Money’s influence on sports

1.1 Introduction

According to Porter and Scully (120), motivation is one of the pillars of all physical effort and accomplishment. All other mental variables, such as feelings, concentration, strength, and trust, would be insignificant if one did not have the drive and motivation to better one's athletic performance. To become one of the top athletes, one must be inspired to do whatever it takes to maximize one's talents and achieve one's goals. Professional athletics have always been played with cash gain. As a result, the analysis will look at the effects of capital on athletics.

1.2 Background of Research

To many professional organizations, money and profits are considered an important aspect of sports. Currently, many of the college football teams are bringing in colossal amounts of revenues. Leonard (123) claims that there are huge concerns that most of the money is taken up by the coaches and other top officials, instead of being re-invested back to decrease the cost of tuition as well as buy books for students. Money is also a huge factor in sports because it acts as a source of financial backing. Players will always be chasing money. Nevertheless, this is a problem with loyalty among many of the modern footballers. Some of the professional sports clubs have failed to hold on to their best players because they lack enough money. This means that athletes would rather play for clubs they do not really care about with the purpose of obtaining massive amounts of money. Currently, football clubs such as Real Madrid and Manchester United are in huge financial debt as a result of poor management of funds. Therefore, it is evident that money plays a crucial and vital role in sports. As a result, it must be properly managed and used, so that it can become a source of inspiration and motivation to the players.

1.3 Problem Statement

A player’s incentives to win are not only shaped by the expected inflow of money, but also the rising prestige that is intertwined with an individual’s hunt for self-fulfillment. However, the increasing desire for money during professional matches has resulted in increased rates of corruption such as bribing officials, fixing matches, use of performance-enhancing substances, or different illegal strategies to change the outcome for the games. Therefore, money has numerous negative detrimental effects on sports.

1.4 Aim of the Research

The purpose of the research will be to investigate the effect that money has on sports.

1.5 Research Questions

The research will be conducted with the purpose of answering the following questions:
1. Does money really affect the athlete’s motivation in sports?
2. How does the desire for money in sports bring about corruption?

1.6 Significance of Research

The research will create a number of recommendations that can be used by different sports teams and clubs to minimize the negative effects associated with money in sports as well as create strategies to motivate employees without the using money.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

This section will analyze existing literature review with the aim of gaining insights on the impact that money has on sports.

2.2 Money as a source of motivation for the athletes

St-Onge (149) claims that intuitively, one may think that a higher pay would produce improved results. However, scientific evidence shows that the link between compensation, performance and motivation is a complex one. Bowling (538) says that a lack of money demotivates players, and is characterized by factors such as shortening or skipping training; efforts that are inconsistent with the team’s goal and a lack of desire to practice as much as one should. This means that many players are money oriented, and their main goal in sports is to earn more money. It shows that during times of crisis such as debts, many of the players will abandon their teams.

2.3 Ways in which desire for money has brought about corruption

Bowling (539) claims that corruption is a persistent feature in sports, and in particular professional sports. Professional sports tend to attract massive amounts of money, and hence if not properly dealt with can result in a tremendous economic and societal burdens. One of the specific types of corruption in sports is known as doping. This entails various ingredients that tend to distort trust and fair competition in a game. Scully (77) claims that many of the athletes make doping decisions as a result of social contagion, reputation concerns, incentives and cost-benefit analysis. However, doping has numerous negative effects such as undermining reputation, damaging the health of athletes, and giving the users unfair advantage in sports. Therefore, money has detrimental effects on sports.

2.4 Ways in which money reduces team work in sports

The profits gained by being a professional athlete have begun to overshadow the real talent involved in sports. Porter & Scully (149) asserts that many of the real athletes are starting to believe that that playing for money is everything. As a result, they demand for more money from their teams or clubs, and are less concerned about one another. Leonard (130) says that these kinds of behaviors tend to portray selfishness, and decreased team work. However, a huge aspect of a sports team is working together with the aim of generating the best results. Professional teams must demonstrate team work, and not complain about money.

Chapter Three: Methodology

3.1 Introduction

This chapter will analyze the various methods for collecting and analyzing data that will help the investigator understand the negative effects that money has on sports.

3.2 Target population

Data will be collected from the country’s national football, basketball and netball teams. A total of 30 players will be randomly selected.

3.3 Data Collection methods

The researcher will collect data using primary and secondary data. Secondary data will be collected through the use of peer-reviewed journals and other credible publications. Primary data will be collected through the administration of semi-structured questionnaires on a Likert scale. The questionnaires will have two parts. The first part will ask about demographic information for the research respondents and the second part will ask questions that if answered will shed light on the negative impact of money in sports.

3.4 Data analysis

Data will be analyzed though the use of percent distributions and frequency. The researcher will then use descriptive analysis to facilitate further comparison of the frequencies.

3.5 Recommendations

Firstly, Sports clubs must be well managed, and begin to be self-sufficient. Secondly, the clubs together with their players must live within their means to promote stability. Thirdly, stringent measures must be put in place to curb corruption in sports.

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Work Cited

Bowling Green. Players: The story of sports and money, and the visionaries who fought to create a revolution. International Journal of Sport Communication 2016 9(4): 538-539
Leonard David. The Real Color of Money: Controlling Black Bodies in the NBA. Journal of Sport and Social Issues. (2006), 13(2): 125-158
St. Onge, S. Variables influencing the perceived relationship between performance and pay in a merit pay environment. Journal of Business and Psychology. (2000) 14(3):459
Porter, P & Scully. The distribution of earnings and the rules of the game, Southern Economic Journal, (1996) Vol. 63 (1): 149
Scully, G. Player salary share and the distribution of player earnings. Managerial and Decision Economics, 2004 vol 25 (2): 77