Are Dynasties Good for Sport Leagues? Essay

In sports, the term dynasty is most typically used to refer to a team that is considered or recognized as having dominated their sport for a certain period of time. There are many different factors that are considered as ‘making’ a sports dynasty, and basically a sports dynasty is a franchise that has success in different generations, one which has gained success over a period of time and not just once in particular. When we look at North American sports, for instance, there are basically a few teams in particular that are really considered as being dynasties: the New York Yankees, Montreal Canadiens, and the Boston Celtics. Of course this may be argued, however it is truly hard to literally define the term ‘dynasty’, especially when we really only have about 120 years of professional sporting history to work with, in comparison to the millions of years of human civilization. There are many controversial issues that surround the subject of sports dynasties, and in particular whether or not they are good for sports. Although again the response to this will technically vary from one person to the next, in all honesty dynasties definitely have strong points and are good for the health of sports overall. One subject that plays a large role in sports dynasties is economics. The architect of modern-stadium economics and owner of the Dallas Cowboys, for instance, is planning to unleah a $1 billion stadium in the year 2009 and thanks to this new stadium, the Cowboys will then become $1. 5 billion, and will also be considered as a sports dynasty. This raises the question of whether the term ‘dynasty’ refers to a team that is skilled and continuously makes impacts in the actual game, or one who is willing to spend a large chunk of money on a stadium that is going to have other NFL owners begging for mercy. â€Å"The Cowboys have not finished better than 10-6 since 1995. ‘Architect of modern stadium economics’ may be too strong a term, but American sports dynasties are no longer made on the playing field† (The Sports Economist, 2007). This is a significant issue because even though a new stadium, which will be belonging to the most valuable sports franchise in the world, should not alone make a team a dynasty. The struggling Cowboys need to enhance their performance and make this the reason that fans keep coming to watch, rather than a fancy stadium. There is also the issue however of how although at first the stadium may attract a new wealth of people, there will be others in its place soon enough and eventually they are going to have to win some games or the title of dynasty will wear off rather soon. Overall from this review we can conclude several things, one of the most major being that the term ‘sports dynasty’ is very hard to define concretely, especially in the present day with the wads of cash that are being thrown around, mostly at taxpayers’ expense. Building a dynasty is never easy, but it has become much more so with the influence of money gaining more and more as time goes by. There are many people who argue that money should not make a team, but it can be pretty hard to fight against this belief when there is so much coming against you in response. Really, not until there is a more specific definition of the ‘dynasty’ term will there ever be a real understanding on this matter and a line that can be drawn in terms of what it is that makes a sports dynasty. References Clements, R. (2007, September 18). Pressure Builds for Cor Jesu ‘Dynasty’. South County Journal. Douthat, R. (2007). Dynastic Policies. Retrieved September 21, 2007, from http://rossdouthat. theatlantic. com/archives/2007/09/dynastic_politics. php Sanderson & Siegfried. (2003, November 30). Sports Dynasties. Journal of Sports Economics. Great Sports Rivalries. (2007). Dynasties. Retrieved September 22, 2007, from http://greatsportsrivalries. com/gsr_topteams. html Sporting News. (2007). Kcland’s Sports Potpourri. Retrieved September 22, 2007, from http://www. sportingnews. com/blog/kcland/page3/ The Sports Economist. (2007). Billions at Stake. Retrieved September 22, 2007, from http://thesportseconomist. com/ (2006, October 30). Celtics Dynasty Began in ’57. The Washington Times.