ANTH 1002 – Issues in Anthropology

The Greatest Phenomenon in Entertainment

Teaching Assistant: Katherine Davidson
Nathaniel Van Putten: 101142248
03/10/2020
 The Greatest Phenomenon in Entertainment
The value cultures place on monetary objects is purely by ideology. Money has no value
apart from the belief money has value. The study of anthropology intends to understand human
behavior and how it pertains to cultural norms, and when it comes to athletes, anthropology is
helpful in examining monetary compensation for the athletes because the pay they receive is
directly correlated to demand and profit for what is socially popular and behaviourally
entertaining for the viewer. Therefore, if people see sport as a staple of entertainment within their
culture, they would be willing to pay no matter what the cost to see the athletes perform, and to
pay for everything that goes into being an elite athlete. When determining value, cultural
relevance becomes a great importance because experience is what justifies and builds a culture.
Throughout history, there have been a variety of entertainment outlets that have contributed to
cultural entertainment and identity. In ancient and modern Chinese culture, martial arts are a
form of cultural entertainment that practiced and carried on the Chinese sport, not merely by the
elite of the ancient society, but by anyone; tenants, peasants, or craftsmen (Filipiak, 2010, 32).
And yet, this form of entertainment did not necessarily provide monetary compensation for the
entertainment when people would go to watch, even when so directly related to Chinese culture.
Hockey for example, provides such a unique Canadian identity, and this cultural entertainment
provides players with compensation for their endeavors. What becomes the difference then, with
North American sport being so greatly emphasised as a form of identity and entertainment that
society must put such great monetary value on it? Culture becomes united and given a sense of
nationalism when providing people with a team or club to relate to, and by needing to pay so
much for these athletes to keep doing what they do, society then becomes so invested in the
athletes as an identity that it then becomes justified and normal for their compensation to
correlate to their cultural entertainment. Through this paper, the focus will be placed on major
North American sports professional athletes’ monetary compensation for their worth as a form of
cultural entertainment. Through extensive research, it is evident that professional athletes are
paid appropriately for what they do as entertainment because there are very few people in the
world who can perform at that high level, there is a great deal of preparation involved for the
athlete, there is a high probability of injury to professional athletes that can affect their health
long-term, and the role these athletes play in professional sport serves as a cultural symbol of
nationalism that creates a sense of nation identity. Measuring cultural entertainment value is
something that must be considered through their pay and how these athletes contribute to the
identity of a culture in comparison to that compensation, and can be analyzed by taking into
account the payment other culture icons are being provided for their role in cultural
entertainment.
Entertainment is more than what is exciting and gives a thrill, it is about what the
individual perceives to be personally relevant and nearly unattainable. The reason professional
athletes are paid appropriately for their cultural entertainment is because people can relate to the
physical characteristics of professional athletes as being desired, while still being unattainable
because there are very few people in the world who can perform at that high level. This makes
their form of entertainment very exclusive and interesting to take in, which in turn creates high
demand for that entertainment, ultimately making the pay that athletes receive as justifiable.
athletes from the more subordinate level athletes. Within an article by Boris Gutnik, he explains
how there is a mesomorphic index that measures the skeletal muscle mass of the human body.
The study concluded that elite athletes have a very balanced mesomorph, which in turn created a
more balanced body type that is easier to control and fine tune to the needs of an elite athlete
(Gutnik, 2015, 249). This body type is very difficult to attain due to the fact that it takes a
combination of genetics and specific somatotype fused with excellence training tendencies to
gain such a physique, however once the athlete attains their desired body type, they become an
elite cultural phenomenon that not many people can replicate.
Furthermore, within the field of professional athletes, there is a great deal of preparation
involved for the athlete to be successful and able to perform at such an elite level. This
contributes to many hours spent on training, physical and mental care, and of course, the game
itself which is the main focus of the entertainment aspect of sports. When examining the amount
of preparation involved for the athlete, it is important to consider the comparison between their
time of preparation to perform and the amount of team revenue they are responsible for bring in
based on cultural attraction. Within the sports culture of entertainment, people are naturally
drawn to the most elite of athletes on each team. For example, LeBron James in basketball and
Sydney Crosby in hockey. The fans identify with these players and the players then become a
staple in the culture of sport as to how it should be ideally played. In an article by Michael and
Martha Hill Zimmer, they compile a more empirical form of research into athletes’ earnings that
is based on documented conclusive evidence that shows athletes in comparison to other
entertainers, highlighting how representative athletes are relatively low paid in their capacity as
entertainers (Zimmer, 2001, 204). This is particularly useful when creating an argument for the
compensation of professional athletes because there is a divide between how much the athlete is
paid in comparison to the revenue made by the owners of the teams. In a study done on baseball
salaries, Zimmer expressed the findings which indicated that players of professional baseball
were paid lower than valued with relation to their contribution of team revenue (Zimmer, 2001,
205). Since athletes are a form of entertainment, this stands to reason that they are exploited and
paid appropriately for their preparation both mentally and physically to get to the professional
level and bring in such high team revenue. This is important in a social context because it
provides a more concrete example rather than a socially built idea through the lens based purely
off of the media or the public.
Moreover, an athlete’s career is relatively short compared to the average person and
within that short career, there is a high probability of injury to professional athletes that can
affect their health long-term. Many individuals work for a majority of their lives, which are
typically in fields that are less dangerous to long term health. Professional athletes, however, are
restricted to a shorter career period, usually no longer than twenty years because of the physical
demands they are exposed to regularly and if injury does occur, it is difficult to return to elite
play quickly. For example, a study done on professional football players and injury concluded
that if a football player sustained a dislocated shoulder and did not undergo surgery, they would
be out of play for an approximate 3 weeks. And players who underwent operative repair returned
to play at a median of thirty-nine weeks (Okoroha et.al,. 2018, 19). This extensive length of time
the player misses from the game affects their yearly income, their long-term ability to come back
to the game and play successfully, and the athletes’ overall health long term after retirement.
This article helps provide a better understanding of what athletes face in the sense of overtraining
and injury due to competition. This risk factor contributes to the physiological support that
athletes are paid appropriately for their form of entertainment. People expect entertainment from
the big hits in football and hockey, the high velocity pitchers in baseball, and the hard slam
dunks in basketball. Well all those entertaining feats come with a great risk of injury. A torn
elbow ligament from throwing too hard, a serious concussion or neck injury, or torn knee
ligaments are all very prominent and sometimes inevitable outcomes that athletes face when they
 attempt to perform at such a high level for the entertainment of the fans. Therefore, that risk
provides the reason for their salaries. In many cases with these athletes, risk of injury does not
only come from the field or the court, but in the very thing that is attempting to build these
athletes up: their training and load management. An article on load management by Torbjørn
Soligard examines how there are a variety of health professionals who care for elite athletes and
are concerned that poorly managed training loads combined with the progressively strenuous
competition calendar may cause damage the health of athletes and quite possibly their
performance level in competition (Soligard, 2016, 1034). This extreme level of strain on the
body from such a packed calendar is another reason that athletes deserve what they are paid. It is
understood that they may not work a typical nine-to-five job, yet these athletes are put under a
stressful load, both mentally and of course physically, nonetheless.
Finally, the reason athletes earn their pay as cultural entertainment is because of the role
they play in professional sports, that serves as a cultural symbol of nationalism that creates a
sense of nation identity to everyone involved in the sport.
In conclusion, the athletic phenomenon is given proper payment for their entertainment
because there are very few people in the world who can perform at that high level, there is a
great deal of preparation involved for the athlete, there is a high probability of injury to
professional athletes that can affect their health long-term, and the role these athletes play in
professional sport serves as a cultural symbol of nationalism that creates a sense of nation
identity. With the wide assortment of evidence pointing to just compensation for the role
athlete’s play as entertainers in North American culture, it is evident that the media portrayal of
overcompensation is inaccurate, and it is only a matter of time before athletes are soon put on the
highest pedestal of importance in North America and possibly the world.

Bibliography
Filipiak, Kai. "From warriors to sportsmen: how traditional Chinese martial arts adapted to modernity."
Journal of Asian Martial Arts, vol. 19, no. 1, 2010, (p. 30 – 41). Gale Academic OneFile,
https://link-gale-com.proxy.library.carleton.ca/apps/doc/A234935959/AONE?
u=ocul_carleton&sid=AONE&xid=1e1c0eee. Accessed 19 Feb. 2020.

Okoroha KR, Taylor KA, Marshall NE, Keller RA, Fidai M, Mahan MC, Varma V, Moutzouros V.
“Return to play after shoulder instability in National Football League athletes. Journal of
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Zimmer, Martha Hill, and Michael Zimmer. 2001. "Athletes as Entertainers: A Comparative Study of
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