Donald Sterling Brings Clippers Down
Jordan HassMr. Reuter
Econ
29 April 2014
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” This is a quote that we are all familiar with and a lot of people live by these words, but in certain situations, people can take it a little too far. And for Los Angeles Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, taking it a little far is an understatement. He said some things such as “Well then, if you don’t feel-don’t come to my games. Don’t bring black people, and don’t come.” He also mentioned racist remarks towards hall of fame basketball star Magic Johnson which really got to Magic. He was truly hurt by the direct comments, and he was even reported saying, “I will never go to a Clippers game again as long as Donald Sterling is the owner.”
Now, what does this have to do with the economy you ask? A lot more than it appears. For the Los Angeles Clippers, this is going to play a huge impact on their team, which plays a large role for the economy in the surrounding area. They already have lost sponsors for their team, because don’t want to be affiliated with a team who has an owner who makes ignorant remarks such as the ones Sterling made. They lost sponsorship relationships with a large amount of companies, such as “CarMax, State Farm, Virgin America, Red Bull, Kia Motors, Aquahydrate, Amtrak, Chumash Casino Resort, Lumber Liquidators, Yokohoma Tire Corporation, and Corona.” Clearly, virtually every single one of their sponsors has opted out of their relationship due to these comments. And that is going to bring the team down from that aspect and definitely put them in a decline.
Not only from the sponsor aspect, but from a fan aspect, the Clippers organization will decline greatly. An endless amount of fans completely disagree with everything that Donald Sterling has said and has halted a lot of fans’ desire to attend these basketball games and spend their money. One famous rapper, Lil Wayne, was recorded in a tape saying, “F*** you. That simple, that easy. If I was a Clippers fan, I wouldn’t be one anymore. If I was a Clipper player, you wouldn’t see me on the court anymore in that uniform.” Obviously Wayne speaks for every African American fan and player out there and shows the rage.
With that rage, the number of fans that will be attending these NBA Clippers games will reduce greatly. That means less tickets will be sold, less merchandise will be purchased, and ultimately, less money will be accumulated by the Los Angeles Organization. They play a large role in the Los Angeles economy, being that they are one of the most popular sports teams in the city, much thanks to their All Star players, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul. But with these racist comments even putting the players against their own owner that signs their contracts, and pays them to play basketball, fans definitely are taking huge offense to it, especially the black race. It will show an immediate drop in fan attendance which will make a big impact on the economy, because of the fact of how much money a professional basketball team can provide for a city such as Los Angeles.
So although some people may think that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” they never took into account how much racist comments from an ignorant owner could cause a decline in the economy, and will definitely not be solved until he is gone for good.
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