In a world where the nation can spend eleven billion dollars on the Superbowl while simultaneously trying to avoid the “fiscal cliff”, something is not right.
It is no secret that athletes and sports teams make and spend millions per game in return for the genuine enjoyment and excitement of spectators. However, our consumer culture often blinds us to the wastefulness of such expenditures. We have to ask ourselves if throwing literal tons of cash at a single sporting event is worth it, or if there are other, more meaningful pursuits that might benefit more.
This week in England, new regulations were passed to limit sports spending in the Premiership League. The League is made up of the biggest soccer teams in the nation, and all are limited to spending less than several hundred million on salaries, trades, and games. Failure to do so results in the deduction of points in the standing, thus resulting in loss of place.
The budget limits still allows for massive amounts of spending, but are an attempt to keep things from getting outrageous. They are the latest in a series of regulations being passed all over Europe, and an example that the United States needs to take heed of.
Everybody is guilty of excess at some point in their lives, but the key is to recognize it and limit it. We are in a place of economic struggle right now, and spending eleven billion on three hours of a football game is insane.
Limits and regulations such as those being implemented in the rest of the world need to be considered here, as not only a way to save money but a way to combat our ever growing issue with wasteful spending. Football was meant to be fun and entertaining, not expensive and over the top.
The game is the same whether or not the players are making sixty million dollars a year, or whether or not Coke is going to put out a better ad than Doritos this year. Frivolous spending is an exercise in absurdity, helping no one, and changing nothing.