Sports is a Business

            With such an eventful week in college sports, mainly the scandal that has erupted in the Penn State community, I decided to take a small detour away from all the commotion in the world of football…

            Baseball season has officially ended with an emotional and exciting World Series.  Although the season is over, it’s that time of year when the front offices of teams start planning for the future.  Meanwhile, free agent players remain in limbo.  As I was browsing through the MLB section of ESPN.com trying to get away from the hullabaloo of Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lions, I selected an article about Jorge Pasada and his career end with the New York Yankees.  Most people associated Posada as a Yankee just as Albert Pujols as a Cardinal (not for long).  However, with the season over for the Yankees and Posada on the market, I was curious about the inner-workings of the organization.  As I was reading the article, a noticeable quote stuck out to me made by Posada.  In his talks about leaving the franchise and his remembrance of “always being a Yankee,” he proceeded to say that “at the end of the day, it’s a business.”  This automatically made me stop and think.  At first, it made me angry.  It’s a game!  You are a player who should be playing for the game itself, not the politics or the money behind it all.  I have always believed that the love of the game should always come first before materialistic wants.  But, as I thought about Posada’s point, he is right.  I may not agree with it, but truly at the end of the day, teams and leagues are all just businesses.  The players play the game to win because it translates to money.  Teams acquire big name and big money players in order to turn a profit.  It really is a business.

 I guess my immediate reaction was based on my experience as only a player.  I have chosen my future career to be in the business of sports, and now I need to start thinking along those lines.  The age of playing for “fun” has ended.  Now it’s time to learn the business approach to sports that was never present in my life before.  It may be a challenge, and my conscious may resist, but in order for me to have a career with my passion, my mind set ultimately needs to be reset. 

-Written by Nichole Antilla