The world of sports is in no way immune to the pressures of economy. But everyone knows that. It’s tougher to justify those season tickets when you’ve got a layoff looming over your head.
But just as the Boston Red Sox did not give up down three games to none against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series in 2004, the sports will never say die.
Most people know the Red Sox became the first team in Major League Baseball to overcome such a series deficit to win a series, but the legendary thing about that team is they didn’t stop there. They never lost again in the playoffs and emerged as world champions. The sports world and our economy both have quite a bit of fight left in them…and that deficit is no match for the two as a team. Read on. We’ve got a hefty sports post today.
Of course, there’s dark news in the world of sports.
- Driscoll Catholic High School in Addison, Ill., a powerhouse in class 4A football, is closing its doors. The hish school section of Yahoo Sports reports the school that once one seven consecutive state championships will never get the chance to win another due to the economy. With an $8,000 annual tuition, the school, which opened in 1966, cites the current recession and the cause of its staggering drop in enrollment.
- In Corning, New York, the economy has earned credit for putting another sporting event under. The LPGA Corning Classic will be 31 years old this May when the event is held, but there will never be another. The event’s board of directors decided the lack of sponsorship interest would not allow them to host such a major event.
- With the running of the Boston Marathon recently, there’s even news of marothons and runners around the world suffering from lack of sponsorship and revenue. CNBC’s Darren Rovell analyzes the global economy’s affect of smaller marathons around the world and appearance fees. While major marathons like the 26.2-miler in Boston are safe for now, second-tier marthons are suffering. Marathons, though, face a few unique challenges.
- Appearance fees and prize funds help bring big-name, big-ticket runners to marathons to garner more publicity a (and sponsorship), but these amounts are shrinking for smaller marathons in places like Paris and Amsterdam.
- Appearance fees can help with ticket sales, sponsorship and TV coverage, but marathons are free to attend! Tough to make revenue in such an business scheme.
- Major League Baseball (predictably?) is already seeing a drop in attendance figures. Examiner.com reports MLB parks are experiencing about 4.5% percent drop in attendance per game from last year. Of course, the percent isn’t so staggering at face-value, but consider the bigger picture. Attendance is projected to touch 75 million this year…as opposed to 79.5 million in 2007.
The trend here is pretty obvious, but in no way encouraging. Even though the recession affects smaller-market sports and events the most, no sport (not even America’s pastime) can ignore the falling market lines. But the 2004 Red Sox insist there is hope yet. Stay tuned for part two.
Putting competition aside (tough to do on the sports post), what do you think is the saddest economic hit to sports so far?
-Marcus
1 Comment
May 7, 2009 at 7:22 pm
[...] Closer to home, Driscoll Catholic High School on Addison did not just cut its sports funding, it close entirely. See my earlier post. [...]