Nyjer Morgan (a.k.a.) Tony Plush comes through with the game winning hit and the Brewers win 3-2 over the Arizona Diamondback to advance to the NLCS. Go Brew Crew!!!
You are currently browsing articles tagged Sports.
Tags: Brewers, Milwaukee, Nyjer Morgan, Sports, Tony Plush
It’s time to start paying college sports players.
Watching the ‘Fab Five’ documentary and lots of college basketball this weekend has only confirmed my belief. People may think that the professional sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, and the MLB make a killing. It’s true. They do. Buy many college sports programs also bring in millions of dollars (h/t The Sports Economist). There were ten universities who collected more than $100 million in sports revenue, led by the University of Texas with just over $143 million. Fifty six universities earn sports revenue over $50 million.
Yet what do the student athletes get? A scholarship to college? Yes. Buy for the elite athletes, this doesn’t even come close to the money they bring in to the university. It is a travesty that many athletes from poor households help raise millions of dollars for their universities, but do not see a penny of it themselves.
But isn’t this amateur athletics? Maybe for the players, but for the university its a profession. College sports television rights sell for millions of dollars. The universities build multi-million dollar stadiums for these programs. If the universities decided to build minimal stadiums and reduced ticket prices to just cover bare bones operating costs, than I’d buy the amateur label. This isn’t what is happening.
Wouldn’t paying money corrupt high school athletes with offers of money to attend universities? Maybe, but this already happens. Further, I would predict that this would happen less often than it does now. Taking a few thousand dollars under the table to attend one school over another is attractive when college players aren’t earning a wage. But universities can pay players, than more high school students would be willing to forego cash up front to allow them to choose the highest paying university where they can “take there services.”
I also am upset that people who break the recruiting rules are demonized. This is the system that was set up by the NCAA and coaches have every incentive to have boosters pay players under the table.
A better option would be to simply pay players their market value. This would be more transparent. It would concentrate talent at the best universities even more than already occurs. Some athletes could even be athletes exclusively, while others could remain student athletes. Many elite soccer players in Europe being playing professionally at age 20 or younger.
Transparency. Compensating workers for their fair market value. Paying college players isn’t a crazy idea; it’s the right one.
Tags: Sports
Today it was announced that my favorite football player, William Henderson, will soon be inducted into the the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. Henderson was a fullback on the Packers Super Bowl team in 1997. He also made the Pro Bowl in 2005.
The NFL season began yesterday. To celebrate, here are three football related links:
Football and Randomness
Two quarterbacks? Six eligible receivers? An undermanned California high school football teamed use the untraditional A-11 formation to win 7 of 11 games. The key?
“In a standard formation with five fixed linemen, a play can unfold with 36 different scenarios for who receives the snap and who ends up with the ball—including a quarterback sneak. In the A-11 offense, because the receivers and linemen (and even quarterbacks) are interchangeable, the number of different possibilities for what can happen on a given play skyrockets to 16,632.”
Virtual Rehabilitation
Wireless motion sensors are being used to help football players recuperate from injuries.
“The technology works somewhat like Nintendo’s Wii Fit in that it is able to track motion. A physical therapystroke victim wears a small, wireless sensor near the joint or muscle group being rehabilitated. Software guides the user through an exercise program, measures their range of motion and provides instant feedback on his or her rehab progress.”
Favre Getting that Retirement Itch Again
The Onion provides its always hilarious commentary about the Brett Favre saga:
Although veteran Jets quarterback Brett Favre claims he still loves the game, dwindling enthusiasm and a desire to bow out while on top has him contemplating retirement again, Favre confirmed Monday.
“I always told myself I’d know when it was time to walk away,” the guaranteed first-ballot Hall of Famer told reporters at the Jets practice facility. “But after 17 or 18, you know, practices as the quarterback of this team, I’m just tired, mentally and physically.”
The WSJ Real Time Economics blog reviews a paper by Michael Lechner which finds that “sports-playing adults saw a boost in income of about 1,200 euros per year over 16 years when compared to their less active peers. That translates into a 5-10% rate of return on sports activities, roughly equal to the benefit of an extra year’s worth of education.” How can playing sports increase income?
The simplest mechanism is that playing sports increases one’s health level. Healthier people are less likely to get sick and more likely to be able to work to earn income. This health difference, however, only explains a portion of the income differential. Dr. Lechner claims that playing sports builds a social network which helps to increase pay (e.g., your friends are the ones who recommend you for jobs). In fact, Lechner finds that sports-playing men display a higher level of “social functioning” than did the less active men.
One worry of this study is that of reverse causation. If someone is very sick, they are not able to play sports. Further, if you are sick, you are probably less likely to engage in social activities. Thus, health–and not sports playing–may be a hidden, unobserved feature which may be driving these results.
- Hat tip to The Sports Economist
- The full paper is available here.
Tags: Income, Labor Economics, Sports
Recent comments