Scandal: The Cost Of Playing Sports

Words: 1099
Pages: 5

Stephanie Irani
Dr. Forman
English IV: Sports Lit
February 18, 2015
The Cost of Playing Sports Present-day sports are not just focused solely on the game itself, but the advantages one can obtain from outstanding performance. As salaries grow larger every year, the infatuation with wealth and stardom does as well. The excitement towards the Super Bowl XLIX, which generated an average of 114.5 million viewers, was fueled more by scandals, hilarious commercials and theatrical halftime performance than the actual football game. Companies such as Nationwide Insurance, Budweiser, and T-Mobile paid a reported $4.5 million in hopes that their 30-second ads will be the most memorable and comical by the large amount of viewers at home. The incentive behind athletes as well as coaches and behind the scenes supporters has dramatically altered, as now they are even more willing to meet
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Because of an obsession with money and fame and the influence of the scandal-obsessed media, sports are no longer about playing for the love of the game. Stewart Mandel, American sports writer expressed that, “Cheating in college football is a tradition as old as the sport itself. In fact, it's hard to imagine one without the other. Scandal is almost as much a part of the sport's culture as tailgating and fight songs”. Mandel claims that the boosters who partake in the illegal deals are more often passionate fans wanting their team to succeed, than actual participants. At the University of Miami, booster Nevin Shapiro admitted to using investor funds to finance benefits for at least 72 college football and basketball players and