Analysis of Elite Wealth in Sports: A Sociology of Sports Perspective

This essay examines the sociological aspects of sports, focusing on how economic elites accumulate and expand their wealth through strategic involvement in the sports industry. It highlights that elites, a small yet powerful social group, leverage their influence and capital to invest in lucrative sports-related ventures, including stadium construction, hosting major national and international events, and securing sponsorships. The essay analyzes the economic importance of sports, noting its transformation into a highly organized and marketed business, which significantly contributes to socio-economic development. It delves into the various avenues through which elites generate wealth, such as profiting from ticket sales, lotteries, and sponsorships, while also addressing unfair practices like the FIFA scam. The study concludes that sports represent a profitable investment area for elites, enabling them to generate substantial wealth through strategic engagement and manipulation of the sports economy. Desklib offers a range of resources, including similar essays and study tools, to further explore this topic.

Sociology of
Sports, Rec and
PA
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Course ID

Introduction
• Different social class exits
• Elites are small group
• Upper income groups
• Economic wealth gives additional edge to elite class
(Haggard & Kaufman, 2018).
• Use their power to increase wealth
• Current focus is on Sports

Economy of Elite
• Small but most powerful class in society
• Owns a disproportionate share of wealth
• Enjoy political power and privilege in the society
• Power elites
• Elites governing control in policy making (Aguiar &
Schneider, 2016).

How elites raise wealth
• Elites captures a significant share of economic wealth
• Study confirms eighty two percent of wealth generated in 2017
went to only percent of richest population globally.
• Do not depend on single source of income
• Invest income in areas of higher return (Brezis & Temin, 2016).
• Income thus increases by manifold
• Investment in national and international sports events.

Economic importance of
Sports
• Important components of socio-economic development
• Today’s sports events are different from that in the past
• Sports not has become more organized
• Events are now marketed and administered for business interest
• Execution of a major sport event benefits the economy in several ways
• Development of infrastructure, generates employment, attract foreign
investment and generates players and athletes (Guerra, 2016).

Sport and Wealth of Elites
• Sports
• Economic and social importance
• Important source of wealth generation
• Private investors take interest in investing in Sport (Yang
et al., 2017)
• Invest in sports
• National and international sports

Stadium Construction
• Important for hosting sports event
• Place or venue for outdoor sports
• Designed to accommodate spectators
• Ideal place for sport lovers want to enjoy live sports
• Presence of large stadiums
• Generate million of dollar to the investors
• Investors are attracted to invest in stadium construction (Bernstein,
2018).

Stadium Construction
• Growing interest to invest in Stadium.
• Total value of stadium construction projects recorded as US$ 130.8 billion
• The largest share accounted by US and Russia
• Sports leagues such as National Football League (MFL) and Major League
Soccer drive investment in this arena (construction-ic.com, 2018).
• Restructuring or building new stadium
• During special sports events such as World cup, Olympics and other global
or national sport events.

Stadium Construction
• Recent event of Fifa World Cup
• Driving program for new stadium construction.
• Funding mostly tend to private sector.
• Larger stadiums
• Capacity accommodate large spectators
• Earning from selling of tickets
• Return to shareholders (Bernstein, 2018).

Stadium Construction
• Immense importance in sports
• Funding stadium construction
• Generate huge revenue
• Higher return to investors
• Help to increase wealth.

Hosting Major Events
• Major sport events
• Attracts large spectators
• Sports events at national and international scale
• Olympic games, commonwealth games, Asian games, Cricket
World Cup, Fifa World Cup and others.
• Carry significant prestige (cnbc.com, 2018)
• Honor to the host nation that shapes legacy of the country or city

Hosting Major Events
• National symbolisms
• Come with several benefits
• Global spotlight
• Stimulates regeneration
• Investment and long-term benefits
• World class events
• Attract millions of interest in this duration