Professional Sports Team Analysis

“If every sports team in Chicago were to suddenly disappear, the impact on the Chicago economy would be a fraction of 1 percent. A baseball team has about the same impact on a community as a mid sized department store,” (Leed). Economist always talk about how sports have no positive impact on community, only negative, and when teams want to move, they only talk about the positives of bringing the teams. I found some articles and graphs to answer my question of how do professional sports teams affect local communities and economies? The sports industry creates jobs. It contributes 456,000 jobs with an average salary of $39,000 per job (Burrow) but that’s no impact compared on other industries. Infact, Indianapolis is the only city out of 48
Except when they throw fits, they just leave the city and go to another one. Like I previously stated before, local taxpayers usually are put forward to fund these stadiums. When they refuse to pay for these stadiums, the teams just get up and leave (Stephenson). Poor fan support is often a reason why teams leave (Pierro). If a city doesn’t want the team there, they wouldn’t mind leaving for a new stadium, new fans and a desire to be representing another city. Market size is a major reason they leave. If there isn’t enough financial backing from a city, teams will relocate for more money, more airtime on national television, and more exposure
Sports do have some benefit, sports bring a feeling of togetherness to cities, just by simply rooting for the same team. Some fans even consider themselves as part of the team, for example, the Seattle Seahawks “12th man”. Athletes set role models for young kids to follow. A 7 year old recently sent J.J. Watt, football player for the Texans, his pee wee football jersey claiming to be his biggest fan in a letter. J.J. responded with some gear and a letter of his own. Other programs, such as NFL’s “Play 60” campaign, is helping kids become more active, and to become more like their role models (Depta). Sure, sports don’t help economies, they actually negatively affect the communities with raising taxes and not providing any return, but they do provide intangible feelings and emotions of togetherness, city pride and community service. With sports, kids have role models that they can go watch in person, and not break your bank. They do offer jobs, not many, but they do, and the field is always growing. So I guess they’re right, if all the major sports left, it wouldn’t affect the economy, but who would we have to cheer for and what about the Super Bowl