The American Competitive Sports System

Sports play a significant role in the lives of millions of Americans, touching almost every aspect of the American society. They affect college tuition and tax dollars; they involve all levels of government, TV and radio networks; it engages magazine and newspaper publishers, investors, athletes, fans, scientists, lawyers, students and parents.Sports are not a separate and distinct social entity. Sporting practices should be seen in a larger political-economic and social context. Today's highly commercialized sports industry has occurred as an outcome of advances in technology, industrialization, urbanization, population boom, and development of capitalist and wage-earning social classes.Competitive sports attract spectators and, as such, are a form of entertainment. It is quite legitimate for sports to have commercial interests. Competitive sports in the contemporary American society clearly have a substantial market, which the Americans aim to exploit to the full. Compared with most countries of the world, the Unites States government has always had a more limited direct involvement in competitive sports. Independent sports organizations, especially the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), take the responsibility of management. Sports and mass media, sports and enterprises, sports and cities, and sports and college education have established a mutually beneficial relationship. The burden on the United States government is thus lightened. The United States has become a world power in competitive sports with a highly developed sports industry.However, "Every coin has two sides". There are also some problems in the American competitive sports system. Gender and racial inequality, and undueemphasis on competition results and business interests can have adverse consequences which go against the spirit of sports.