The state of our economy may not be affecting the four major sports as much as the other major corporation, but it is really affecting the minor leagues and other sports that do not get as much attention. Minor league sports have always struggled to make money and to keep a float, even when the economy is going good. Now that the economy is down it will be even harder for minor league teams to survive this upcoming season or any other season as long as the economy is down. Minor league teams in basketball, football, and low levels of baseball that have no affiliation with the MLB tend to struggle. New minor leagues start up every year with a great idea that they are going to be able to survive and they are going to be the premier minor league, but even with a great economy it is hard for people to sell minor leagues. Unless you are in a city that has no major team near you and you are basically the only team in town, and then maybe that’s the only way a minor league team can survive. Fans would rather go see the highest level of competition compete. Plus, there is a lot of competition for minor league team to by pass. First you have your top leagues NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL. The next competition for minors league teams are college teams, and in some place the college teams would rival some professional teams for being the top team in the city. Then last you have your minor league teams and which is a long way off from the first two that I said. After fans go out to support their professional and colligate teams that leaves even less fans to support the minor league teams, unless you are a die hard fan. The formula that owners have been taking is that if you have a winning product your fans will turn out to the games. This is not necessarily true or even close to the truth in the minor leagues. The Elkhart Express from the International Basketball League has folded after three seasons of operation. The Express followed the formula of winning because in their three season of exisisting they won two championships and were runners up in another. How can a team that has been so successful on the court fold the next season? “Daimon Beathea the President and Head Coach of the team said that the team has filed for bankruptcy in its fourth season. Beathea says the revenue from ticket sales and corporate sponsorships were expected to be down significantly for the upcoming season. He says that, combined with past financial losses, prompted the bankruptcy filing according to Indy.com.” Elkhart is small city that has a population of about 52,000 people located in the state of Indiana, and which already is the home of the Indiana Pacers. The WNBA which is the best league for women to play basketball here in the U.S.A is struggling financially. The WNBA is ran like a minor league franchise so they try to follow the same rules by having a winning franchise and making it appealing to the fans. For the upcoming season, the WNBA has cut the roster spot down from 13 to 11 players. This means that there will be 39 less players this season, and there will be one less team playing in this season too. The Houston Comets will not be participating in the upcoming season. According to yahoo sports, it was reported, “that they did not have an owner and they could not find an owner so they decided to move on (Oscar Dixon).” The Comets won the first four WNBA championship and they had two Hall of Famers on the same team. So how did they fold? In conclusion, the minor leagues are going to have hard way to go with the economy being down. It has been shown that winning and even having good players does not mean that your franchise will have success. The economy may not affect the major professional sports but it will definitely impact the minors and lower levels professional leagues.
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The state of our economy may not be affecting the four major sports as much as the other major corporation, but it is really affecting the minor leagues and other sports that do not get as much attention. Minor league sports have always struggled to make money and to keep a float, even when the economy is going good. Now that the economy is down it will be even harder for minor league teams to survive this upcoming season or any other season as long as the economy is down.
Minor league teams in basketball, football, and low levels of baseball that have no affiliation with the MLB tend to struggle. New minor leagues start up every year with a great idea that they are going to be able to survive and they are going to be the premier minor league, but even with a great economy it is hard for people to sell minor leagues. Unless you are in a city that has no major team near you and you are basically the only team in town, and then maybe that’s the only way a minor league team can survive. Fans would rather go see the highest level of competition compete. Plus, there is a lot of competition for minor league team to by pass.
First you have your top leagues NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL. The next competition for minors league teams are college teams, and in some place the college teams would rival some professional teams for being the top team in the city. Then last you have your minor league teams and which is a long way off from the first two that I said. After fans go out to support their professional and colligate teams that leaves even less fans to support the minor league teams, unless you are a die hard fan.
The formula that owners have been taking is that if you have a winning product your fans will turn out to the games. This is not necessarily true or even close to the truth in the minor leagues. The Elkhart Express from the International Basketball League has folded after three seasons of operation. The Express followed the formula of winning because in their three season of exisisting they won two championships and were runners up in another. How can a team that has been so successful on the court fold the next season? “Daimon Beathea the President and Head Coach of the team said that the team has filed for bankruptcy in its fourth season. Beathea says the revenue from ticket sales and corporate sponsorships were expected to be down significantly for the upcoming season. He says that, combined with past financial losses, prompted the bankruptcy filing according to Indy.com.” Elkhart is small city that has a population of about 52,000 people located in the state of Indiana, and which already is the home of the Indiana Pacers.
The WNBA which is the best league for women to play basketball here in the U.S.A is struggling financially. The WNBA is ran like a minor league franchise so they try to follow the same rules by having a winning franchise and making it appealing to the fans. For the upcoming season, the WNBA has cut the roster spot down from 13 to 11 players. This means that there will be 39 less players this season, and there will be one less team playing in this season too.
The Houston Comets will not be participating in the upcoming season. According to yahoo sports, it was reported, “that they did not have an owner and they could not find an owner so they decided to move on (Oscar Dixon).” The Comets won the first four WNBA championship and they had two Hall of Famers on the same team. So how did they fold?
In conclusion, the minor leagues are going to have hard way to go with the economy being down. It has been shown that winning and even having good players does not mean that your franchise will have success. The economy may not affect the major professional sports but it will definitely impact the minors and lower levels professional leagues.
http://www.indy.com/posts/elkhart-express-basketball-team-to-fold
http://www.standard.net/live/sports/jazz/166583/
http://sports.yahoo.com/wnba/news?slug=ap-cometsdisbanding
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