Future Trends versus Economic Concerns Essay
Future Trends versus Economic Concerns Essay Introduction
Economic changes are a driving factor for a number of activities in the present generation. Fluctuations in the economic sector have led to organizations’ redefining their laws to enable them save as much as they can, and at the same time, accomplish their set goals. Sporting organizations are among these many organizations that have made adjustments in their laws and by-laws with a bid to help them cut down on costs; as a result, travel costs and allowances, training for the college students, and numbers of games played are monitored (The National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2009). Individual institutions have tightened regulations for their student athletes and coaches to help save on expenditure costs providing scholarships to their students during their academic years. In this regard, this paper looks at the future trends in institutions regarding sports with the impact that economic changes have brought.
Laws that Have Been Adjusted due to the Economic Trends
Chu, Segrave, and Becker (2004) defined sporting organizations as organizations formed on the principle of providing suitable environments for a student’s development in class work and their athletic nurturing. In efforts to survive the economic constraints and changes, the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) and other sporting organizations have made amendments in their by-laws, which are meant to regulate support, training, championships attended by athletes, travels, accommodations, and the number of championship events athletes participate. Student athletes participating in institutions’ championships and programs are required to take part in a number of seasons (NCAA, 2009). These programs are believed to cause huge losses to these institutions; as a result, an amendment was then done to reduce the number of seasons and the duration of seasons student athletes participated.
The first law that has been amended in response to economic trends is the preseason practice for student athletes, which was regulated in order to enable institutions cut down on extra practice costs (NCAA, 2014). The numbers of days that students reported to institutions prior to the beginning of season competitions were reduced to minimize the expenses on training, and accommodations provided (NCAA, 2009). The practice days are to be a minimum of one day to three days maximum for every institution.
The number of athletic programs has also been amended in response to economic trends. In this regard, institutions are supposed to eliminate some programs that their students participated in during non-championship periods. Not every institution’s sports program is considered profitable for its economic returns; consequently, a number of programs were also re-evaluated on the time they practiced, the number of times they played and the number of the squad list they present to the championships (Perez-Pena, 2013). This led to the elimination of some sports in the support levels such as the regional levels. Only income generating sports such as football and basketball were an exception to the regulations of the number of times for practice and their expenditure costs, which is covered with individual institutions.
Sporting programs are also regulated with respect to the number of contests under the sports category; accordingly, the expenditure the institutions spend on the accommodations, food, travels and other expenses are to be reduced. Commencement dates and the duration of season games were re-evaluated (NCAA, 2014). The regulations required that no student should receive athletic and academic scholarships by institutions during the summer seasons. Lodgings and other allowances for home games in every sport that institutions provided for its students was banned. NCAA also re-evaluated the total amount of funds that were being reimbursed to institutions for the support they gave to scholarship students (NCAA, 2009).
These changes pose threats to the existence and participation of students in the collegiate championships. They will have a direct impact on the admission levels into colleges and universities and the continuation of sports in these institutions in the future (Rosenberg, Schaefer, & Windsor, 2009).
Effects of These Changes
Implementing change strategies and policies in any organization has never been an easy process. Chu, Segrave, and Becker (2004) asserted that the results of policies change implementation can be either positive or negative, and in most cases, they turn out unexpected. Because of changes in the sporting organization laws, annual admissions into colleges and universities have recorded a high drop despite the institutions recovering their average economic status. Students are opting for middle tier educational establishments where they only participate in sports even without financial aids. Popular institutions are losing their student numbers to other ones that are not the dependents on the strict regulations by sporting organizations. Educational institutions that depend on tuition funds are on the verge of closure following the reduced numbers of students that they receive every year (Rosenberg, Schaefer, & Windsor, 2009). Other institutions have opted to admit regular students compared to those who can be awarded scholarships. In the worst-case scenario, students with developable talents tend to direct their efforts to making the best out of their class work while avoiding or ignoring athletic talents, which is a good thing for better performance in academic work but a negative effect to the sports arena since it will lose talented participants with a promising future athletic careers. This is because they see no reason in regulating the practice hours, seasons of support, and the length of participation in the championship.
Regulations in the sports sector pose to reduce the number of support in the championship programs. Institutions that are unable to abide by the rules that have been amended by sporting organizations such as NCAA will be forced to withdraw membership. This results in a negative impact not only on the sports organization, but also on students who aspire to once be professional players of recognizable teams. While football and basketball competitions have made a great leap in the sports industry, sports such as track and field are losing interest in the face of their supporters (The National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2009). This is after they were banned from participation on the regional levels by member institutions. It is on the regional levels where teams can compete before they reach the national or season competitions. Therefore, because of banning this crucial step in the nurturing of talents, students lose their interest after a poor performance in the upper levels of competition.
It has been found out that reducing the number of contests that student athletes participate in has a direct impact on their performance (Perez-Pena, 2013). Contests are forums where athletes realize their weaknesses and strengths and make necessary efforts in attaining the best. For that reason, students may perform poorly in their contests, and a subsequent loss in their competitions might demoralize their efforts in performing better in athletics (Chu, Segrave, & Becker, 2004). Some new sports regulations are intended to reduce the expenditure on communication and advertisements on the media and publicized recruiting materials that it produces. The reduced number of publications translates into reduced awareness of these organizations among the college and university students, which might lead to the reduced influence that sporting organizations intended on students in colleges and universities and reduced knowledge students have about these organizations. Sporting organizations have been operating under the funds that are generated from sport championships that member institutions participate in. With the withdrawals of member institutions, and reduced number of support, sporting organizations are to incur greater losses compared to the ones they felt before the amendments of the laws. These accumulated losses are also a direct impact on the employment sector for the coaches and sponsors of various sports (Rosenberg, Schaefer, & Windsor, 2009). The withdrawal of institutions from participation in the championships leads to the reduction of the number of training staff. Some personnel will lose their daily wages and source of provisions for them and those dependent on them. At a larger scale, these changes in the policies of the sporting organizations are projected to be an advantage to institutions that suffered from the lack of student populations. The students from institutions that are under the amended regulations of sports tend to transfer to the institutions, which are not dependent on the sporting organizations. Universities and colleges have recorded a higher turnout in the number of students enrolling (Perez-Pena, 2013). Some offer additional chances to students who have exceptional academic performance (Rosenberg, Schaefer, & Windsor, 2009). It is evident that the future trends that these changes project will be to the disadvantage of institutions and the sporting arena.
Conclusion
Economic changes are a driving factor for a number of activities in the present generation. Fluctuations in the economic sector have led to the redefining of organization laws to save as much as possible while at the same time accomplishing their set goals. Sporting organizations have made amendments to the sporting support of member institutions and, consequently, the losses resultant after effects have increased compared to those previously experienced. The organizations risk the loss of member institutions, reduced number of participations in their championships from institutions, decline of students participating in some sports, poor performance in the sports, reduced impact on college and university students, and loss of more revenues they collected from championships.
The effects of the reactions to the policies may also lead to the increased rates of unemployment. Amendments that were meant to regain more economic returns to the organizations and the individual institutions pose adverse results from the participating students. These call for sporting organizations’ management to make efforts in formulating better policies that will enable better participation from students and at the same time save on the economic status.
