Sports Aren’t Recession Proof

I’m the last one to say I told you so, but professional sports is now starting to feel the pain of this economic recession.  Being a huge sports fan I truly hope the impact on professional sports is limited and short lived.  With big corporate sponsors cutting budgets and looking for ways to save money via every avenue possible, will professional sports be next in line for a bailout?

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve seen some dramatic events and layoffs take place throughout the sports industry.  The National Football League recently laid off a 150 employees, and it’s no secret that ad sponsorship could slip drastically come time for the big game in early Feb.  Professional Golf has a large number of bank sponsors, who more then likely will be finding it difficult to bring the same ad and sponsor dollars to the table.  Then you have NASCAR which is right in the middle of the auto industry which is experiencing a meltdown in Detroit.  All of this leads me back to an article,  Are Pro Football and Pro Baseball Next To Fail?,  I wrote aprox 2 months ago.

I truly hope that the economy makes a turn for the better sooner than later.  Not just for professional sports sake, but for the country as a whole.  Entertainment typically does well during periods of economic distress, and despite all the negative new, on the bright side we might start seeing some lower ticket prices.

Just for fun, if you had the choice who would you rather bailout, Pro Sports, Big Banks, or The Big 3 Autos?