Sports Still Draw Fans Despite Recession
In sports, nothing succeeds like success. Buoyed by fan loyalty, teams at larger colleges and pro levels have mostly thrived despite the challenging economic climate. Smaller teams, though, are feeling the brunt of the down economy.
College football in the South has often been compared to a religion, even by scholars. Like an icon, your favorite team's logo can be stamped on everything from a cap to a casket.
Not surprisingly, Southerners put their money where their passion is. Five of the top 10 revenue producers in college football in the 2007–08 academic year were Southeastern schools: Georgia, Florida, Auburn, Alabama, and LSU, which brought in a combined $303 million, according to Street & Smith's
SportsBusiness Journal. In spite of the recession, all indications are that these teams and their rivals will continue to rake in dollars from ticket sales and lucrative television contracts.
Sports as an industry, especially the most high-profile leagues and franchises, is weathering the downturn comparatively well. Even as unemployment has risen dramatically—more than tripling in Florida, for instance, from July 2006 to July 2009—many people are still spending at least some money on sports.
Related Links
On the Web:
Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal
Forbes report on the business of baseball
Article on sports-related subsidies
International Speedway Corp. filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
"Certainly they've felt an impact, but fans are addicted to sports, if you want to think about it that way," said J.C. Bradbury, an economist and associate professor of health, physical education, and sports sciences at Kennesaw State University near Atlanta. "Once you gain a taste for it, you want to see an event, and it's a relatively cheap thing to do." Eric Bain-Selbo, head of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Western Kentucky University wrote in a 2008 paper: "As sport around the country continues to become a communal and emotional fixture in people's lives—as it has with so many college football fans in the South—it increasingly is becoming the new opiate of the masses."
While some might consider that view extreme, the rabid devotion of fans surely helps explain why the television networks ESPN and CBS, amid a severe recession, earlier this year agreed to pay the Southeastern Conference (SEC)—home to the five schools listed above and seven others—$3 billion to broadcast mainly football games over the next 15 years.
But the recession has brought some signs of economic strain to the world of sports. In a February poll of 1,100 sports industry executives by Turnkey Sports & Entertainment and Street & Smith's
SportsBusiness Journal, a third said their companies had laid off staff, while 2 percent said they had closed offices. Several minor league professional teams in the Southeast have folded.
Attendance at NASCAR races and Major League Baseball (ML
games, including those of the Atlanta Braves, is down. Even football ticket sales are down a small amount for a few pro teams and some major colleges in the region. The Jacksonville, Fla.-based PGA Tour's overall prize money could decline this year for the first time since 1975, according to news reports.
Gap widens between college haves and have-nots
Economic tremors have been felt on college campuses as well. Traditional Southeastern powerhouse programs, including Tennessee, Auburn, and Florida State, have experienced small declines in 2009 season ticket sales, according to various news reports. Georgia Tech's athletic program laid off a few employees.
The defending national collegiate football champion Florida Gators sold out of 2009 season tickets. Yet even that organization's bottom line has been affected. Athletic director Jeremy Foley told the Miami Herald in June that the expected windfall from national championship–related licensed products—shirts, hats, jackets, etc.—has not equaled sales of similar items after Florida's 2006 championship. Also, the school, according to the
Orlando Sentinel, did not increase 2009 football ticket prices "to reward fans during these economic times."
Small schools have been much harder hit. In Louisiana, several smaller college athletic departments have made severe budget cuts and eliminated sports such as tennis. The University of New Orleans even warned that it might drop athletics altogether before local donors came to the rescue.
