Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Sports Economics: NFL, MLB, NHL, and the Effects of the Depression


Economics affect every type of business in the world, and sports are a business that can be affected by the economy. According to this article many of the smaller less popular leagues like the NHL and NBA could lose both fans and teams to the recession of our economy. This would be similar to how the NHL and NFL lost teams in the 1920’s during the great depression. The NFL today wouldn’t have to worry about losing teams because of the current popularity of the sport. It will all depend on how these leagues that are in trouble develop new revenue streams and expand the support for their league. The MLB should be fine as well even though there are a couple teams that are struggling with attendance. The professional sports leagues are much like the other corporate businesses of America, when the economy is in recession the professional sports leagues struggle as well.

                This article did not surprise me when it listed the current professional leagues that may be in trouble. Although this article was written in 2009 it is still a great example of how the economy affects sports. It stated that both the NHL and the NBA had the greatest threat to losing fans and teams because they have the least amount of popularity in the United States, where sports like the NFL and MLB are still popular and fans will attend even with a bad economy. However, we know now that no leagues lost any teams and the popularity of sports didn’t change due to the economy. It would have to be very hard times in the economy for professional teams to have to declare bankruptcy because of how popular sports are in our culture. Even though this article is a little outdated it still provided a great example of how all types of business are threatened by a recession in the economy, and hopefully sports never have to lose teams or fans like they did during the great depression.

Williams, Jonathan. "Sports Economics: NFL, MLB, NHL, and the Effects of the Depression." Bleacher Report. N.p., 27 Feb. 2009. Web. 10 Apr. 2013



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