The Politics Of Sports Business 2017

The long time commissioner of the National Basketball Association David Stern, who ran the NBA between 1984 and 2014, once noted that there are three basic needs for a team owner and a league to be successful. Government support. A large local TV contract. Corporate support. The large TV contract in the United States was a product of the 1984 Cable TV Act and the corporate support comes from government mandated tax breaks. In 2017, all of those building blocks were in play whether it was for Olympic committee hopefuls, leagues or franchise holders looking for a new venue. Surprisingly enough, Donald Trump does not enter the sports stage until the ninth month of his presidency when he criticizes National Football League owners for allowing their employees to stage a silent protest, taking a knee, during the Star Spangled Banner to protest social conditions.