Sports Stories: A Look at How Shoes and Rules Change the Competition of Sports

This week’s post connects to two other blogs on Sports and Business. Both posts provide pros and cons on the other author’s viewpoint. My first set of comments are linked to the Sports Business News blog regarding the release of the Marbury One shoe line. I chose this blog because of my personal interest in athletic shoes and Marbury’s attempt to make his shoes affordable for the ordinary guy. My second set of comments are posted on the BBT: The Magazine blog and focus on changing the way sports are played in order to maintain fan interest and team revenues. As a business student, I am always amazed how sports are becoming more exciting to make the fans convinced they are getting their money’s worth. You can either read my comments posted at the other two blogs or just continue reading below.

As an athletic shoe collector I find this article fascinating if not unbelievable. While many high profile athletes make fortunes selling $150+ basketball shoes, Stephon Marbury has discovered a way to sell his own brand of shoes for a ridiculously low price of $15 a pair. I salute him for reaching out and making sure that all kids have the opportunity to achieve greatness regardless of their own economic barriers. In addition to giving back to his community, I feel that the launch of Marbury’s shoe campaign will help get more kids off the streets and onto the basketball courts. Similar to after school programs which help kids stay in school and go to college, Marbury’s shoe program will encourage kids to stay physically fit, avoid drugs, and join athletic teams. All of these actions will help promote health awareness among our youth. To satisfy my curiosity, I checked out the nearest Steve & Barry’s Athletic Store in Culver City last Saturday at 10 AM. It is located next to Macy’s department store in the Fox Hills Mall and the insides resemble a K-Mart or Target environment. I found a huge inventory of Marbury’s shoes available and not that many customers. According to Andy Todd, president of Steve & Barry’s, the shoes were sold out throughout the United States. Instead, I would tend to agree with Bob Basche that “Marbury didn’t have the cache to sell shoes nationally like LeBron James, Michael Jordan, or Dwayne Wade.” As a lifelong Laker fan, I have seen plenty of people wearing Kobe and Jordan jerseys but no one in LA wearing Marbury clothing. If Steve & Barry can make sports shoes affordable to everyone, they will clearly have revolutionized the sports apparel industry.

When I first read your article I couldn’t stop laughing. The suggested new playing rules seem absurd and could never be accepted in our traditional sport’s society. But reflecting on the changes in sports over the last couple of decades, one thing remains constant: the rules will change in order to hold the interests of the fans and make a profit for the owners. The following changes come to mind: (1) adding the designated hitter rule in baseball to eliminate a weak hitting pitcher; (2) decreasing the shot clock interval in basketball to force teams to take more shots; and (3) adding the shootout rule in hockey to eliminate tie games. In each case, the rules were changed to make the sport more entertaining and draw bigger crowds. Let’s take a look at two of your suggestions. If we eliminate football salaries and make players solely dependent on endorsements and fan donations, no one can accuse them of inflated paychecks. On the other hand, only the high profile superstars will command mega level endorsements and force the other players to create their own businesses to generate revenue. Even worse, many of the top players will flock to the giant media centers, such as Los Angeles and New York, to solicit major endorsement contracts. Your other suggestion to add a “Zero G” environment to basketball could add a whole new dimension to how the games are played. Just imagine the score for dunking the ball could be based on the difficulty of the acrobatic maneuver, just like gymnastics. And with today’s technology, creating a Zero G environment is feasible although costly. Who really can predict what the game will look like 10 years from now?