Sports: Economically Friendly?

            Sports have been a huge part of my entire life, since I was just five years old. I remember running along the football field with a pair of fluttering, plastic strips on either side of my hips as I tried to snag one of these strips from the opposing team. As I grew older, the scenery changed: Rather than going for a plastic strip, I found myself in oversized armor, helmet bobbling about as I tackled someone to the ground, dust kicking up into my eyes. With each passing year, the hits in football got harder, and I was forced to get stronger in order to compensate. On top of football, however, I would also do track.

            At first, I was running on the team, trailing along behind everyone else as I wheezed and gasped for air. My legs would tremble as I came to a stop, struggling not to topple to the ground. It was not, at all, something for me. As fate would have it, though, I was introduced to one of my favorite events: The Shot Put. Launching a heavy metal ball into the air, watching it soar until it came crashing back down to earth, was a riveting experience for me. It was, and probably still is, one of my favorite things to see. Though it wasn’t all fun and games all the time.

            When it came to both football and track, I was worked down to the bone. In particular with football, the amount of pressure on me continued to stack up higher and higher, reaching a fever pitch to the point where I simply couldn’t handle it anymore. With track, however, I continue to actually throw as a Texas Lutheran Bulldog, participating in the various meets that we go to on the weekends. These two sports have a lot in common, however. In some ways, I feel that the idea of a gift economy, proposed by Marcel Mauss, can apply very well to sports. At least, when it comes to athletes and the people who watch their sports, especially football.

            Some might wonder what I mean by this idea of a gift economy. Basically, it’s the idea that two people are providing something for one another, almost akin to an equal exchange idea. This can range from actual money to exchanging services (at least to my knowledge). A way football encapsulates this idea comes from the exchange between the coaches and their athletes, and the fans and their athletes. First, let’s look at the relationship between coaches and their athletes.

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            The gift economy here is fairly clear to see. Football is an extremely passionate sport, one of the most heated sports in the US, even on a smaller scale like school-based football. As such, athletes are meant to get in shape and work hard, in order to play as hard as they can. The way they get in shape mainly comes from how the coaches push them to play. Thus we see the economy beginning to form: The athletes give their all for their sport, and the coaches provide the teaching and molding to help them get better. The harder the athlete works, the better the coach can mold them into better players. It’s a very clear idea, yes, but can be classified under this gift economy idea.

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            Now let’s see the relationship between fans and their athletes. The exchange here might be a bit more skewed, but it can still be seen. Here we have the athletes participating in a football game, all while the crowd roars on from either side of them. As they come to score, the roars from the crowd gets louder than before. Here we can see how the economy forms: As the players work hard, they gain the approval of their fans. The fans, in turn, get a source of entertainment in watching their athletes play. In this way, however, the economy is skewed in favor of the fans. They don’t have to do all that much, while the players are putting in all the work. We don’t get that same sense of equality here as we do in the coach and athlete example. However, even so we do see how the gift economy works.

            This idea of a gift economy doesn’t simply have to be related to football. We can see the same sort of thing in any sport out there, these relationships between athletes and their coaches and fans. I certainly still feel this sort of relationship between my track coach and my “fans” (aka my parents). This idea doesn’t even have to fall just on sports where people don’t get paid. In professional sports, this gift economy is alive and well, though the factor of actual money does play a huge role here as well. It can be said that the gift economy idea is all around us, influencing our lives on a daily basis without us ever even knowing.