NIL deals- the good and the bad

By: JON WILLIS

            After many arguments, it seemed like, last year, the NCAA decreed that athlete could make money from marketing deals. These NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals have already completely changed the game for student-athletes. Less than a year in, athletes in total have made more than 500 million dollars throughout the United States. After athletes were just used to being paid by having free education, this new law by the NCAA has completely changed the game.

            So, the way I look at it, is that there are both positives and negatives to this new era of funding college athletes. The positive aspect is that the athletes, who are the reason that these colleges have millions of dollars flowing into their school, are finally getting compensation for all the work they put into what they are doing. There are some negatives to this as well. Some players are going to do a lot, while others might not make much of anything, and some athletes might start to think that that is unfair, and they deserve similar compensation. These players might start to get egotistical, which can affect their relationship with their team and affect where a player might decide to go for college for a better chance to get a marketing deal. Further, monetary rewards may prove to be a distraction. The universities usually have nothing to do with athletes and their NIL deals, and it could be a distraction to the student athletes with already so much going on in their lives.

            “There’s a lot of concerns I have as this goes forward,” said Nebraska head football coach Scott Frost in a press conference last July. “I am a fan of it because the players deserve it and I think Nebraska football players are in a position to thrive under the new NIL rules.”

            There is obviously a lot of uncertainty about the future of this and how athletes will handle it, but most of the coaches around the country have had similar concerns as Frost. There will be challenges with how students handle this, and we must be ready, but the players deserve it so, of course, it is a good thing. Frost also mentioned more recently that he has almost nothing to do with those NIL deals, as they are a whole separate entity from the football team. To me, the coach's job is to just make sure a player is responsible for these and make sure they have the correct help to help them make the right decisions about how to move forward with this.

            “One negative effect that could come from NIL deals is if students do not meet with their compliance officers first and make sure the deal, they are making is legit, it could mess with their eligibility for their sport,” said Shiloh McCool, a student athlete. “One other negative effect would simply be a time-management issue. Student athletes are already typically busy between classes, practices, games, etc. Adding more work on their plate by making NIL deals could affect their school or sport if they do not manage their time and energy well.”  

            I think this will also continue to impact the transfer portal. We are increasingly seeing the college game, football, looking more like free agency. Players feel they can just go wherever they feel like it after already committing to another college. That is the one negative that I do not think has a chance of being fixed because of how prominent it already is. Athletes will start looking to colleges that have better chances for marketing deals and would only look to those big colleges that would have a chance to make a lot of money. The transfer portal is something I have already thought that the NCAA needs to look at, and these NIL rules have been added to the question marks around the portal.

            Also, this is not just a thing that is affecting players at the DI level, but also the levels below. The opportunities are not as plentiful at the levels below, but even at the DII level, we can see the impact that it is having on student athletes. Shiloh McCool, a redshirt sophomore women’s basketball student athlete, has taken advantage of the new rules along with a few of her fellow teammates by partnering with a clothing store called Still Waters Clothing.

            “So far it has not made an enormous difference in my life personally, but it is cool knowing we have the freedom to make deals and such if we have the opportunity,” McCool said. “The athletic department talked to all the student athletes about the opportunity for NIL deals when it first passed. Then, whenever you can utilize your NIL, we are required to talk to our associate athletic director, Rachael Page, just to make sure everything falls within the rules of NIL usage and to ensure that it will not mess up your athletic eligibility.”

            So even at the DII level, student athletes are having these opportunities to make money and having the proper counseling to make sure they are making smart choices. McCool also mentioned that she and her teammates are donating all the proceeds from their NIL deals to the local elementary schools. So not only is this a good thing for the student athletes to have the ability to make money, but in cases like this, it can lead to the betterment of a community.  

            Now, while there still to this day are a lot of concerns about this, the main point is that this is the right thing to do for athletes. It has been a long time coming, and it gives athletes the ability to build their brand and get ready to try to move forward with their careers, hopefully into professional sports. Universities just must make sure these student athletes have the proper help and instruction from a counselor or someone of that nature, so they know how to do things like their taxes and how to be smart with this.

            I think overall, this is a good thing and will impact colleges and their athletes in a positive way. The big key will just be for both players, coaches, and university staff to continue to be smart about this. It seems that in the first year or so, things are going well, students are still competing hard, and a lot of money and deals have been made. It will be fascinating to see how this will progress just in the next couple of years.

Sources:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-03-18/ncaa-nil-deals-help-college-athletes-get-paid

On Thin Ice; The Inequality Between Men and Women’s Hockey in the NCAA.

By: JON WILLIS and THOMAS ORR

            Throughout Division I (DI) athletics, not just hockey, we see vast differences between the treatment, funding, and support of men’s sports compared to women’s sports. The sports you see on TV for the most part, at least on the big networks, heavily favor men’s sports over women’s sports. In this article, we are going to specifically go over the issue with the fact that there are countless colleges that have men’s hockey, but either do not have a women’s team, or the one they do have is a club team that makes the women have to pay an excessive amount of money to be able to compete at a lesser level, separate but not equal.

            An article came out on March 31 by the Michigan Daily about the absence of varsity status by the Michigan Club women’s hockey team. The article reveals that the club team must raise all the money by themselves and must pay the college to use the ice, even though they are at the level of any other DI college women’s hockey team. Michigan is a state that even though it has a strong hockey presence, does not have a single DI women’s hockey team. This season the Men’s team were favorites for the NCAA National Championship with a roster that featured countless NHL prospects on scholarship enjoying the privileges of a fully supported varsity athlete.

            A shocking statistic refers to 60 DI schools that have men’s hockey, while astoundingly only 36 DI schools have women’s hockey. This represents a tremendous inequity. Schools are putting millions of dollars into equipment, video boards, stadiums, football, and other support, but somehow cannot fund a women’s hockey team. They could share these resources with their female counterparts to offset imbalance issues. When schools like current Men’s National Champions, Denver place a substantial portion of their otherwise lesser sport programs into a flagship DI sport like Men’s hockey and do not even field a Women’s team it is hard to imagine how these could meet the balance required by Title IX for opportunities and resources.

            There was another incident other than the Michigan story on just how pervasive the problem is. North Dakota cut their women’s hockey program while Lauren Hennessey, a phenomenal hockey player, was on campus ready to go for the hockey season. It came out of nowhere and was a shock to even the coach who was hosting recruits during the announcement. The program had developed Olympic Athletes and was on the rise after being created to suffice demands of an earlier lawsuit threat. North Dakota went from a program that was using the resources of their incredibly successful Men’s hockey team to support the opportunity for Women’s hockey in a way that was compliant with the spirit of Title IX.

            With North Dakota joining the Michigan Schools and others who are not fielding Women’s hockey the limited scholarships for Women to play NCAA hockey took another blow. Talented women are already limited in playing hockey, because unlike the men, there are no opportunities to play junior hockey in women’s sports. So not only are there 24 less schools available for women’s hockey, but they do not have that option as well. It is shocking to see stories like this, because women deserve the right to have the same opportunities in athletics as men do, yet this is very clearly not equal.

            Schools have found ways to avoid inequality between sports at colleges. Schools have also found ways to circumvent Title IX or used it less ethically to create some sense of perceived balance, usually at the expense of all sexes. Title IX which started to be effective June 23, 1972, was a law passed to prohibit sex-based discrimination in any school that receives federal funding. The law has many distinct aspects on how it is trying to prevent that discrimination, but for clarity, the law says that schools are required to have the same amount of women athletes as men athletes or they are working to become more equal. Schools like the University of Nebraska at Kearney and Northern State University handled the issue by getting rid of Men’s teams to create perceived equity. UNK baseball team was cut to even out the athletes between men and women while NSU cut Men’s golf. With numbers, the inflated rosters of football teams always create issues with numbers. So, if a school has a football program, which takes up significantly more athletes than any other sport, they must have a lot more women’s sports and roster spots made available. This leaves less opportunities for males who do not play varsity football as the largest portion of scholarships would typically be allocated towards football.

            If Title IX was enacted to create equal opportunities for both men and women in sports, then why do we see what we see like we do in hockey? The excuse that people always produce is “money.” While hockey is an expensive sport to support, compared to some others that colleges normally do, it still does not answer the question of how they can support a men’s hockey team, but not a women’s. If a school like Michigan or Denver can chase a championship, they should have the money to pay the luxury tax of supporting female hockey in their state and beyond. When we are breaking down D1 hockey specifically, these colleges can make money, however college athletics lacks agreed upon accounting and reporting practices, so it is simple to show revenue and loss in different manners.

            D1 women’s sports are continuing to become increasingly popular. Nebraska women’s basketball and volleyball sold out every game they held. Every NCAA D1 volleyball and basketball tournament game was broadcasted on an ESPN platform. It is obvious that around the country, the support for women’s athletics is continuing to grow and grow. Nebraska has one D1 Men’s hockey team located at the Omaha campus; however, UNO does not field a Women’s team. Without a doubt we can say, especially in Michigan, which is a hockey state, that they could support a women’s hockey team and draw in a significant amount of money or at least afford to cover it. Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, and other states are not sending the right message to young ladies in their states when they provide a division one experience only for the boys.

            Ohio State is one of the D1 schools that have a women’s hockey team and men’s team at the top level. We guarantee, with the hatred between Michigan and Ohio State, if those two every played a hockey game together if Michigan ends up getting an actual women’s team, that game would be sold out and provide hope for a new generation of female athletes. The 24 schools not offering women’s hockey are missing opportunities for women, and it continues to show that while there have been improvements between men’s and women’s sports, that this is still an issue and still something we as a country still need to continue to work on with the leadership of the NCAA.

Sources:

https://www.michigandaily.com/sports/as-womens-hockey-grows-michigans-absence-is-glaring/?fbclid=IwAR1s1A9I9ljPD4YN-J277bddisuKcxnjlLXbNdBM73dYEnSJsf6pOjjl5Vs

https://www.ncsasports.org/mens-hockey/colleges#:~:text=Colleges%20with%20Division%201%20hockey,Hockey%20East%2C%20NCHC%20and%20WCHA.

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/tix_dis.html

The Spectacle of the NFL Draft

By GRANT TIGHE

tighegd@lopers.unk.edu

The NFL Draft is arguably the biggest non-game sporting event of the year in American sports. It was always held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City until 2014, but now the NFL rotates it between host cities which have hauled in $500 million in economic impact since this change. The seven-round event is broadcasted on multiple stations including ESPN, ABC, and the NFL Network. There is always a spectacle made of the top players in the green room and cameras in the in-house draft parties for them.

            The NFL Draft is clearly superior to the three other major sports in basketball, baseball, and hockey. Why is that?

            In the NFL, there is no minor league associated with it that players may go to develop. It’s NFL or bust. The MLB has Minor League Baseball, the NBA has the G League, and the NHL has the American Hockey League.

            In the MLB, there are 40 rounds, and every player starts off in the minor leagues to develop before getting to the majors. Only 66% of first-round picks make it to play for a major league team and from 1981-2020 17.6% of drafted players made the major league.

            Due to the smaller rosters, the NBA Draft only has two rounds. Many top players start and play significant minutes for their teams immediately, but a portion of the players sign two-way contracts that make them play for both their G-league affiliate and NBA team. Due to the shorter draft and fewer players drafted, the NBA Draft can be less exciting than the NFL Draft.

            The seven-round NHL Draft is probably the closest thing to the NFL as many of the first-round selections can be on the team right away. It also differs from the NFL as many players selected in the later rounds may opt to stay where they are currently playing. If they don’t like where they are drafted, they don’t have to sign a contract. The American Hockey League can also take in some of the players and develop them as well.

NFL teams don’t have a minor league they can send players to, they either make their team or they cut them. This can make drafting players more exciting since most of them will be on the team for at least their first year. The later rounds can also mean something in the NFL Draft, as there are many examples of players drafted in the later rounds being all-stars such as George Kittle, Tom Brady, Tyreek Hill, etc.

Hutchinson with Michigan in 2021

The NFL Draft also comes at a time of the year when there are not a whole lot of major sporting events on television. It comes a month after the major college sporting season ends with March Madness. The NBA Playoffs are just getting started, the MLB season is in its early stages and it’s the end of the NHL season when people are getting ready for the playoffs. It also comes at the midway point of the NFL offseason at 105 days into the 238-day offseason between the Super Bowl and Opening Night.

Lastly, football is the highest viewed and most popular American sport. Super Bowl XLIX in 2015 was one of the highest viewed sporting events ever with 114.4 million viewers. For comparison, Game Six of the Bulls vs Jazz in 1998 drew 35.9 million viewers, MLB is at recording some of its lowest ratings ever in the history of the sport and the highest-rated NHL game drew 8.72 million viewers in the 2019 Stanley Cup final between the Blues and the Bruins.

Football is dominant for viewership in America right now and it is clear in the extravagant NFL Draft. It generates months of buzz and creates many jobs for insiders and experts like Mel Kiper, Todd McShay and Daniel Jeremiah who constantly scout players and create mock drafts. There is no other sport that can compare to it and it is evident when people watch that the NFL Draft is different than all the other American sports drafts.

FROM RUSSIA; WITHOUT LOVE: THE CASE FOR VACATING MEDALS AND BANNING RUSSIA FROM THE OLYMPICS.

By: JON WILLIS, LYNN JAMIESON, BAYLOR HELMUTH AND THOMAS ORR

When you think of the Olympics, what do you think of? It is common to view the Olympics as a time of unity during a sacred time every couple years that brings people from all walks of life together to compete and show the world what they are made of. The Olympics allow a time to put aside differences and come together to show that we are all people on the same planet. When a war breaks out during this period of time, the motive of that country to start war is called into question whether that country is really committed to the ideals of the Olympics.

Noting the buildup of troops along the Ukrainian and previous takeover of Crimea, why has Russia been allowed to compete in any world sporting events any time recently? Being banned from Olympic competition is not new judging from the banning of South African due to its apartheid policies. That ban was lifted after apartheid was abolished. It seems that Russia war policies would effect a complete ban on Olympic participation. Both apartheid and waging war violate the spirit of the Olympics so to reward a country with Olympic Glory seems antithetical to the entire concept of the games themselves.

War as a policy is difficult to understand. Why do we feel the need to fight? We are all people who live on this Earth, and there seems to be no point to the accumulated death toll occurring in any war. What Russia is doing right now to Ukraine however, is a dangerous act of aggression from a leader that does not seem fit to be running his country. Vladmir Putin, who is a dictator and has constantly threatened war against other countries is causing terror not only in people worldwide but also among Russian citizens. The Russian invasion of several cities in the Ukraine not only is a problem for the country, but it also threatens any country that speaks out against it. Nuclear threats make this a world problem.

So what does this have to do with sports? It is creating a bad image for Russia, resulting in athletes from Russia being kicked out of any world athletic competition. A lot of these athletes and even people who live in the country of Russia disagree with what Putin is doing, and they are paying the price for it. Alexander Ovechkin, a very popular Russian hockey player has lost significant sponsorship from CCM (a hockey equipment company) and has faced criticism.  Young athletes from both the Ukraine and Russia who are playing in the United States have very uncertain futures. Russia is terrorizing Ukraine during a time that was supposed to be about peace, and threatening the rest of the world while the Olympics were still ongoing. That is leading to them continuing to lose supporters from around the world, and continuing to grow tensions. If things like this keep up, world sporting events may start to decline. How can we have events like the Olympics if we end up going to another World War?

Oleg Stoyanovskiy - Wikipedia

Creator: Steffen Prößdorf | Credit: Steffen Prößdorf

Copyright: Steffen Prößdorf

Now the question is for potential punishments. We believe that Russia should be kicked out of any global sporting event and stripped of any medals or titles that they may have won. What they are doing is against the code of the Olympics and any national competition, and we can not continue to stand for it. This should not just extend to when the conflict with Ukraine ends however, Russia should not be allowed to compete until someone other than Vladmir Putin is in charge of the country. He is a ruthless dictator, raging war wherever he seems fit, and that doesn’t seem like the kind of representation we want in things like is this harsh? No. A strong consequence to these actions is something we need to do if we actually believe in what the Olympics stand for. In essence, Putin would be banned for life and any country he led would be as well. This rule should be ubiquitous in that others who replicate such actions in the future would know these consequences.

Nikol Rodomakina - 2013 IPC Athletics World

Fanny Schertzer

We have seen situations like this before. In 1936, during world war two, people began to protest that Germany should not be allowed to compete in the Olympics because of the debacle that was going on with the Nazi Germany. There have been other instances where Olympics have been cancelled or boycotted. The 1916, 1940, and 1944 Olympics were cancelled due to the World War’s. Germany and Japan were banned from the Olympics in 1948. Throughout history, countries have boycotted Olympics due to what other countries are doing. 65 nations stayed home in 1980 and three countries boycotted in 1964. This proves that countries do not want to compete when a country like Russia is doing what they are doing. Most countries attempt to uphold the values of the Olympics, and it shows with these past cancellations and boycotts.

Now Russia is already being excluded from sporting events so far. Even the athletes that are allowed to compete aren’t allowed to compete for Russian sponsors. Russian has been barred from international ice skating, skiing, basketball, track, and some tennis events. They are not allowed to compete in the world figure skating championships, the CHL, and the World Games. The international basketball and volleyball federation have already suspended them from competition so they will not be allowed to compete in the World Cup. This has all only happened ever since the war with Ukraine began. People and major corporations are already taking action and Russia is having to deal with the consequences.

For the longest time, the Olympics and other international sporting events have always held up the standards of bringing people together and not fighting. Russia is clearly going against the values of that, and therefore, they will have to continue to deal with punishments. A fervent hope is that maybe one day everyone in this world can just appreciate what we have and we can all come together in sport without argument, fighting, and things of that nature.

Sources

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-movement-to-boycott-the-berlin-olympics-of-1936.

Kennedy, Lesley. “6 Times the Olympics Were Boycotted.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 26 July 2021, https://www.history.com/news/olympic-boycotts.

Author, No. “Russia Is Banned from More Sports Events as Sanctions Mount.” Https://Www.inquirer.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2 Mar. 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/sports/russia-sports-ban-ice-skating-ukraine-war-20220301.html.

The Olympics and Russia

Like all sporting events through the years, the Summer Olympic Games have changed dramatically, sometimes for the better and sometimes not.

Growing up, I always viewed the Games as something that showcased the purest form of athleticism. While the Olympics did not allow professional athletes, it brought together the best of the best amateur athletes from around the world. It was a showcase for the less popular spectator sports like track and field, swimming, gymnastics, etc. Notice I said less popular spectator sports, not less important sports.

Back in the day, it was a way to find out about people like Bruce Jenner and Mark Spitz. It often rallied a country together as people forgot about political affiliation and focused on being united and cheering on our country’s representatives. In short, it was sports for all the right reasons as Olympic athletes were not being labeled spoiled brats like the professionals because of the huge salaries that they had begun to reel in.

Some moments have become nearly bigger than The Games themselves, such as the Miracle on Ice of the 1980 Winter Olympics when the United States stunned Russia to win the gold medal.

To be fair, there was still a lot of politics at play, back in the day, as countries threatened to boycott the Olympics as a show of power and a few actually did. There were a few doping scandals that also became THE story of the Games. With all that, there still seemed to be an innocence to the Games as America would routinely send amateur athletes to shine on the world’s stage.

That has certainly changed through the years as America now sends professionals to the international stage. With commercialism and the advent of this thing called social media, that innocence has now taken a back seat to egos and entitlement.

There are many athletes who still shine brilliantly as they work towards qualifying for the Olympics. Yet, it seems there are others who use the Games as a platform for their beliefs on everything from politics to sexuality to human rights. Some decline offers to participate in the Games because it doesn’t fit into their schedule or worse yet as a sign of protest because of some sort of perceived slight. That does nothing to bring our country together like the good old days, instead becoming another agent of divisiveness.

I am not a historian when it comes to the Olympics. I know there were plenty of things at play behind the scenes that a young boy was oblivious to. I just knew at the time that the Games were a chance to watch phenomenal athletes that weren’t in the NFL or the NBA and on TV every week.

When I think of the Summer Games, the sports that most quickly come to mind are track and field, and swimming. Interestingly enough, this past summer those particular sports featured athletes with ties to my home state (South Dakota), and even my hometown (Aberdeen). Needless to say, that makes watching the Olympics even more riveting.

As we all get ready for another round of the Winter Olympics, let’s hope that the focus is on the athletes who have worked hard to get there and not on issues like COVID, politics or some form of Skate Gate.

Maybe some form of pure competition between athletes most of us have never heard of is too much to ask for these days, but I for one would like to just sit back and watch the world’s best go head-to-head just for the pure joy of sport and pride of country. It’s really what the Games should be all about.

MLB is (again) destroying their product

By: JON WILLIS

            Major League Baseball has been a sport that has been slowly dying. There are many parts to why baseball might be a dying sport, but one thing is for sure, they definitely are not helping. Baseball has been a sport that has been slowly losing popularity for a couple of reasons. The big ones are they are not adapting to the youth, it is a sport that some consider boring and not a lot happening, and they are doing things like they are with this lockout. The MLB owners and MLB players association are currently not having any operations as they bicker over silly things.

            The joke has always been with these things happening that it’s billionaires vs millionaires. Now why that might be funny, it is not 100% false. The average MLB player in 2021 earned an average income of 4.17 million dollars and a median income of 1.1 million dollars. The average salary for a U.S. citizen is roughly 51,000 dollars. So I know this might sound harsh, but these players who are complaining about money are really already set up pretty nicely in life, at least a lot nicer than the average citizen.

            Now I know I am bashing the players early on, but it really does come down to the owners. The owners continually think that this is just all about money when really there is a lot more to it than that. The owners initiated the lockout and with Rob Manfred, the commissioner of baseball, announcing the first two series of the season have been cancelled, it is now impacting a lot more than just the players. I want to add by the way that when Manfred had his press conference where he announced this, he had a big old smile on his face which really just showed where baseball is at this point in our time.

            So let’s go over what each side wants just to get a better understanding. The players basically want more guarantees of money. The MLBPA wanted to increase the competitive balance tax threshold to 238 million, and was seeking an 85 million dollar bonus for pre-arbitration players. Some things they did want were already agreed upon with owners. There will now be a universal DH, and an expanded playoffs. The owners originally wanted 14 teams, but they eventually agreed on 12. Now those are the basics of what the players want, I know there is a lot more to it, but for this article that’s the basis on what we will go off of.

            So how do we fix this? Talks have been going on for a couple of weeks now, and it is being reported that really no progress is happening. Players have also come out and said that the owners really hadn’t started talking negations until like a week before that March 1st deadline. That’s the first issues there. The owners and the players should have been talking since the season ended. Everyone and their mom knew that the players wanted to change some things, so why were talks not started earlier? The next thing that needs to happen is compromising, and that is on both sides. The players need to realize they are already set for life on a professional salary, and need to be ok with not making as much money as they are asking for. If you’re the owners, you need to realize that these players are the one actually on the field making money for you and for the team. Both sides need to not be so hard nosed on what they want and be willing to compromise.

            I really do think both sides, the players and the owners are being extremely selfish right now. The players are saying that playing and not getting what they want is hurting them, but I don’t think they realize the people they are hurting by participating in this lockout. Each team has concession workers, field managers, security, employees, broadcasters and more that are currently unemployed that rely on baseball to make a living. Last, and most importantly, they are hurting the fans. When it comes down to it, sports in general is an entertainment business. You could not have a baseball league without the fans. Fans want desperately to watch baseball, and they are stabbing those fans in the back by being selfish and not figuring this out. I am referring to both the players and the owners by the way.

            One thing I do hope comes out of this is that college baseball grows in popularity. I hope ESPN and other networks start to put college baseball on their airwaves because you don’t see those problems in college baseball and it’s very high quality competition. This lockout continues to hurt baseball as basketball and football are continuing to dominate in the most popular sports in America. In 2022, football had the biggest viewership in America at 38.8% with basketball at 15.3% and baseball/softball at 14.8%. Baseball used to be “America’s sport,” and now it is in the rear view mirror.

            If baseball wants any chance of keeping MLB popular and relevant, they need to figure this lockout out. Baseball has a lot of work to do anyways to keep the sport popular anyways, which I could write a whole other article about, so they need to compromise and figure this out. This lockout is hurting a lot of people, most of which aren’t actually in this lockout, and the MLB needs to figure it out because that’s what the fans deserve.

Sources-

https://en.as.com/en/2021/10/08/mlb/1633685987_178363.html#:~:text=According%20to%20recent%20data%2C%20MLB,shows%20a%20totally%20different%20picture.&text=The%20average%20salary%20of%20an,to%20%244.17%20million%20a%20year.

https://policyadvice.net/insurance/insights/average-american-income/

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-mlbpa-cba-negotiations-update

https://sportsbrowser.net/most-popular-sports-in-america/

The Olympics, and the changes, some better, some not so

Like all sporting events through the years, the Summer Olympic Games have changed dramatically, sometimes for the better and sometimes not.

Growing up, I always viewed the Games as something that showcased the purest form of athleticism. While the Olympics did not allow professional athletes, it brought together the best of the best amateur athletes from around the world. It was a showcase for the less popular spectator sports like track and field, swimming, gymnastics, etc. Notice I said less popular spectator sports, not less important sports.

Back in the day, it was a way to find out about people like Bruce Jenner and Mark Spitz. It often rallied a country together as people forgot about political affiliation and focused on being united and cheering on our country’s representatives. In short, it was sports for all the right reasons as Olympic athletes were not being labeled spoiled brats like the professionals because of the huge salaries that they had begun to reel in.

Some moments have become nearly bigger than The Games themselves, such as the Miracle on Ice of the 1980 Winter Olympics when the United States stunned Russia to win the gold medal.

To be fair, there was still a lot of politics at play back in the day as countries threatened to boycott the Olympics as a show of power and a few actually did. There were a few doping scandals that also became THE story of the Games. With all that, there still seemed to be an innocence to the Games as America would routinely send amateur athletes to shine on the world’s stage.

That has certainly changed through the years as America now sends professionals to the international stage. With commercialism and the advent of this thing called social media, that innocence has now taken a back seat to egos and entitlement.

There are many athletes who still shine brilliantly as they work towards qualifying for the Olympics. Yet, it seems there are others who use the Games as a platform for their beliefs on everything from politics to sexuality to human rights. Some decline offers to participate in the Games because it doesn’t fit into their schedule or worse yet as a sign of protest because of some sort of perceived slight. That does nothing to bring our country together like the good old days, instead becoming another agent of divisiveness.

I am not a historian when it comes to the Olympics. I know there were plenty of things at play behind the scenes that a young boy was oblivious to. I just knew at the time that the Games were a chance to watch phenomenal athletes that weren’t in the NFL or the NBA and on TV every week.

When I think of the Summer Games, the sports that most quickly come to mind are track and field, and swimming. Interestingly enough, this past summer those particular sports featured athletes with ties to my home state (South Dakota), and even my hometown (Aberdeen). Needless to say, that makes watching the Olympics even more riveting.

As we all get ready for another round of the Winter Olympics, let’s hope that the focus is on the athletes who have worked hard to get there and not on issues like COVID, politics or some form of Skate Gate.

Maybe some form of pure competition between athletes most of us have never heard of is too much to ask for these days, but I for one would like to just sit back and watch the world’s best go head-to-head just for the pure joy of sport and pride of country. It’s really what the Games should be all about.

A look at the Unexpected in the 2020 Summer Games

The 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo this past year treated us to some wacky and unexpected things. The event itself was delayed due to COVID-19 so we went in definitely  expecting some things to happen that normally didn’t. Whether it was Simone Biles stepping back for her mental health, a camera boat almost hitting some of the competitors, or Lamont Marcell Jacobs shocking the world and winning Gold for Italy in the mens 100m sprint. We’re going to break down some of the biggest things we saw in this years games.

Mental Health

Before we get into some of the fun stuff, this years games proved to be one that brought a huge issue to the forefront. Simone Biles, arguably the best Olympic athlete of all time maybe excluding Michael Phelps, decided to sit out this year’s Olympics, after losing herself in the air and shaking uncontrollably. She knew that if she continued to compete, she would hurt her team and possibly herself.  

We later learned that what Biles was experiencing was something called the “Twisties.” Basically as a gymnast, you lose yourself and don’t know where you are because of some psychological problems. Biles has come out and talked about how she has gone through a lot mental health wise and she made the bold decision to sit out. She still was a fantastic teammate and sat right there with her team supporting.

The decision was of course met with controversy. Some people applauded her for being so bold while others said she was quitting on her team. What she proved though, was that athletes are in fact HUMAN. They go through the same stuff that us average Joe’s go through. She set the stage for future athletes, saying that it IS ok to put your mental health first, and that you need to be ok first before you can go out and do stuff for other people.

Crazy Events

Some crazy and even dangerous things happened as well in this past Olympics. We take a look at some of the crazier.

Like I mentioned in my opening paragraph, there was a camera boat that almost led to some very dangerous waters. The men’s triathlon was taking place, and a camera boat was right in the way of swimmer’s getting ready to go. The buzzer went off and the boat was still in the way. The boat tried to reverse but it struggled to get out of the way. Luckily, the swimmers that were in the path were able to get out of the way and stay safe and no one was hurt during the incident.

Some fans were worried about German judo star Martyna Trajdos after she was seen being slapped and shaken by her coach. After not making the podium, she joked on social media that the slaps “weren’t hard enough apparently.”

BMX rider Niek Kimmann with the Dutch team collided with an official who was trying to cross the track and suffered a bit of a sore knee.

The Israel Olympic basketball team got in trouble after trying to break their beds in their hotel. They made a Tik Tok with nine guys bouncing on the bed and they eventually broke the bed and it collapsed to the ground. They later came out and apologized even though their original purpose was just to be humorous.

Maria Belen Perez Maurice, who is an Argentinian fencer, had been proposed to in the 2010 games, but rejected Lucas Guillermo. Guillermo asked again this year during an interview, and this time she finally said yes.

Finally in these awkward and crazy events, Annemiek Van Vleuten crossed the finish line of the road cycling race believing she had won the race and celebrated as such. She later found out that had not been the case and she was extremely embarrassed. There were plenty of other crazy and shocking events that happened in the 2020 games.

Unforeseen Results

In every Olympics, there are always winners that we don’t expect, here are some of the biggest.

Lydia Jacoby had already made history by becoming the first Alaskan to ever make the United States Olympic swimming team. She then beat the defending champion in the 100m breaststroke to win Gold and shock the world.

Naomi Osaka, who was the second ranked tennis player in the world, was upset by Marketa Vondrousova (ranked 42nd in the world) in the third round. Vondrousova went on to win a silver medal.

The Canadian women’s soccer team defeated the United States for the first time in 20 years, and won their first ever Gold Medal.

American swimmer Bobby Finke went into the games as not really a favorite in anyone’s books and flew under the radar. After being behind big in the 800m freestyle, he came back and passed the top three swimmer’s in the final 50 meters and won Gold. He was called the comeback kid of the 2020 Olympics after having another later charge to win the 1500m final.

Novak Djokovic was heavily favored to win Gold in 2020 with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal opted to not compete, but Djokovic lost in the semifinals and again in the bronze metal match, and went home medal-less.

The last big surprise was Austria winning its first Olympic cycling medal since the 1896 Athens Games when Anna Kiesenhofer dominated and crossed the finish line 75 seconds before everyone else.

Heartwarming Moments

For our last topic, we explore some of the things that happened and made people go “awww” in the Tokyo Games.

Claire Michel crossed the line in the Triathlon way after every one else and she collapsed on the floor crying as she felt she had let her country down. Lotte Miller, who finished 24th, went over to her and even though they were from different countries, comforted her and told her that she was a “fighter,” and that “she had 100% Olympic spirit.”

Tom Daley, who is an LGBTQ advocate and diver, gave an inspirational speech after to young kids saying that you can achieve anything and that LGBT people are not alone and that people are here to support you.

Tony Hawk was seen taking pictures of skaters at the women’s skateboarding events like a “proud dad.”

Oksana Chusovitina who is 46 years old, competing in her 8th Olympic Games, received a standing ovation after her gymnastic routine as it could very well possibly be her last Olympic Games.

Simone Biles, who we mentioned earlier sat out for her mental health, was the first one seen congratulating Russia for beating the USA as the best team all around.

High Jumpers Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy agreed to share the Gold Medal after both of them cleared a jump of 2.37 meters but failed to clear the next bar. They could’ve gone to a jump off, but agreed to share the medal as now very good friends.

This Olympics showed that even though you are competing, that it is all still love and respect. Both Isaiah Jewett from the United State and Nijel Amos from Botswana fell in the 800 meter semifinal. They helped each other up and embraced in a hug.

The last warming moment was when Japanese Skateboarder Misugu Okamoto fell and dropped from first to fourth place, other skaters helped her up and together carried her off.

This year’s Olympics featured crazy events, social change, unexpected results, and heartwarming moments. That is what these games are for though. It is for the people of this planet to come together and show the pride of their country, and that is what makes these games so special.

Works Cited:

•   Murray , Holly. “What Simone's Step Back Teaches US.” Athletes in Action, 30 July 2021, https://athletesinaction.org/articles/what-simones-step-back-teaches-us/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA-eeMBhCpARIsAAZfxZBdbKWdEz69rlofAFgeIhGl-lVZHR23Xo-z87wSq5zBi-tfimijaIsaAoeKEALw_wcB.

•   Beresford, Jack, et al. “23 Shocking Olympics Moments You Probably Missed from the Tokyo 2020 Games.” Newsweek, 9 Aug. 2021, https://www.newsweek.com/23-shocking-olympics-moments-probably-missed-tokyo-2020-1616924.

•   Smith , Shawn. “Biggest Upsets of the Tokyo Olympic Games.” Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, 8 Aug. 2021, https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/biggest-upsets-tokyo-olympic-games.

•   Lakritz, Talia. “15 Of the Most Heartwarming Moments from the Tokyo Olympics.” Insider, Insider, 5 Aug. 2021, https://www.insider.com/tokyo-olympics-heartwarming-cute-moments-2021-7.

Going for the GOLD; A Comprehensive Analysis of the 2018 as we look to the 2022 Games

By Jon Willis and Dr. Thomas Orr

PyeongChang 2018's vision for the 2018 Games is to offer the Olympic Movement and the world of winter sports New Horizons - a legacy of new growth and new potential never seen before. Its Winter Games plan is one of the most compact in Olympic history, it offers a unique stage on which the world’s best athletes can achieve superior performances. With PyeongChang’s strategic position in Asia, and its access to a young and fast growing youth market, the 2018 Olympic Winter Games will no doubt expose new generations of potential athletes to the power of winter sport. – olympic.org

After this vision for what the Olympics would want to look like, PyeongChang won the voting, receiving 63 total votes, while the next highest city would only receive 25. It was clear The International Olympic Committee (IOC) wanted them to host the 2018 Olympics.

The three main costs that must be tackled to pull off hosting the Olympics are the overall budget for hosting the games, construction costs for temporary and permanent facilities, and infrastructure and transportation projects important to supporting Olympic events. People who think these expenditures are good for a city say it can lead to creating more jobs and it raises the importance and value of the city that hosts it. It will help develop the economy over the long-term, tourism would increase, more recognition worldwide, partnerships, and more.

Opponents of hosting the Olympics often state the economic benefits attributed to the Games are overstated and that local communities put themselves at financial risk due to the commitments associated with venue, infrastructure, and event production.  Opponents also argue that there are better ways to spend public dollars than hosting a short-term mega sporting event and point to recent Olympics (for example, Athens in 2004 and Sochi in 2014) that experienced major cost overruns and elaborate venues with limited or no long-term purpose.

When different countries host the Olympics, they often spend an insane amount of money to build up stadiums and hold the games at these huge venues that have anything and everything a fan and a player could ask for. That can lead to way more money being spent than the IOC probably wanted originally. Negatives of hosting the Olympics would include things like possibly security threats with increased population of people, cost overruns (which we’ve seen a lot), displacement of existing businesses, and transportation and infrastructure for the people that already live there.

Another problem that we can look at especially when we look at the winter Olympics are athletes who play professionally in the USA that can’t/have to choose whether or not to compete in the Olympics. Since the 2014 games, NHL players were not allowed to participate in the Olympics and you can see how that might drop the value of the Olympics especially for American viewers. Especially since these broadcasting companies spend a lot more money to broadcast the Olympics over professional athletics. Now, it was announced that NHL players will be able to compete in the 2022 games which we believe will not only increase the popularity of the Olympics but will also increase the popularity of the players and leagues they go back to, including the NHL in a reciprocal manner that will be a win-win for all parties.  

When we look at overruns, it is something that is real and has happened in previous Olympics. According to Muller (2014), total costs for the 2014 Sochi Olympics were 55 Billion dollars, which is a 4.5 times increase over the original 12 billion dollars. This was at a 96.5% public cost. 1.2 billion more will be spent each year on maintenance. Hosting the Olympics can lead to the financial obligation that can hurt a city for years upon years to come.

In 2008, China spent 40 million dollars on the Summer Olympics, but now as we look ahead to 2022, it is projected that the Qatar Olympics will cost 200 billion dollars. Now how in the heck did we get here? The big question a lot of people are now asking is if all that money is worth it. Yes, you do get to host the Olympics and have a ton of publicity to your city, but the amount of money being spent to put this on, could lead to huge financial issues for said city in the future. The cost for putting on the Olympics seems to continue to go up and people are going to continue to ask themselves if all of this is worth it.

China is the biggest and most populated country in the world, with a population of about 1.4 billion. With the projected 3.9 billion dollar cost being reported it has left us confused and concerned with the accuracy of these estimates. Considering the cost of the previous estimates and actual price when considering over runs it seems laughable to expect this event to be cheaper than it was in the past. Security, Covid, Inflation, and a myriad of factors dictate that the price should rise or at best equal the cost of their own 2008 event fourteen years ago. Other than manipulating data or using less than open reporting practices we do not see how this will be possible to put on the 2022 Olympics. It will be interesting to look back and see the actual cost of producing and marketing the 24th Olympic games.

■      Brand Equity is “the added value, or equity, that a certain product has by the virtue of its brand name.” (Mullin, Hardy & Sutton, Sport Marketing, 2014, p.155)

■      Farrell, K. & Frame, W. (1997). The Value of Olympic Sponsorship: Who is Capturing the Gold? Journal of Market-Focused Management. Springer.

■      Futterman, M. (2017). Los Angeles Reaches Deal to Host 2028 Olympics. Wall Street Journal, July 31, online.

■      Gratton, C. & Preuss, H. (2008). Maximizing Olympic Impacts by Building up Legacies. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 25 (14).

■      Jamieson, L., & Orr, T.J. (2009). Sport Violence; A Critical Examination of Sport. Taylor and Francis.

■      Matters, O. (1999). The Finances of the IOC: Where the Money Goes. The Olympic Marketing Newsletter, 15, 7.

■      Tomlinson, A. (2005). The Commercialization of the Olympics: Cities, Corporations, and the         Olympic Community. Historical and Sociological Studies of the Modern Games.   Elsevier.

■      Staff, and The Athletic Staff. “NHL Players to Participate in 2022 Olympics.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 3 Sept. 2021, https://theathletic.com/news/nhl-players-to-participate-in-2022-olympics/yoj11zT3itkM/.

Photo/link ideas; https://olympics.com/en/beijing-2022/  (good link and we like the big picture at the top with the site and stadium in snow?

Source; https://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2017/9/15/16313892/alex-ovechkin-2018-winter-olympics-washington-capitals