The Importance of Sports and the Perils of Money’s Influence on It

Sports have long played a key role in societies, acting as a means of entertainment and an escape from the real world’s never-ending issues that can be traced back to almost 10,000 years ago. Today, hundreds of millions of people sit in front of their TVs, while millions more flock to stadiums around the world, all to spend hours watching their favourite sports and rooting for the teams that many base a large part of their lives around.

However, recently, many sports seem to be veering away from their decades-long fanbases in search of more money, as wealthier owners with less regard for the sport or its loyal fans and more for the maximisation of profits that the industry can reap enter different sports industries. For instance, many recent major sporting events being held in countries whose population is barely interested in the sport itself (e.g. FIFA WC 2022 in Qatar, ICC Cricket T20 WC and FIFA WC 2026 in the U.S.A) in search of higher revenues shows how the governing bodies of some international sports are willing to shift away from the loyal fans if it meant more profits, inadvertently leaving loyal, diehard fans with limited access to the games they love. As sports like football and cricket move further and further away from the lands that adore them the most in search of higher revenues from people who view such experiences as nothing more than tourist-y attractions, and others like F1 (Formula 1) threaten to remove races like the Belgian and Italian Grand Prix, which boast long and deep-rooted histories for the sport in favour of more commercialised races in North America and the Middle East, supporters are forced to leave with no way to view their once loved sports as just that, and are forced to view them as a luxury only enjoyable by the lucky few.

Additionally, events like F1 races and football matches being held in countries that have never had any widespread interest in them see their participants struggling to adapt to the foreign conditions - for example, F1 race tracks in the U.S. face criticism due to the lack of track qualities, footballers playing in Qatar during the 2022 FIFA WC often complained of the blistering heat they had to play in, football pitches in the U.S. were so poor in quality that numerous players landed severe long-term injuries after playing on them; all problems unfortunately not catered to because of the lack of interest that external investors showed in them. To make matters worse, the impacts of these changes are not limited to just the fans of sports or countries - as an increasing number of sporting events are being held in countries in the Middle East, the number of human rights violations recorded in the preparation of these events seems to increase proportionally. The 2022 FIFA WC alone saw concrete allegations of modern-day slavery and a lack of workers’ rights during the construction of its stadiums.

At a club level, sports like football see masses of its clubs being bought over by wealthy businessmen from the U.S. and the Middle East, who often have little to no interest in closely running the club per fans’ desires, once again resulting in the forced driving away of masses of supporters. The English Premier League (EPL) is a striking example of the same; wealthy investors from the Middle East and the U.S. buy certain teams in the league and pump money into them, often even disregarding rules designed to ensure Financial Fair Play, reducing the league to a pay-to-win league, where the richest club is all but guaranteed to win. Organisations like the Abu Dhabi United Group own subsidiaries that own several different football clubs, granting them an even more “unfair” ability to trade players between clubs that they own, essentially providing them with a gateway into the unlimited trading of players with little to no repercussions.

Legally, there is rarely anything wrong in pursuing such profits. Financially, sporting industries hold very high value, with each sport being a billion-dollar industry of its own. However, sports have always been more than just a business or an industry - they started as shows of skill, training, and teamwork. They evolved into a form of entertainment that people grew to love and rely on throughout their lives, to share with those closest to them, and to view as fond memories of their past: all concepts that are all but sure to be erased, should sports become nothing more than another entertainment industry viewed as a moneymaking method.

Thankfully, though, some leagues still hold their fanbases’ best interests close to their own; for instance, the Bundesliga (German Football League) legally requires their clubs to be owned at least in majority by its members, ensuring they maintain a majority in voting rights and protecting them from the influence of external investors. This way, the league has been able to maintain ticket prices of as low as €12 - 25, compared to English clubs whose ticket prices are known to range from £50 - 100.

In a time when humanitarian issues plague almost every corner of the world, international relations grow increasingly unstable with each passing day, and the threat of economic crises looms over numerous countries, the basic ability for the people of a country to enjoy watching sports they love must not be overlooked. It is, after all, times like these that see the need for entertainment that people can rely on to preserve their mental states. The lack of consideration of the ethical impacts on supporters of raising ticket prices, trampling on the fairness of sports, and relocating the biggest sporting events must change if sports are to continue playing as big a role in society as they have for the past 10,000 years.

By Rian Devaiah