What is the Contribution of Sports to Economic Development?

Enhanced quality and performance form the work-force and the sports media and industries, and the use, development and protection of the environment (open-air sites renovation of sites) all show the sports, contribution to economic development. It can thus be seen that support for physical education and sport is a sound investment and must be treated as such by economic decision makers. In short, it may be useful to recall the following considerations for a better understanding of the potential contributions of physical education and sport to economic development in its various aspects:

1. Professional sports are generating lots of money annually. They also possess the potential to generate even more revenue.

2. The paying fans and their preferred revered teams enjoy exceptional relationship over more than a century now!.

3. Total the fans have been jolted and numbed to observe in silence the evolving total commercialization-the invasion, of big business with their uncompromising “bottom-line” motives-slowly spreading them into their beloved sports!

4. Fans, by and large, are becoming disenchanted and the fierce loyalty-<once they used to display for their chosen sports, and icons, is rapidly dwindling.

5. Players 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 or may be more.

6. Professional sports, today, assumed the role of an Octopus with many tentacles, each capable of generating millions and millions of Dollars!

7. The Corporate jargons “revenue generation”, “high decibel marketing”, “Bottom lines” are now being increasingly heard in Sports! It is becoming very, very big.

8. Today, the people who maintain a team ask for more. Players’ salaries are extremely high. They cannot expect phenomenal rise in the Gate Ticket Prices. Teams are looking up to Stadium owners for breathtaking facilities. There is a clear case for upgrading the existing Stadiums. There is also scope for building stadiums brimming with modern facilities so as to attract top notch teams.

9. One hundred years ago, Pierre do Coubertin envisioned the Olympic Games as an international gathering of amateur athletes who would compete for the love of sport. While many athletes still do compete for the love of sport, the Olympic Games have evolved far beyond what Coubertin imagined. Today, the world of Olympic sport involves tremendous amounts of money and intimate association with commercial enterprise.

10. The local organizing committees have attracted large corporate sponsorships and conducted aggressive marketing and merchandising campaigns of their own.

11. Television revenues have continues to soar. In 1995, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) agreed to pay an estimated $1.2 billion for the United States rights to broadcast the 2000 Sydney and 2002 Salt Lake City Games and added another $2.3 billion for the rights for the 2004,2006 and 2008 Games. These developments have produced tremendous revenue for the Olympic Movement.

12. The increased wealth of the IOC has allowed the Olympic Movement to expand both the nature and reach of its activities. Foremost among these activities is Olympic Solidarity, a programme indended to spread the Olympic movement throughout the world. Olympic solidarity offers scholarships, sports education programmes, and direct financial aid to National Olympic Committees, especially those of developing countries.