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Trump's return to the US presidency will influence sports industry development with a series of refo

author:Release time:2024-11-11classification:LATEST NEWSread:229 ℃comment:0 comment


As is well - known, the sports industry holds significant weight among various industries in the United States. Numerous professional and campus - based sports events cover almost the entire year, creating huge economic and social benefits through competitive performances.


The Associated Press announced that 78 - year - old Donald Trump defeated his opponent, Vice - President Kamala Harris, in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, winning a new four - year term. In this new four - year cycle, the policy changes brought by Trump will also spread to the U.S. sports industry, causing many changes both upstream and downstream of the industrial chain.


Moreover, several important world - class competitions will be held in the United States in the coming years. Behind this, the key actions in this new cycle may affect the United States and even the global sports industry.


The United States hosting the Club World Cup, the World Cup, and the Olympics in succession
Driving a boom in sports consumption
From 2025 to 2028, the U.S. sports world will become even more bustling on the basis of the professional event cycles of the Big Five North American sports leagues—the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, the 2026 FIFA World Cup co - hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are coming one after another.


After Trump's victory, FIFA President Gianni Infantino immediately sent a congratulatory message on social media, "Congratulations. We are about to host a great FIFA World Cup and a great FIFA Club World Cup. Football unites the world." It should be noted that the decision of the football associations of the United States, Canada, and Mexico to jointly bid for the 2026 World Cup received Trump's strong support at that time.


The successive hosting of the Club World Cup, the World Cup, and the Olympics will drive sports consumption and social economy in the United States. Previously, FIFA estimated that during the 2023 - 2026 World Cup cycle, hotel and ticket sales alone would generate $3.1 billion in revenue. In comparison, the revenue from the 2022 Qatar World Cup was much lower, at $949 million. However, it should not be overlooked that the Qatar World Cup had 32 teams, while the United States - Canada - Mexico World Cup will have 48 teams.


There is no doubt that all sectors in the United States are happy to see the huge benefits that top - level sports events bring to society. Especially with the upcoming Club World Cup, World Cup, and Olympics, they have huge impetus for stimulating the economy.


In the new four - year cycle, the priority of these three major competitions will undoubtedly be raised to the highest level. In the collaborative links of various departments required for hosting major competitions, these three competitions can receive a lot of support. U.S. media pointed out that the newly - elected president also has the opportunity to be the guest presenting the World Cup Trophy.


However, for brands, the new personnel changes may make some brands more cautious in sports marketing. In particular, his conservative policies with distinct personal style may have some impact on the event's sponsorship attraction.


On the other hand, with the increase in the number of World Cup and Club World Cup matches, sports hospitality plans will also become the choice of more fans. Given that sports hospitality has a mature operating model in North America, the various revenues derived from the major - event economy in the next few years will become an important source of income for event organizers.


However, some industry insiders are worried that Trump's taking office will bring more unpredictable factors to the hosting of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. But at least one thing is certain: the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will no longer have a large number of LGBTQ+ content like that in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. Transgender athletes like Algerian boxer Khelif, who have male chromosomes, will no longer be able to participate in women's events.


Transgender athletes will be barred from U.S. sports fields
In the sports world in the past few years, transgender athletes have become a topic of great concern. In particular, in this year's boxing event of the Paris Olympics, the Algerian transgender athlete Imane Khelif defeated Chinese female athlete Yang Liu to win the women's boxing gold medal, triggering huge controversy.


The focus of this off - field controversy overshadowed the event itself and occupied global media headlines several times during the Olympics.


At the 2023 New Delhi World Championships, both Khelif and Lin Yuting from Chinese Taipei were disqualified because their DNA tests showed “XY” chromosomes and they were biologically defined as male. However, on the Paris Olympics field, the International Olympic Committee only recognized the gender on the passport, rather than the biological identification, thus giving these two transgender athletes the opportunity to win championships.


In the U.S. sports world, many sports and teams have complaints about transgender athletes, mainly because some transgender athletes can gain advantages in competitions. According to foreign media reports, a transgender (male - to - female) senior student in the United States hit a female athlete hard in the face with a volleyball during a university volleyball league, almost knocking her out. After this incident, many university teams chose to refuse to play against the team of which this transgender athlete was a member.


Trump has been clearly opposed to sexual minorities and transgender people since his last term. With the resurgence of American conservatism in the coming years, transgender athletes will most likely bid farewell to U.S. sports fields.


Tax - cutting policies benefit the entire sports industry
Threatening to limit sports league ticket prices
In addition to the above three points, Trump's tax - cutting policies in the new cycle will continue to benefit the U.S. sports industry. From two major categories, personal income tax and corporate income tax will respectively affect the U.S. sports industry. Trump has promised to cut taxes to stimulate economic growth. This proposition aims to relieve enterprises and increase personal income, which is in line with his long - held economic policy philosophy.


According to foreign media reports, Trump plans to reduce the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%, but this tax - cutting measure is only limited to enterprises that produce and manufacture in the United States.


Trump had already reduced it from 35% to 21% during his first term. Whether for American professional sports leagues or sports clubs, the decline in the corporate income tax rate means that the leagues can have more profit surpluses and thus have more funds to invest in the operation of the leagues or clubs.


During this year's off - season, the NBA reached a new 11 - year, $76 - billion broadcast contract with ESPN (owned by Disney), NBCUniversal, and Amazon. With more sponsors pouring in, the NBA's commercial sponsorship revenue has also increased significantly. Team sponsorship revenue is expected to grow by 7% to a record $1.5 billion.


This also means that professional leagues and clubs represented by the NBA and NBA teams will benefit from the tax - cutting policies in the new cycle.


For players, they will also get more take - home pay from the tax - cutting policies strongly supported by the top management. First of all, the most affected are undoubtedly high - income groups.


With the NBA's increasingly large - scale broadcast contracts, billion - dollar players are no longer rare in the NBA. In July this year, the Celtics officially announced an early contract extension with team core Jayson Tatum for five years and $315 million. This contract is temporarily the largest in NBA history, and Tatum has become the first $70 - million - per - year player in NBA history. (Extended reading: Can Cui and Kawamura “come ashore” and make the NBA more exciting with their Asian - style play?)


And LeBron James also became the first NBA player with a total salary of $500 million at the start of this season. Although many NBA players, including James, strongly supported Harris during the presidential election, as long as Trump doesn't “give them a hard time,” almost all NBA stars will benefit from the new tax - cutting policies.


Not only is the income of top - level players continuously increasing, but the income of players in the middle tier of the NBA is also gradually rising, and they can also benefit from Trump's tax - cutting policies. According to the 2024/25 NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement, the non - luxury - tax mid - level exception for teams above the salary cap is $12.8 million.


According to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, during Trump's new term, the income tax of all income groups will decrease, but the biggest beneficiaries will be high - income families.


As is well - known, sports events have become one of the very important pastimes and forms of entertainment for American families. For these families, higher take - home income can further stimulate their desire for sports consumption, such as buying more tickets to watch games on - site and purchasing more peripheral products.


However, for the Big Four North American sports leagues, it is not all positive signs. Trump has previously publicly stated that he believes the ticket prices of major American sports leagues are too high, discouraging middle - class sports fans. He said, “These leagues are not taking care of their fans. They are not. They make (low - cost game - watching) impossible.”


According to the Team Marketing Report, in 2023, it cost $631.63 for a family of four to watch an NFL game. Trump said that if he won the election, he would try to improve ticket prices, but did not provide specific details.


Accelerating the integration of top - level golf events
For the golf industry, the past two years have seen huge shocks—in June 2023, the PGA Tour, the DP Tour, and the LIV Golf League announced cooperation and founded a new for - profit entity, which will receive investment from the Public Investment Fund (PIF) as the exclusive investor.


Sports Business Journal has written articles analyzing the impact of the merger and also went to the LIV competition site to experience the “catfish effect” brought by Saudi tycoons to the golf industry.


“He could pave the way to resolve the conflicts between the PGA Tour and the LIV Golf League, and perhaps solve it in 15 minutes. He is a golf enthusiast and also has a good relationship with Saudi Arabia.” Renowned golfer Rory McIlroy expressed his latest views on the recent U.S. leadership changes when participating in the Dubai World Tour Championship this week.


It should be noted that the biggest stumbling block to the merger of the PGA Tour and the LIV Tour is the U.S. Department of Justice. According to U.S. media reports, the merger proposal first made public in June 2023 may lead the U.S. Department of Justice to “violate antitrust laws.” Nearly 18 months have passed, and a complete merger plan is still hard to achieve.


However, all of this may be accelerated with the new personnel changes.



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