Money In Sports Essay, Research Paper

In the article George J. Bryjak voices his opinions of sports team owners using taxpayers’ money to build new stadium and arenas. One of his first statements is a bold accusation of professional sports being unjust in its means to fund a sport stadium or arena. He says “If there is one constant in professional sports in the last 20-25 years, it is that owners and players are becoming increasingly wealthy at the expense of fans, non-fans, and taxpayers.” Bryjak (67). The remained of the article the author uses many examples in recent history to back up his opinion. For instance, with the latest television contract signed by the NFL, each team receives 70 million dollars, none of which will go to a new stadium or to lowering ticket prices. All that money goes to the players’ and owners’ salaries. With the television corporations paying such a large sum of money for the contract, the advertisers of the country will be paying more for advertising on television. Ultimately leading to raising of prices of soft drinks, beer, cars, tires, and an assortment of other products and services. By the end of the article the author makes it quite clear that America is paying more for sports teams then just the ticket price. The author creates some credibility, as well as emotion appeal, throughout the article by using statistics and well thought out examples. In one section he states ” sporting events do not generate new income as much as they represent a transfer of existing money within the business community.” He presents himself as a person concerned with the financial well being of his audience, by doing so he forms trust. An example of this us-verse-them kind of theme is found when the author talks about luxury box seats. He states, “The average working person is asked to put a tax on their home, or pay sales tax or some other consumer tax to build luxury boxes in which they can not afford to sit.” It’s statements like this that appeal to the emotions of his audience.

The author takes a stand on the issue of public financial support of professional sports teams by saying, “Too much money is spent on sports teams by the public surrounding the team.” His claim is that the public is getting stuck with the bill for new stadiums, because players’ salaries and ticket prices are being raised. He gives evidence of this in his statement about taxpayers paying for a stadium they might not ever sit in. He states, “People who don’t know the difference between a first down and a field goal (and couldn’t care less) will be paying part of this multi-billion-dollar tab ” Even though the author gives a good argument to his claim, he does commit a hasty generalization fallacy. He says, “Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson and Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman paid themselves salaries of $3,490,000 and $7,500,000, respectfully in the accounting logic of at least some NFL owners, self paid “salaries” are an expense.” This statement makes the audience believe that there are more owners in the NFL paying themselves outrageous amounts of money, and simply writing it off as an expense. I felt the article was informative and well written. And I would like to read more about this kind of topic in your magazine.