How Athletes Wealth and Organizations Greed Influence Bad Decisions

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ECONOMIC PRINCIPLE: People (usually) respond to incentives in predictable ways

THESIS:  It is predictable that as the professional athlete’s income increases, there will be an increase in bad decisions made by them.

SYNTHESIS PARAGRAPH:   

Why are these athletes making these bad decisions? From my research, I have learned that they are making bad decisions due to a variety of reasons. Some of the reasons are a lack of knowledge, immaturity, and thinking they can do whatever they want because of their skill.  Knowledge and immaturity go hand-in-hand, many athletes leave college early to go pro, however, many of them are uneducated and do not know how to handle their financials or handle themselves on and off the field. The formula that I came up with for athletes in today’s day and age is that it is predictable that as the professional athlete’s income increases, there will be an increase in bad decisions made by them. Throughout the past decade, we have seen more and more athletes making bad decisions both on and off of the field.  Some athletes make one mistake and move on and learn from it, but a lot of  other professional, collegiate, and high school athletes, like Johnny Manziel, repeatedly beat the system with their athletic ability on the field.  No one should have the right to get away with breaking the law or rules of the game, so why are these organizations like the NFL and NBA seemingly let their ‘all-star’ athletes off the hook? The answer is they can’t afford not to let these athletes off the hook, and the athletes realize that and take advantage of it.  The NFL and NBA are multi-billion dollar industries and if they don’t let a team’s best player play, chances are the fans won’t show up and spend their money because they will lose all hope. If you look at the attendance rates of fans when LeBron James is playing versus when he takes a rest, the attendance is noticeably lower. Dick Vitale, a college basketball analyst, agrees that athletes receive ‘get out of jail free cards.’ In his article titled, “Young Athletes Making Poor Decisions” he states, “ When you have talent, you get chance after chance. I wish that some of these kids would realize what they are doing, how they are hurting their families, coaches and friends.” Dick Vitale is very upset in what athletes this sports industry is producing. These athletes have no costs to their actions because of their wealth and athletic ability. They are able to easily pay whatever fine comes their way, or the organizations won’t do anything because they are great at their sport. In an article from a local newspaper call Savanah Now, written by Roy Hadley titled “Athletes and Bad Decisions” states, “We have seen it again and again - bad decisions have bad consequences and athletes, sooner or later, have to realize that they are ultimately held to the same rules and standards as everyone else.” Roy Hadley agrees with me and Dick Vitale that athletes should learn to make better decisions and be held to the same rules as the rest of us. Overall as athletes wealth and the organization's wealth grow, there is more likelihood that the athletes will make poor decisions on or off the field.

High School Athletes and Their Actions

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  Professional athletes are not the only athletes expressing poor behavior.  We can see athletes making poor decisions all the way down the high school level.  High school sports have seen an increase in fights on the field or court in the past couple of years.  These high school athletes have not learned the true meaning behind sports and aren’t getting the great lessons that high school sports can teach when then act like fools.  Eric Sondheimer in his article from The LA Times titled “Time for Coaches and Parents to Stop Athletes’ Bad Behavior” seems to believe that the lack of authority in coaches and parents in the high school level is the problem.  Sondheimer states, “What's baffling is that some athletes no longer respect their coaches. In the old days, you were so scared to make your coach mad that no one had to worry about players leaving a bench or a fan taunting an official. The coach's stare or the coach's voice would bring an immediate halt to bad behavior.” These athletes no longer have the fear in their coaches which made them behave according to Eric Sondheimer.

You might ask, Well, why aren’t these coaches being harder on these kids to make them behave? Eric Sondheimer would argue that parents threaten to transfer if the coach doesn’t treat their athlete in a respectful manner he states in his article, “Some people say transferring has become so rampant that coaches have seen their authority diminished. A coach yells at an athlete or puts him on the bench, and Mom or Dad's response is, "So long."’” The coaches of these teams feel like they need to treat these athletes differently now because of their parents threatening to transfer if they are rude to the athletes. In my opinion, I have seen this at the high school level here in Chicago.  We played a team in which their best two players were complete bastards on the court.  They elbowed opponents, talked back to the referees, and got into it with other players.  That team was in the West Suburban Conference.  The worst team (attitude wise) that I have ever played against was Crespi Carmelite, a team who is from California, around where this article was written, so maybe there is a bigger problem out west then here, but it is definitely still a problem in the midwest.  I will not get into specifics about why their manner and respect for the game, officials, and coaches was so bad, but it was the worst that I have ever seen or played against.

Overall, the reason why high school players can get away with so much now is because their coaches don’t have the authority that they once did back in they day.  They do not have the authority over the players because they are figuring out they they can transfer and be better off at a different school then stick around with a coach who yells at them all the time.

Athletes and Financials

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Athletes making bad decisions is not just getting into fights or using illegal drugs, they can also make poor decisions financially.  It seems like every year we hear about a pro athlete who goes broke because he spent all of his money and declared for bankruptcy.  These athletes make a lot of money, money that most of them aren’t used to having because majority of athletes were poor before they get to the professional level.  These young men do not know how to handle their financials for a couple reasons, like many of them don’t have the education on how to handle money, also many of them have children with women whom they are not married too, so they need to pay hefty fines child support.  One of the most famous athletes who went bankrupt as Maureen Callahan writes in her article titled, “How Pro Athletes Lose Everything” was Mike Tyson.  She wrote, “Mike Tyson, who tore through $300 million on multiple homes, cars, jewels and pet tigers. In 2003, he filed for bankruptcy.” Mike Tyson was ill informed on how to spend his money wisely and ultimately ended up going bankrupt.

Vast majority of professional athletes come from families who were not wealthy growing up. Maureen Callahan writes in her article, “Far too many of them, he found, had not only failed to plan for their future, but lacked a basic understanding of money management.” When these athletes first reach the professional leagues, they do not know what to do with these large sums of money that they just acquired. They have not been educated well throughout their whole lives. These athletes go out and spend their money on material objects instead of investing it, as they should.  These athletes have no idea on how long they will actually be playing their sport for.  Anything can happen, ranging from getting injured to getting cut from the team.  If they can no longer play the sport then they are out of a job in which they have no income to support themselves and since they didn’t invest their money they are going to have to declare for bankruptcy.  In my opinion there should be a required class on managing your financials before you are allowed to enter any professional sport.

Another reason so many athletes are going broke is because they need to pay hefty child support fines on kids that they have.  We know now that athletes do not make the smartest decisions ever, and many of athletes have kids with multiple women.  These athletes need to pay a large sum of their income to these women in order to take care of the children.  Callahan writes in her article, “Divorce and child-support payments, Foyle writes, are two things most young athletes never anticipate. “Early in my career, I heard a league official say that once they retire, there is an 87 percent divorce rate among NBA players,” he writes.” Even if the athletes are educated on their financials, they are still at risk for divorce payments and child-support payments.  They never anticipate it because they think they will be happily married with their kids for their whole life, but that is not the case.

Overall the main reason for athletes going bankrupt is the lack of education followed by paying large child-support fines.  Many of these athletes need to become informed on how to spend their money wisely or else we will see this trend continue in the future.  These young men are only about twenty years old and they are making such large sums of money.  It is a dangerous thing to give these kids this amount of money when they do not know how to spend it.

Dick Vitale on Athletes and Bad Decisions

 

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If you have watched a college basketball game before you have probably heard Dick Vitale announcing the play-by-play action.  You probably also saw a young kid make a stupid decision on the court that led to a technical foul because he got into a fight with another player.  Again, why are these young athletes making bad decisions? Dick Vitale seems to believe that these poor decisions are due to a lack of experience, being flat out stupid, and believing that he/she is above the law because they are an athlete.  In his article titled, “Young Athletes Making Poor Decisions” Dick Vitale states ““ When you have talent, you get chance after chance. I wish that some of these kids would realize what they are doing, how they are hurting their families, coaches and friends. It is immaturity and I don't want to hear that kids will be kids. There are plenty of 18 and 19-year-olds who are mature enough to go out and fight for our country. They are old enough to know right from wrong.” Athletes who repeatedly make poor decisions over and over again clearly don’t understand the fundamentals between right and wrong.  As Vitale stated, many young adults who are the same age as these men and women are able to make good decisions, so why do we see so many athletes on the news making bad decisions.  The athletes who are talented enough to make mistakes over and over and get bailed out because of their ability to play a sport are in jeopardy, because once they grow old, there won’t be anyone who can bail them out of jail.

When I watch the Duke basketball team play this year I always see Grayson Allen doing something shady on the court.  A couple of game ago he blatantly tripped an opposing player and was not called for a technical foul.  Then in a few games after that, he did the same exact thing and still didn’t get called for a foul.  Why is this talented kid going out and tripping opposing players?  I believe he is doing it now because he feels like he can do it without facing the consequences, and he should feel that way because the referees bailed him out of two technicals.  God forbid Duke, who some think is having an off year, play without one of their best players for one game.  Dick Vitale states in his article, “Others are caught up in their little world where they think they can get away with anything. We see some of this on a professional level, a la Braylon Edwards and his DWI. He was allowed to go back on the field because he is talented. If he was a borderline player, he would have been gone.” He states that people like Braylon Edwards can get away with doing bad things on and off the field, just like Graycen Allen.  If these players believe they can get away with anything they will keep on testing their limits until that limit is reached.  Unfortunately, many professional athletes make bad decisions thinking their athletic ability will bail them out if they get caught.

Athletes thinking they are above the law and also not knowing the fundamentals between right and wrong make very bad decisions.  Many professional and even collegiate athletes are not educated well, which may result in making bad decisions. Athletes who think they can do whatever they want because of their ability to play on the field, are bailed out everyday by referees, coaches, and the associations or leagues they play in.

Athletes thinking they are above the law and also not knowing the fundamentals between right and wrong make very bad decisions.  Many professional and even collegiate athletes are not educated well, which may result in making bad decisions. Athletes who think they can do whatever they want because of their ability to play on the field, are bailed out everyday by referees, coaches, and the associations or leagues they play in.

Why are Athletes Making Bad Decisions?

 

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Athletes have been making bad decisions both on and off the field since the beginning of sports. When I say ‘bad decisions’ I don’t mean throwing an interception or missing a three pointer to lose the game, I mean getting in fights with opponents, breaking team rules, or even breaking the law.  We hear about athletes making bad decisions all the time, we even hear about their coaches making bad decisions, so, why are these athletes, who so many people look up to, make such bad decisions?  Roy Hadley, in his article titled Too Many Good Athletes are Making Bad Decisions from Savannah Now, a local newspaper in Savannah, argues that athletes make bad decisions because athletes believe they are above the law and can do as they please because they are good at their sport.  In his article he states, “We have seen it again and again - bad decisions have bad consequences and athletes, sooner or later, have to realize that they are ultimately held to the same rules and standards as everyone else.” Roy Hadley is arguing his point that athletes have a predetermination that they are above everyone else in the world. However, they are not, and when athletes come to face with their consequences for their actions they need to realize it.  

As an athlete, I have experienced my fair share of bad decisions on the field and I can definitely understand athletes, who are in the heat of the moment, getting in a little stand off with their opponents. I know how when you are out under the lights and under immense pressure, you don’t think, you listen to your body. However, off the field altercations are a different story. I don’t understand why an athlete would ruin his or her reputation by going out and partying and doing drugs or getting into bar fights.  Roy Hadley states, “As a pro athlete, you are always in the spotlight. You know it, your fans know it, and the media know it. Lesson in life for all athletes - you have to act like you are in the spotlight, which means you can't get into fights in bars. It is just not a good look.” Pro Athletes are followed by many people including children and when they do something like getting into a bar fight, it hurts their reputation because the story will be all over SportsCenter and could hurt their career drastically.  

Athletes who think they are above the law need to learn that they aren’t.  I have never felt that because of my athletic talents, I can break rules and get away with it.  I am not a professional athlete however, so maybe if you are a professional athlete you become influenced with the idea that you are above the law.  We need to get inside these athletes to understand why they make these bad decisions.   

Professional Athletes and Bad Decisions

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• KEY ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES I’M ADDRESSING:  

-People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways

-All Choices Have an Opportunity Cost

• OVERALL RESEARCH QUESTION:  Why do professional athletes make such bad decisions?
• SUB QUESTIONS
• What professional athletes make these bad decisions?
• Do they think they are making good decisions?
• Is it the stressfulness of the sport that makes them make bad decisions?
• Does having a lot of money, and not a full education, result in the bad decisions?
• How can teams help these athletes to calm them down?
• RESOURCES FOR RESEARCH:
• DATABASES: ProQuest, Opposing Viewpoints, etc.
• WEBSITES: ESPN, Bleacherreport, NFL, NBA, etc
• OTHER (OPTIONAL): None