejudiced image of sports. It should be that activity that is merely focused on fortune but rather in the values of perseverance, team-work, discipline and integrity. Today the fans have been jolted and numbed to observe in silence the evolving total business- the invasion of big franchises with their uncompromising bottom-line motives slowly spreading their tentacles into their beloved sports! Fans have been disappointed and highly disenchanted as the fierce loyalty once displayed by their sports icon has been dwindled for the sake of materialistic money. Yes, money is an important part of sports but one needs to realize that it is not the most important one. Financing sports is not wrong provided it is not misused. Athletes need to be paid considerable amount of salaries and bonuses to keep them motivated not to buy them. Also provisions for scholarships should be there to promising athletes.