Technology: The Benefits for Everyone

This week I decided to write about my belief in technology related to business and sports. As a third year business student, I see technology embedded in my Business Writing 340 class and my daily student life. For example, homework is assigned, submitted, and graded over the Internet. Rather than being a tool for computer savvy students, knowledge of the Internet is essential to turn in your homework and find out how well you perform in class. Just like my parents witnessed the calculator replace the slide rule in 1970’s, I saw laptops and PDA’s replace calculators in the 21st Century. Even though I still carry a hand calculator around with me, it also contains my calendar, phonebook, and games. I believe in technology.

I’ve always been intrigued how technology integrates with sports. During my Little League baseball days I always volunteered to operate the electronic scoreboard when our team was not playing. When I entered high school I became fascinated with the weight machines used to condition the players. Some might argue that technology tends to remove the human element from the game but I feel otherwise. I cannot imagine football or basketball games without “instant relay”. This marvel of technology allows the fans and officials to scrutinize every play and virtually eliminates human errors of bad calls or biased views. Watching USC play Michigan at last year’s Rose Bowl was an unbelievable visual and emotional experience. Every down was replayed on a giant high-resolution video screen pictured to the right. The mega-sized instant replay allowed the Trojan and Wolverine fans to follow the individual heroics of their favorite players and understand the game strategies. Instant replay has also become an essential part of basketball and soccer where referee decisions on precise location and timing can make the difference between winning and losing. It is only a matter of time until baseball replaces home plate umpires with electronic sensors to determine balls and strikes. We may all like to yell at the men in black for making bad calls, but technology makes for greater entertainment and that is why I believe in technology.

This past November before the USC-UCLA game, my high school classmate, Jeremy Weinstein, and myself devised a plan to create T-shirts we could sell at the upcoming football game. Jeremy is currently an Economics major at Cal Berkley and an ardent Bruin basher. We agreed to work this joint venture over the Internet. I knew the T-shirt would be widely popular among USC students because it exaggerated the embarrassing stun gun incident at UCLA the week before the game. The challenge to us was to design, create, produce, and sell the shirt within a week. I used the Internet to market the shirt to USC students and also describe a conceptual design to Jeremy. Any excess shirts we couldn’t sell online would be bartered at the stadium immediately before the game. Jeremy returned a cartoon caricature of a Trojan using a taser weapon on a Bruin (see picture to left) in less than a day. Based on the process that I observed my father use when ordering uniforms for the Santa Monica Little League, I knew it was possible to produce the shirts in less than one week. Any reputable silkscreen shirt company only needed a CD-ROM with a JPEG image rendering the shirt design. I located a local silkscreen company that had the required computer automated equipment for a fast turnaround. With the right technology I had no doubt the shop could complete the job on time. Four days later, 100 shirts were mass-produced at a local silkscreen factory just off campus in time for us to start selling them before the game. Even though we risked $400 of our own precious funds, we were able to turn a profit in the end. And that is why I continue to believe in technology.

Los Angeles: The Olympic Sports Capital of the World

With the 2008 Olympics in China fast approaching, a hot debate today among Los Angeles politicians and businessmen is whether or not we should host the 2016 Olympics. Just like the saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Los Angeles needs to start planning more than 10 years in advance of the spectacle to even be considered a candidate city. This past Thursday and Friday, the United States Olympic Committee's evaluation team inspected potential sporting venues in Los Angeles. The picture to the right shows the flamboyant mayor Antonio Villaraigosa addressing his Olympic visitors. Without wasting any words, the mayor cut to the chase by proclaiming, “This is where the stars are born, where dreams are made and where the whole world comes together, because no city inspires dreams quite like the city of Los Angeles.” After listening to the sales pitch, the Olympic team will move on to Chicago for a similar reception. If all goes well, Los Angeles will be selected as the US Olympic site candidate on April 14. The following pros and cons have been made among news reporters and journalists on whether or not Los Angeles should host the Olympics in 2016.

One of the most important benefits for hosting the Olympic Games in Los Angeles is the expected flow of money into the city’s coffers via tourists and sponsorships. The 1984 Olympics generated over $200 Million in revenues. Assuming an annual inflation rate of 5%, a similar monetary success story could result in over $850 Million. Of course, we would need to select an entrepreneur like Peter Ueberroth to marshal the financial planning and execution of the 2016 Olympics to guarantee success. Today, Los Angeles is famous for it entertainment, technology, and sports environments. In order to maintain this leadership position in sports, we need to attract and promote mega events like the X Games, Super Bowl, NBA All Star Game, and BCS finale. What world event could be bigger in sports than the Olympics? With the improvement in Internet broadband services and inclusion of professional athletes, watching the Olympics is a necessity for every sport’s aficionado on our planet. While holding this mega event will attract huge revenues to our city, we need an environment that is conducive to many of the outdoor events. Summer weather in Los Angeles is hard to beat anywhere else in the world. The cool breezes at night from the Pacific Ocean offsets the warm Santa Ana winds from the deserts. Because of Los Angeles’ temperate climate conditions, it is an ideal venue for outdoor sports. I have spent many nights at Dodger stadium enjoying the action as if I was inside an air-conditioned theater. Although there will be a significant investment to upgrade existing facilities, the infrastructure to support multiple Olympic venues has already been developed from the 1984 games. Los Angeles is world renown for its sport’s stadiums that include baseball’s Dodger Stadium and Edison Field, football’s Coliseum and Rose Bowl, basketball’s Staple Center and Pauley Pavilion, and soccer’s Home Depot Center. The Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games (SCCOG) has estimated it will cost $112 Million to renovate the Coliseum as shown in the figure to the left. Besides these major sports complexes within the Los Angeles area, the local universities provide excellent settings for individual sport’s competitions like wrestling, boxing, fencing, and equestrian contests. If anyone would try to challenge our city’s ability to host all the Olympic events, we would only have to point to the past successes of the 1932 and 1984 Games.

Critics opposed to the 2016 Olympics in Los Angeles usually point to the risk of the city absorbing a huge loss like Montreal did in 1976. But much of Montreal’s financial downfall can be traced to poor planning and lack of management skills. Los Angeles learned in 1984 that sound financial backing is essential for the health of the games and does not intend to burden the public with tax payments that have haunted the city of Montreal for over 30 years. A lesser argument for not holding the Olympics in Los Angeles concerns fairness. Since Los Angeles has hosted this worldwide event twice in the past 100 years, other cities should be given a chance. But if the choice of the Games goes to the best-qualified city, then Los Angeles should be judged on an equal basis as the other competing metropolises. Barry Sanders, chairman of the SCCOG best summarizes the reason for bringing the Olympics back to Los Angeles, “It's the city that has the Olympic ideal in its DNA. Los Angeles is emblematic of the Olympic dream, achieving, coming here to achieve your goals.”