Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Money and Sport
Viviana Zelizer talks about why we want to believe that money and intimacy do not go together. It does not take much to extend the discussion to include questions on why we also think (note: not necessarily act on our beliefs) that glorious and "patriotic" activities like sports suffer when money is involved.
It was interesting to see quite a few people dissing India's incredibly inane performance against the Bangladeshis by referring to the "obscene" amounts of money our chaps make in endorsements. (On that thought, I'd like to see the UPA run the Indian Cricket team—should be so much fun).
We sometimes get bad cricket not because our chaps are well-paid, but because Cricket enjoys a rather screwy monopoly. Or rather, the Indian Cricket team enjoys a monopoly status. (click here for some sports-economics juvenilia) Should I stretch the argument to say that it is because of the money that Indian cricket has better talent (and therefore the monopoly) than say Indian Football?
It is therefore nice to read newsreports that go: (linkthanks my boss)
We in India tend to rush out with tri-colours and wrap the dutiful nationalistic sentiment around every sporting achievement and be coy about money matters. Step into Sagroli village, and you won't grudge sportsmen the money they earn. Now, parroting the patriotic theme is common to Sagroli too. Teenaged runners from this arid, non-descript village in the Nanded district of eastern Maharashtra will voice their desire to represent the country at the next Olympics, and even bring home the gold. Once on the beaten, narrow state highway though, these trainees of the Sagroli Sunrise Project line up at the starting grid, keeping paper-chits in their pockets, which bear the amount they will earn if they cross the target-timing to complete a 7 km-daily route. "Trophies, certificates are all fine they make you happy for a day or a week. We want to be realistic theres no better incentive than money," says project convener Deepak Kanegaokar, who hands out cash in multiples of thousand. (very sic)
Labels: Cricket, Economics, Links
Comments to Money and Sport
It is sad fact but present sport differs from that was many years ago because of money investments. Parents should invest in their children lots of money to achieve their goals and get reasults. Some people go in for sport mostly because of huge money, etc.
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