Dec 21 2008
Sports Immune to Our Economy
Sports are still trucking along as if nothing is going on with our economy. We have the implosion of the RCA dome, and the brand new stadiums going up in The Bronx and Queens. With many people trying to sell their houses and move into smaller homes, these teams are trying to go bigger and better and have the luxury to cast aside their old homes to do so. We’ve seen some big salaries offered to pitchers in the last couple months, and these are guys who play every 5 games or so. Don’t get me wrong I’m a big sports fan, but doesn’t it feel weird and uncomfortable seeing sports teams throwing around millions of dollars during these times? It’s like that one rich uncle that only comes on Christmas and gives your kids better gifts than you can afford. You understand that the uncle has the money, and it’s not his fault for spending it, but you still hate him for it. It seems odd that some of these salaries can bailout companies in trouble, but there isn’t a standard way to approach asking for large sums of money from another person, company, or industry without sounding too Marxist. Is this just an awkward situation that we can’t avoid, or is there a way that sports and government can find a way to work together money wise?
