Any sports game is the entertainment for the crowd and only then the professional sports activity. Basketball, football, baseball, soccer, volleyball, and the variety of other team sports develop these days and gain popularity among millions of people because of the power of media. Television has brought sports to the new levels of professionalism and amounts of money involved in this industry.
Modern superstar players in soccer, for example, receive millions of Euros and dollars per year while median players have substantially smaller salaries. This situation is similar to the involvement of Hollywood superstars in a movie. The movie with a superstar or two has more chances to have a profitable box office than the movie without any. The importance of the “superstar effect” in soccer is hard to overestimate because superstar players generate more revenues for the team by drawing more interest to it, providing it with better sports results, and being the highly valuable asset to invest in by team owners.
Television plays a key role in the popularity of any sports event. It provides billions of people with the opportunity to observe the games of their favorite teams and players (Porter par. 8). Soccer, probably, is the most popular team game in the world, so superstar players have very distinct roles in it. Such players as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Pele, Maradona, and other top players of the past and present soccer have always created the difference in the field because of their exceptional talent.
This talent helps (and helped) their teams to win the particular matches, national and international championships, and strengthen the belief of fans that their favorite team will always be successful. It leads people to the stadiums where they purchase tickets for a match or the full season (Porter par. 11). They also buy various t-shirts, soccer balls, scarfs, souvenirs, and anything related to their favorite team and star players.
The successes of the powerful teams eventually draw more superstar players to the national leagues as it happened in Spain, England, Italy, Germany, and some other countries of the European Union that are considered to be the top soccer leagues in the world. This, in turn, allows the television channels to broadcast more matches of these national leagues to the fans around the world and sell commercials’ time to the interested parties (Porter par. 13).
The revenues of all parties involved increasing drastically. None of these links of this chain would be possible without the “superstar effect” generated by the talented soccer players. It is the reason why the salary of the superstar players in their clubs is much higher than the salaries of the median players. Another side effect of the presence of the superstar players in a team is the credit of trust the club has.
They may not be in the best shape and show mediocre game results for a while but the fans always know that it will pass, and Cristiano or Lionel will play at their best, giving Real Madrid or Barcelona the chance to become the winners of the Champions League, national championship, and any other tournament in which they decide to participate. This trust is the key to the “superstar effect” because the trust makes fans stick to their favorite team with adored start players, support it, and thus, generate the revenue for it.
Works Cited
Porter, Eduardo. “How Superstars’ Pay Stifles Everyone Else.” The New York Times. 2010. Web.