Is it good for a basketball player to play a game for charity? | Opinion Essay
Introduction
A professional basketball player is always a prominent icon who is adorned by fans of basketball, the player always commands considerable attraction and is someone from whom people are always willing to take autographs, photos and signatures, much akin to that of a celebrity. However, similar to way celebrities attend various shows where all the proceeds go towards charitable organizations.
Professional basketball players too can attend on charitable basketball matches where all the proceeds from the match, including the sponsor revenue, advertisement revenue and ticket revenue all are transferred directly to charitable organizations. Furthermore, charitable events attract affluent politicians and businesspersons who are willing to donate significant volume of funds towards charitable purposes.
The issue of whether is it good for a basketball player to play for charity is not a significant dilemma. Playing for charity means that the basketball performs his activities with no intent of receiving financial compensation, in contrast to conventional matchers where the basketball player is a paid a specific sum, or a sum pre-agreed through a contract, for the rendered services.
In regards to charity playing, the finances raised from the match in context of the player’s compensation is instead transferred to a charity of choice, which can include a vast array of charities covering different purposes. In most cases, an assortment of charitable organizations are already associated with a sporting event, in charge of the revenue collection itself as to ensure that none of the funds are lost to potential corruption.
There are no obvious, exact disadvantages for a basketball player to play for charity. Unless doing such is prohibited by a professional contract that they may have signed. Generally, basketball is included amongst the world’s most popular sports, as millions of people watch it on television. Furthermore, thousands people purchase tickets into the stadium to witness basketball matches first-hand.
This creates a considerable revenue potential for the basketball player. Furthermore, if the entire team of basketball player, rather than only an individual basketball player, is willing to play a match where the raised finances would be send towards charities. The collective effort from the team can contribute a significant amount of finance that would resolve plenty of humanitarian issues, i.e. lack of drinking water in regions throughout Africa, or provide medicine against a viral outbreak.
To place the significance of the average basketball player’s income into perspective, (HuffingtonPost, 2014) stated that the average NBA basketball player earned over $5 million dollars per year. Over the NHL, the average basketball player earned about $2.4 million per year. It appears rather unlikely that the average player from these various association will experience tremendous financial difficulty by partaking in a sports charitable event.
Basketball Charity is also a unique form of charity. In contrast to the conventional type of charity, where the participants provide finance or equipment to the charitable organization, basketball charity provides entertainment to prospective individual who are willing to provide funding to a charity. Furthermore, charity-sporting events also accommodate a great number of prospective and affluent participants, leading to a larger overall collection of finances.
The sole issue that may arise from a basketball player playing for charity is that the player’s own income will be lesser in the general context. However, finances raised from other matches should be able to cover the created shortfall. Generally, though, if a football player is unable to contribute through playing charity games, they should stay away from playing such matches until their finances are sustained.
Furthermore, charity games attract other affluent people who may be willing to contribute towards charity, therefore creating a platform through which large amount of finances can be raised towards solving the major issues that afflict the human and animal population of the world.
Discussion
Raising charity through basketball games has been observed throughout history. For example, (NBN, 2016) states that even the NBA has raised over $220 million in charity through directed finances earned from games towards charitable organizations. Even the arrangement of charitable games is not too difficult, as there are dedicated institutions throughout the world that operate charitable games over a regular basis, and players, specifically from the top basketball associations are more likely to earn considerable finance for charity towards their participation.
Another major benefit from a basketball playing a game for charity is that it will serve as an example towards other players who have not yet attempted to play games for charitable purpose. Therefore, one player playing charity basketball game will attract more players to do the same. This will lead to a sustainable increase as the potential benefits involved for basketball do offset the loss of financial compensation for their rendered service. Over the long term, this will lead to more and more players becoming familiar with fundraising games and the participation rates will increase.
Particularly, playing charity basketball games leads to increased prominence in the media, as well as the basketball industry, as people will hail and favour their contribution towards a good cause. This benefit also extends towards new and aspiring basketball players. Charitable basketball matches provide an effective platform for players to gain relevance in the major basketball spectrum, while also displaying their eagerness to play basketball for actual spirit of the game, rather than only seeking financial compensation for their matches.
(Qiang, 2007) and various other experts all over the world have generally regarded charitable basketball matches as amongst the most effective source of raising finances towards charitable organizations. This occurs also because of the limited nature of basketball itself, as that it does not require complete teams to function, rather groups of prominent players can engage in charitable games.
Conclusion and recommendations
In all regards, the potential benefits involved in basketball players playing for charity do offset all the financial and resource losses. Not in the personal regard, but rather towards doing something good that aids the entire humanity in mitigating major issues. Through the discussion held in this essay, the verdict can be reached that in most senses, it is always good for a basketball player to play a game for charity. By playing charitable games, the benefit goes towards both the player and the charitable organizations that are sponsored with the event.
3.1 Recommendations
• All basketball players, regardless of their prominence, should partake in charity games.
• More charity games should be held because they raise public awareness about investing effort for a good cause.
• Partaking in events should be easier, and allow newer and inexperienced basketball players to participate as well.
• There is greater financial gain for basketball players by participating in charity games, in the long run of their professional career.
REFERENCES
HuffingtonPost, 2014. Visualizing the Yearly Salary of Professional Athletes, NBA Players Average $5+ Million a Year. [Online]
Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/visualnewscom/visualizing-the-yearly-sa_b_4184716.html
NBN, 2016. NBA Cares. [Online]
Available at: http://www.nothingbutnets.net/partners/nba-cares.html
Qiang, Z., 2007. Preliminary study of sports charity. Journal of Physical Education, pp. 0-37.