SCIENCE Discussion(NO PLAGIARISM, A++ WORK, QUALITY, On time)

Science Discussion 

Answer to statement no more than 150 words

Giber

There is no question that the business of amateur sports is just that. A business. This happens from the youth level, throughout high school and eventually in to college. There is no “amateur” organization more concerned with their bottom line than the NCAA. When it comes to bidding out venues for their championship events they make sure to grab every dollar they can. “The NCAA is overhauling its event bidding format, and in June will bid out 500 championship events to be played over the next four years.” (Schoettle, 2013) On the surface this seems like an opportunity to spread the “championship” love to cities who may not ordinarily get a chance to host. In reality, it provides the NCAA a chance to make MORE money and squeeze out the cities who have been loyal to them for years. 

Here’s what the NCAA says about it’s new process: “NCAA officials say the process will  allow cities more lead time to plan events, and give strong host cities like Indianapolis the opportunity to land multiyear hosting deals and to sell sponsorships and partnerships for all the events it hosts in a quadrennial span. Events held in the same city can also be better cross-marketed, they said.” (Schoettle, 2013) So what does that do for the cities who have routinely hosted these events? If they already draw fans and have a system in place, they wouldn’t need more lead time. We must also remember that the NCAA hosts 500 championships. It’s not all about football and men’s basketball. When I was in college the NCAA Division 3 Men’s Baseball Tournament was played every year in Appleton, WI. The city had a great facility and the fans truly embraced the tournament every year. In 2019, due to the NCAA’s bidding process, the event was moved to Cedar Rapids Iowa.(NCAA.com, 2019)

Cities who have embraced these events and have been loyal to the NCAA are now at the mercy of the almighty dollar. I would compare it to a landlord who doubles the rent on tenants they’ve had for the last 20 years. They may see an immediate return but could be dealing with a whole new set of issues from the new tenants. So what do the stakeholders think? 

“I’d look for places where people traditionally support the sport … Go places where people already love women’s basketball. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say, when leaving a Final Four, ‘Damn, I didn’t know it would be like this [so exciting]. And next year, if we have it.’ …. Well, you know what, you’re not getting it next year or ever.

“The things that the sites learn [from hosting an event] are wasted because they may never get it back.” (Altavilla, 2018) This quote is from current UCONN Women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma. It makes sense. For the “non-mainstream” sports it makes even more sense. Find a community that embraces the sport. Keep the venue that is a well oiled machine and let them run with it even if you lose a small amount on the bidding. Look what the College World Series is able to do in Omaha. Would they have the same amount of commercial success and player excitement if the city rotated every year? 

The NCAA would argue that they are not leaving long time hosts out of the equation. Jeff Jarnecke is the NCAA’s Associate Director of championships and alliances. He stated: “We definitely want to see more bids and more quality bids. But we’re not trying to depart from our current hosts,” (Schoettle, 2013). In other words, “Thank you for your loyalty. If you would like to continue your success as a former host, open up your checkbooks!” There seems to be little regard for which venues create the best environment for athletes, fans and coaches. What they NCAA is saying is that whoever offers the most, get’s to host! If you’ve been a loyal partner to the NCAA in the past, you can remain one. You just have to pay more. A lot more. 

****Answer to statement no more than 150 words

Stin

Hosting a major international sporting event is often valued and aggressively sought after by countries all around the world. Events like the Olympics and World Cup can put a country in the spotlight for a few weeks and capture the attention of fans everywhere. The governing bodies of these organizations view themselves as international royalty with elite influence on a global scale. They use the cities and countries as their playground to showcase themselves. City and national officials still seek to host mega events even with the knowledge and research that hosting often comes with a steep cost financially, environmentally and socially. Cities can spend millions on the bidding process alone. Reports claim that Chicago spent anywhere from $43.7 – $93.3 million dollars on their bid to host the Olympics in 2016 (Nooij, 2012). Cities invest all this time, money and resources knowing that the probability of winning a bid is very low. The graphic below represents the process a city or nation must go through in order to prepare a bid to be considered for a mega sporting event. 

           

Figure 1: (Bidding for events, n.d.)

 

The bidding process also includes a fee in order for the governing bodies to even consider your bid to host. “The costs for bidding for the games are incredibly high. Bid committees must pay an application fee (The fee for hosting the 2012 Olympics was $150,000 U.S.), to the IOC. This high fee is meant to discourage cities that are not committed to the efforts necessary to host the Olympics” (How Olympic Locations Are Chosen: Go for the Gold Student Activity, 2020).

The process is necessary and fair across the board for major sporting events. The governing bodies want to make sure a city has the ability to host with a successful plan and the proper infrastructure in place to handle the event itself. Where the bidding process and the governing bodies draw much deserved criticism is when corruption finds its way in with vote buying allegations. Mega events such as the Olympics and World Cup are often tainted with such allegations. The International Olympic Committee has a long line of corruption allegations in its practices of awarding a host city. Corruption allegations of vote buying have been brought up in the 1998 Nagano, 2002 Salt Lake, 2012 London and 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games, just to name a few. With the number of allegations reported and the limited impact this has on the success of the games bidding, voting and overall hosting process, it almost makes the allegations appear as part of the process itself.

The 2024 Olympics drew over 30 bids from countries from around the world including multiple considerations from the United States, such as Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston, which was eventually the choice of the United States Olympic Committee. It was determined by the IOC that the Boston/New England area was not sufficient as a host for the Olympic games and the bid eventually fizzled out and the games were awarded to Paris. Paris demonstrated to the committee that it held the financial backing, infrastructure and had the available resources to be a successful host. To this point there is no report of corruption with this decision to award Paris the 2024 games. However, if allegations and corruption surface, will we be shocked? I think not. To a greater point, as the average fan, will we even care? It’s like we’ve come to expect it from the Olympics and other mega sporting events that vote buying is just part of the unwritten and necessary part of the bidding process in order to win the event.