Deck 11: Sports and the Economy: What Are the Characteristics of Commercial Sports

Question 1

The sport with the teams that have the highest global recognition and value is

A)North American football.
B)soccer.
C)basketball.
D)rugby.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Commercial sports are most well established in cultures where lifestyles involve

A)a focus on cooperation and conservation.
B)low rates of car ownership and high rates of mass transit use.
C)high rates of consumption and an emphasis on status symbols.
D)an emphasis on equality and diversity.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The sport teams with the highest number of social media followers are located in

A)Spain
B)the United States.
C)Brazil.
D)China.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Transnational corporations sponsor sports today because they want to

A)sell their products to athletes and coaches.
B)encourage people to spend more time in front of the television.
C)associate pleasure and enjoyment with corporations and their products.
D)improve the health and well-being of people around the world.

Question 5

Spectator interest in sports is related to a combination of the level of risk or rewards associated with an event, anticipated displays of excellence or heroics, and

A)the uncertainty of an event's outcome.
B)the price of tickets to the event.
C)the seriousness of the injuries that may occur during the event.
D)the clarity of the rules and regulations in the event.

Question 6

Golf has become a major commercial sport in certain countries because those who are interested in golf

A)tend to watch more television than other people in society.
B)have more free time than other people in society.
C)are more influenced by advertising messages than others in society.
D)have more economic resources and influence than others in society.

Question 7

Commercial sports are most likely to grow and prosper in societies with

A)market economies, large urban centers, and the availability of capital.
B)high rates of unemployment combined with access to transportation.
C)traditional definitions of masculinity and femininity.
D)low rates of consumption and little awareness of status differences.

Question 8

Television has had a positive impact on the growth of commercial sports because it

A)distracts people's attention from physical activity in their own lives.
B)forces sports and sport teams to compete with each other for revenues.
C)builds strong rivalries between players on different teams in sport leagues.
D)serves as an effective tool for recruiting new spectators and fans.

Question 9

The emergence and growth of commercial sports depends on whether they

A)attract the attention and support of powerful political leaders.
B)generate revenues from multiple sources.
C)present fans with exciting, uncontrolled forms of violence.
D)eliminate competing forms of entertainment in society.

Question 10

Spectator interest in sports is created in connection with four cultural conditions.Which of the following is NOT one of the conditions discussed in the chapter?

A)A widespread ideology that connects success and hard work.
B)A system of youth sports in which children learn to value sport skills.
C)A large collection of low-income workers with free time on their hands.
D)A quest for excitement in social worlds characterized by order and control.

Question 11

When corporations brand athletes they like to do it when the athletes are

A)young so they can mold the athlete's career to fit corporate interests.
B)mature enough to know what they want out of life.
C)newly married and less likely to party and have multiple sex partners.
D)from dysfunctional families and in need of a father figure.

Question 12

Action sport athlete Shaun Palmer has Cadillac tattoos.In a commercial sport context, this creates tensions around

A)relationships between athletes.
B)who owns Palmer's body.
C)the role of General Motors in action sports.
D)the amount of coverage given to tattoo artists.

Question 13

Football has become "America's game" because it

A)fits with rural traditions and values in the heartland of the nation.
B)meets the interests of people from all social backgrounds in the society.
C)celebrates the values and experiences of powerful people in the society.
D)emphasizes democratic values and the importance of teamwork.

Question 14

The Super Bowl is a unique event for corporate branding because it

A)attracts equal numbers of male and female television viewers.
B)allows sponsors into the locker rooms after the game.
C)people watch the event live rather than recording it for later viewing.
D)is widely viewed on computers where people access ads through links.

Question 15

The growth of corporate branding in sports in recent years indicates that

A)the social awareness of corporate leaders increases as profits increase.
B)nearly everything associated with sports is for sale.
C)people have become bored by consumption and must be motivated by ads.
D)corporations are losing their power and will do anything to regain it.

Question 16

Class relations are connected with commercial sports in any society because

A)low-income people use sports to resist traditional class ideology.
B)people with money promote and sponsor sports that fit their interests.
C)commercial sports usually recruit athletes from low-income backgrounds.
D)people are attracted to sports played by people with power and wealth.

Question 17

Because there are few objections to the branding of sports, the author suggests that

A)the media will soon ask corporations to pay for coverage of their sports.
B)sports will eventually control corporations.
C)corporate branding has been normalized in the minds of younger people.
D)there will soon be congressional legislation that bans all sport sponsorships.

Question 18

The globalization of commercial sports is due in part to the fact that

A)sport organizations are interested in expanding their markets.
B)athletes as a group like to travel to new places.
C)airlines are major corporate sponsors of pro sports worldwide.
D)immigration regulations have been loosened up in many countries today.

Question 19

Corporate executives realize that if they can establish ideological outposts in the minds of people, they can use those outposts to

A)inspire people to become involved in social issues.
B)foster an ethic of caring and sharing among people.
C)deliver messages about the importance of citizenship.
D)defuse popular opposition to corporate policies and products.

Question 20

Michael Jordan has been a key figure in spreading around the world an ideology emphasizing that

A)sports are valuable tools for advertisers who must sell products.
B)basketball belongs back in neighborhoods under local control by people.
C)hard work is more important than a way of life based on consumption.
D)becoming a brand name is an empty achievement for athletes.

Question 21

In the discussion of commercial sports it is noted that commercialization has

A)affected coaches much more than it has affected athletes.
B)produced dramatic changes in the basic structure and goals of most sports.
C)changed the orientations of players, coaches, and others in sports.
D)eliminated much of the excitement associated with sports.

Question 22

When rules are developed or changed in connection with commercialization, the new rules are likely to

A)increase scoring.
B)slow down the action.
C)encourage lopsided scores.
D)eliminate breaks in the action.

Question 23

When sport leagues and team owner become monopsonies it means that they are

A)governed by anti-trust laws to an extreme degree.
B)the major supporter of art museums in a city.
C)create new forms of capital in a city.
D)the only buyer of athlete labor.

Question 24

Some professional sport leagues and governing bodies currently claim to be "non-profit organizations" in order to avoid paying taxes on revenues.The most notable example of this is

A)Major League Baseball (MLB).
B)the National Basketball association (NBA).
C)World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
D)the National Football League (NFL).

Question 25

In the box, Extreme Heroic Action, sociologist Brendan Maguire uses structural theory to hypothesize that professional wrestling is popular in social worlds characterized by

A)strong community ties.
B)anxiety and social disenchantment.
C)weak forms of social control.
D)traditional gender relations.

Question 26

Over the past 40 years the people who have bought and sold teams in the NBA, NFL, NHL, and Major League Baseball have generally

A)lost money on the sale but made money on annual gate receipts.
B)used their popularity to begin political careers.
C)made money but lost most of it to taxes.
D)made vast amounts of money on the sales.

Question 27

As commercialization increases, the decision-making in sport organizations

A)moves further away from the control of athletes.
B)focuses on issues of the public good.
C)takes into account long term goals related to values and integrity in sports.
D)becomes disorganized to the point that chaos is characteristic.

Question 28

Team owners in the major sport leagues in the U.S.have formed cartels that

A)form close alliances with players' unions.
B)foster healthy competition between the owners.
C)coordinate the actions of owners.
D)prevent the formation of monopolies in their sport.

Question 29

Which of the following is most likely to be emphasized in commercial sports?

A)The style and excitement of movement by athletes.
B)The technical physical abilities of athletes.
C)The willingness of athletes to explore limits without surpassing them.
D)The commitment that athletes have to stay in their sports.

Question 30

Owners of teams men's spectator sports in the U.S.often receive public assistance in the form of

A)donations from revenue sharing funds.
B)free public transportation for fans holding season tickets.
C)free parking for those who attend games.
D)tax breaks and subsidies related to the use of facilities.

Question 31

The owners of major sport teams and the sponsors of major sport events do not think alike on all issues but they generally

A)love sports more than their own businesses.
B)agree on the need to protect their investments and maximize profits.
C)come from similar backgrounds and attended similar types of colleges.
D)adhere to progressive and liberal political and economic ideologies.

Question 32

Professional sport teams in North America are privately owned.Most people who own the hundreds of minor league teams in North America

A)show annual profits that make team ownership a wise investment.
B)regularly lose money on their teams.
C)invest in sports because public subsidies enable them to make money.
D)use local business endorsements to make vast amounts of money.

Question 33

When sports become commercialized, there are changes in the organizations that control them.These changes involve shifts in

A)who makes decisions and how decisions reflect the interests of athletes.
B)the leadership techniques used by those in management positions.
C)organizational accounting procedures and personnel policies.
D)the ways that referees are hired, fired, and assigned to events.

Question 34

The orientations of athletes and other people in sports are affected by the fact that a mass audience

A)is entertained mostly by the beauty of movement in a sport.
B)wants to see athletes who have mastered technical skills.
C)tends to be young and highly educated.
D)lacks technical knowledge about the sports they watch.

Question 35

In commercial sports there is a tendency for aesthetic values to be replaced by

A)democratic values.
B)spectator values.
C)economic values.
D)heroic values.

Question 36

In NASCAR racing, a highly commercialized sport, sponsorships for drivers are based primarily on the driver's ability to

A)avoid serious accidents and keep the car on the track.
B)attract attention and increase financial profits for the sponsor.
C)win races and focus attention on the skills of the pit crew.
D)serve as a role model for young people who watch racing.

Question 37

In the box, Extreme Heroic Action, it is noted that professional wrestling is

A)popular only in the U.S.where people are addicted to violence in media.
B)less commercialized than the NFL and other professional sports.
C)the only true form of competition in sports today.
D)an extreme version of the commercialization found in many other sports.

Question 38

The relationships between the team owners in the major professional team sports in North America are most accurately described as forms of

A)free enterprise competition.
B)legal monopolies.
C)civic charity.
D)illegal trusts.

Question 39

In the box, Extreme Heroic Action, it is noted that someone using cultural theories would hypothesize that professional wrestling is popular because it

A)glorifies the use of drugs.
B)casts women in roles that highlight their moral integrity.
C)reaffirms the ideologies that people use to make sense of their lives.
D)addresses the angst associated with community breakdown.

Question 40

The storylines presented in major professional wrestling (WWE) emphasize that

A)working men are either victimized or privileged by greedy bosses.
B)women are hard workers dedicated to their mates and families.
C)success is based on working together in supportive relationships.
D)being physically talented is better than being a dramatic performer.

Question 41

An independent study shows that when the city of Cleveland subsidized major sport teams owners with a billion dollars for three new stadiums and city and county tax exemptions of $50 million per year, it resulted in

A)no downtown rejuvenation as stadium proponents predicted.
B)efficient, low cost job creation for city workers.
C)forcing low income residents to find housing in other areas of the city.
D)improving local city schools and raising teacher salaries.

Question 42

The author suggests that instead of subsidizing professional sport team owners, local and state governments could use the same money to

A)pay professional athletes salaries based on players' entertainment value.
B)build multiple local recreational facilities that could be used by local residents.
C)subsidize developers who want to build large projects.
D)organize fans into spectator unions that could bargain with team owners.

Question 43

The fact that the U.S.government allows corporations to deduct a portion of sport ticket prices on their tax returns has ultimately served to

A)stabilize ticket prices for the average fan.
B)increase ticket prices for the average fan.
C)make for tickets available to organizations that serve needy children.
D)eliminate the illegal selling of tickets outside of stadiums.

Question 44

The people who oppose public subsidies for professional sport teams seldom prevent the subsidies because they

A)are ineffective community organizers.
B)do not understand how urban power structures operate in the 21^st century.
C)idolize celebrity athletes and team owners.
D)lack resources to challenge arguments of the proponents of subsidies.

Question 45

The author notes that recently built sport stadiums tend to resemble

A)medieval cathedrals in Europe.
B)the homes of wealthy season ticket owners.
C)shopping malls with a playing field in the middle.
D)factories designed to produce winning teams.

Question 46

Lockouts are different than strikes in that

A)lockouts are about fairness and strikes are about control.
B)lockouts are more easily settled than strikes.
C)lockouts do not eliminate pay for employees.
D)owners initiate lockouts and employees initiate strikes.

Question 47

After reviewing the arguments and counter arguments for spending public money to subsidize stadiums and pro sport team owners, the author concludes that

A)subsidies are justified if team owners are truly needy.
B)public money is better spent on projects other than building a stadium.
C)wealthy spectators deserve to have public money used to subsidize their leisure.
D)major economic recessions would occur if subsidies were discontinued.

Question 48

Many sport team owners have made requests for new stadiums because they want to

A)serve more local citizens from working class backgrounds.
B)have the highest-paid players in their respective leagues.
C)hold down ticket prices for the average sport spectator.
D)gain access to new revenue streams related to the stadium.

Question 49

Which of the following is NOT one of the widely used arguments made to justify stadium subsidies and other forms of public support for professional sport teams?

A)Professional teams create positive psychic and social benefits in a city.
B)A stadium and a pro team create jobs for citizens in a city.
C)Team owners regularly share their profits with city governments.
D)Professional teams attract other businesses to the city.

Question 50

As corporate sponsorships are used as the sole basis of support for amateur athletes and sport organizations, amateur sports will come to depend on the

A)income earning potential of amateur athletes.
B)business training of amateur sport officials.
C)socially progressive visions of sports that corporate executives have.
D)prosperity of market economies and the profits of large corporations.

Question 51

The legal status of professional athletes in individual sports depends on the rules of professional organizations in their sports and

A)special rights guaranteed by local government agencies.
B)contractual agreements made with sponsors, agents, and managers.
C)the age, race, and gender of the athlete.
D)the ethical principles of people in the sport being played.

Question 52

The power of organizations that control amateur sports is primarily related to

A)the number of their athletes who have successful careers outside of sports.
B)their relationships with political leaders and governmental agencies.
C)the money they generate through sport events and sponsorships.
D)the organizational abilities of their administrators.

Question 53

Despite the success of players' organizations in professional team sports it is difficult to get players to join an organization that may ask them to participate in a strike.This is because athletes

A)come from very conservative family backgrounds.
B)see themselves more as artists than as workers.
C)have short playing careers and are dependent on owners.
D)have strong desires to see team owners of their teams make money.

Question 54

The legal status of most athletes in professional team sports in North America was for many years governed by the reserve system.The reserve system was designed to

A)give players total control over their own careers.
B)increase the salaries of the best athletes on a predetermined schedule.
C)give team owners nearly total control of players and their careers.
D)give wealthy team owners an advantage over other team owners.

Question 55

A thorough review of research shows that the arguments used to justify subsidies for pro sport teams are
A)contradicted by studies done by independent economists.

A)supported by studies done by all economists, conservative or liberal.
B)contradicted only by studies done by liberal economists.
C)supported by studies done by independent economists.

Question 56

The nonprofit sponsors of amateur sports in the U.S.are primarily interested in

A)publicity and advertising for their products and services.
B)preserving processes enabling athletes to control their own careers in sport.
C)using amateur sports to generate mass sport participation.
D)organizing competitions for young athletes in developmental programs.

Question 57

Team owners in the major men's sports are free-market capitalists who protect their power and wealth through

A)market regulations and socialist forms of organization.
B)cooperation with local, tax-supported high school sport programs.
C)illegal business practices.
D)collective agreements to reject monopoly forms of organization.

Question 58

When $432 million of public money was used to remodel Soldier Field, the stadium used by the NFL's Chicago Bears,

A)the team owner enjoyed a $700 million increase in the team's estimated value.
B)the people of Chicago received discounts on their season tickets.
C)the stadium generated large annual revenues for the city.
D)the taxpayers in Chicago received a large cut in city sales taxes.

Question 59

So-called amateur sport organizations in the United States share a primary interest in two things.These are

A)control over athletes and money from sponsors and events.
B)creating youth sports and coaching education programs.
C)providing venues and funding for sport-for-all programs.
D)obtaining federal government grant and local government support.

Question 60

When changes in the legal status of athletes allow them to become "free agents," this means that the athletes may

A)sign a contract with the team that offers them the best deal.
B)unite with other athletes to force owners to increase salaries.
C)switch teams every season depending on who they want to play for.
D)hire an agent to represent them and negotiate a contract with a team.

Question 61

A recent study by Huma and Staurowsky showed that if the athletes on the football and men's basketball teams at the 121 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) universities were paid "fair market value" based on the revenues they produce, each athletes would have had an annual salary of

A)over one million dollars.
B)$20,000-$30,000
C)$50,000.
D)$100,000 to $265,000.

Question 62

Data in the chapter show that professional athletes playing in minor league sports

A)usually make less than $5000 per month.
B)make about half of the average salaries in the top professional leagues.
C)make nearly the same as athletes in the top professional leagues.
D)make less than minimum wage in the U.S.and Canada.

Question 63

The U.S.Golf Association and the U.S.Tennis Association sponsor tournaments for amateurs.The only other major sport governing bodies that require amateur status for eligibility are the Amateur Athletic Association and the

A)ESPN X Games.
B)National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
C)International Olympic Committee (IOC).
D)World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Question 64

The contracts of most pro athletes in the major men's team sports are governed by a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).This agreement is made between

A)team owners and players.
B)team owners and the U.S.Congress.
C)a neutral collection of labor lawyers.
D)players, fans, and media companies.

Question 65

When universities profit from big-time football and men's basketball it is primarily because they

A)demand that coaches make less than university presidents.
B)have access to cheap athletic labor.
C)benefit from boosters who have an irrational need to donate money.
D)are fiscally conservative and efficient.

Question 66

The author notes that many of the professional athletes in individual sports make less money than people think because they

A)are paid only a predetermined percentage of all gate receipts.
B)must pay for all officials and promotional expenses for events.
C)often pay their own expenses for travel and training.
D)many not receive legal advice when they negotiate endorsement contracts.

Question 67

The salaries of professional athletes in team sports in the U.S.

A)are highest in the sports involving the most danger and risk.
B)have always been higher than the average incomes of corporate CEOs.
C)tend to decline when team owners compete to sign players to contracts.
D)reflect the legal status of players and revenues generated by those sports.

Question 68

The legal status of amateur athletes around the world is controlled by

A)numerous organizations, each with their own interests and goals.
B)a single international commission on amateur sports.
C)the parents of the athletes.
D)powerful players' unions in different sports.

Question 69

The large annual increases in the salaries of major league baseball players after the 1976 season were due in large part to

A)increases in the popularity of baseball outside North America.
B)a change in the legal status of players.
C)a switch from family ownership of teams to corporate ownership of teams.
D)the development of cable television coverage.

Question 70

Data on athletes' salaries show that

A)athletes have always made at least 5 times more than average U.S.families.
B)the salary gap between the highest and lowest paid athletes has increased.
C)no athletes make only the minimum salary in the major men's team sports.
D)since 1975, athletes' salaries have declined in inflation adjusted terms.

Question 71

The recent, large annual increases in the salaries of athletes in the major men's professional sport leagues are primarily due to

A)increased gate receipts in major league baseball.
B)changes in the legal status of players and increased revenues in sports.
C)a switch from family ownership of teams to corporate ownership of teams.
D)the development and growth of the Internet.

Question 72

The NCAA has changed its definition of amateur a number of times primarily to

A)meet changing government regulations.
B)avoid paying players and taxes on revenues.
C)make sure that college athletes are cared for properly.
D)raise the salaries of coaches in small colleges.

Question 73

One of the key elements in the CBA signed in 2005 between the National Hockey League and the NHL Players Association were provisions that

A)set ticket prices for all NHL games.
B)allowed fans to vote on players' salaries.
C)limited team payrolls and salaries for players.
D)gave players the freedom to sign contracts with any team.