In modern age, sports has become completely economic-oriented. Either it is interest of public or enthusiasm of players, all are inclined towards that game which is helpful in money transactions.
Now-a-days everybody wants to be associated with some sport or the other because of the money involved but at the same time not all make it.
Greed of players is increasing day by day. On the other hand, the money involved has resulted in better teams and performances. Our country once again shows its place on the map of world sports.
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Sport is both a consumer good and a consumer of goods. Numerous recent studies attest to the rapid development of the sports economy as an independent branch of economics, and have highlighted the amount of turnover generated by sport; the building of infrastructure, the manufacture of capital and consumer goods, the provision of services, the dissemination of information, taking from sports events, advertising expenditure and sponsorship budgets.
Several years ago, a number of highly instructive studies were undertaken in some countries. In the United Kingdom, for example, the total amount of resources provided by sport to the State is times greater than expenditure on sport in the budget. A Netherlands study seeking to evaluate the impact of sport on the economy showed that the elimination of sporting activities would lead to the loss of 300,000 jobs and a drop in domestic consumption of billion guilders. In France in 1980, the Federation of Sports Equipment Industries comprised 6,482 businesses employing some 300,000 persons.
In general it is estimated that the sports economy is worth between 1 and 2 per cent of GNP in various countries, and is tending to grow faster than most other sectors. At the same time, this economy is becoming increasingly international, claiming a growing share of world trade.
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Furthermore, it should be noted that such figures do not take into account the very considerable contribution of countries volunteers active at all organizational levels of sport. With regard to the funding of physical and sporting activities, attention should be drawn to the low level of resources available in the least developed countries, and to the tendency of public authorities in numerous countries, including many industrialized countries, to cut their sports budgets and place greater reliance on extra budgetary types of funding; lotteries and betting on sport.
Ensuring that all have an opportunity to engage regularly in physical and sporting activities must be seen as an integral part of development.
Quite often the statistics under discussion are player salaries, team payrolls, revenues from merchandising, promotions and broadcast rights and their distribution free agency, arbitration and salary caps.
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This theme may be examined from the twin angles of the contribution of sport to development, and the impact of the level of development on the promotion of sport. Various studies and research papers have highlighted the considerable advantages to be derived from the regular and moderate practice of sport as an integral component of one’s life style; improved health, less absenteeism and fewer work accidents, better social integration, and a greater variety of recreational opportunities for the individual and the family.
Studies in Canada have shown the measurable economic impact of sporting activities for all on health spending. The marketing of sports items and the use of sport for selling other types of goods, in particular through publicity and sponsorship is a notable and steadily growing phenomenon.
As demonstrated by a study published several years ago, the underdevelopment of sport is both an aspect and a consequence of economic underdevelopment. The consequence of under development in sport is a “brain drain.”
Given that developing countries have an overriding obligation to meet the basic needs of their populations, ought to class sport be included in that category. Are there not more urgent and pressing priorities? Does it make economic sense for those countries to pour money into spectator sport? Whenever these questions have been raised they have prompted fairly sharp exchanges.
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As a general rule, however, it is recognized that sport, and more especially top-class sport, is expensive, and that its cost tends to rise faster than the number of players or athletes. With the internationalization of the media, spectator sport, a modern form of entertainment, has become one of the main forms of mass communication, helping to shape world public opinion, and as such in now a key issue.
This issue can only be analysed by taking into account the complex relationship between sport, the media and multinational companies. The debate on this point reveals two types of logic: the one purely commercial, and the other political in nature.
Quite likely it is non-commercial considerations that prompt the leaders of increasingly numerous countries to dream of hosting the Olympics. More and more voices are being raised to urge limits to the gigantic and sophisticated nature of the facilities and equipment, in favour of more systematic decentralization of major events and more balanced representation of specialists from developing countries in international sports bodies.
Commercial Sponsorship of Games :
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As the Olympic Games and mass media grew side by side, the Games began to attract commercial interest. The sale of television rights and corporate sponsorship helped offset the operational expenses of the IOC and local organizers.
The nature of commercial sponsorship changes radically with the 1984 Los Angles Games. The innovative and aggressive marketing of the Games, and the existence of suitable facilities that precluded that need for expensive construction, helped produce a surplus of $225 million (U.S.) a staggering sum by all previous standards.
The Los Anglles organizers demonstrated that corporations were willing to spend huge sums of money to associate themselves with the Olympic Games.