Child Labor and education

A recent study looked into education and studying among child laborers in Colombia.  The results of the study were overwhelmingly negative, of the 27% of workers that are child laborers, nearly none of them attend school or even had time to study.  These findings were somewhat surprising due to the fact that Colombia has child labor laws preventing children from working until the age of 16 and even then only with parent permission, they also only allow children to work 6 hour days until they are 18. Another finding from the same study found that the average child laborer in Colombia was only nine years old.

A child working in a Bolivian mine
What will Colombia due to fix this? should they require children to stay in school? How can Colombia preven Children as young as nine and younger from working in such hazardous conditions?

Interesting Site

This site shows the salaries for every player in the NBA and gives an amount to how much each team spends this year and even a few years in the future. Overall a good site to see how much money there is in the NBA.

Site:http://hoopshype.com/players.htm

NFLPA

The NFLPA or NFL Players Association is a union for professional football players in the NFL. The NFLPA makes sure that the NFL doesn't take advantage of the players. They also fight for benefits for players. Most recently the NFL lockout took place, in which the NFLPA was fighting to keep a 16 game regular season as opposed to the owners suggested 18 game season, but also they fought over whether or not the owners should be able to take a bigger percentage of the teams' income. The NFLPA plays a huge part in keeping players safe from being taken advantage of.










http://www.nflplayers.com  


Why are so many former athletes going broke?

What Drives up Revenue

There are two main sources of revenue that drive college athletics: TV rights and ticket sales. Broadcasters such as ESPN and FOX pay hundreds of millions of dollars to have the rights to broadcast those games. They majority are football game, but a decent amount of basketball, too.

• Broadcasters make their money by charging subscribers (big ten network, NCAA Basketball Network) and advertising
• Schools always renovating their stadium, putting sky boxes in. Ticket sales huge for universities
• Driven by Alumni and crazy fans
• As long as alumni support schools, these prices will continue to grow

This information was found through an Email I had with Jackie Woodward. Jackie Woodward is an advertising agent that is involved in the sports world.

What if?

Source:wellsphere.com

        
       As the NHL lockout drags on, many don't see an end. But with a recent addition added recently to the NHL's class action lawsuit against the players, the end may be closer than we think. The suit states that if no agreement is reached, all contracts between players and teams would be deemed void and enforceable. If that were to happen, many players salaries would decrease due to the salary cap and because the teams would be signing top players to huge contracts. The landscape of the NHL would change dramatically. Time will tell what this part of the lawsuit will do towards ending the lockout.

Article: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1446959-nhl-lockout-every-nhl-player-a-free-agent-nhl-could-void-all-contracts

Outline

Jack McGann

Period 2

Why is the Average Professional Athlete Paid So Much?

1. Value of Entertainment 

     A.  Americans value entertainment so much that leagues are able to set the prices high and fans still cooperate.

     B.   It is believed that we actually value entertainment that safety, education, and health.
              i.  Focus more on sporting events than health, education, etc.

     C.   With all the revenue the leagues are creating, they are able to pay the athletes large sums of money they demand.
              i.  Athletes will disagree with salary causing lockouts
              ii.  Commissioners and team owners decide salaries

2.  Popularity of Sport Played world-wide

     A.  Expense of recreational sport for youth and adults 

              i.  Cost of equipment

              ii.  Location of sport played

     B.  Number of players on a team
              i.  More players= lower salary, and vice versa

     C.  Number of games per season/ Money the team makes
              i.  More televised games
              ii.  Number of tickets sold

3.  Endorsements

     A.  Affinity
              i.  Affiliation with superstar athlete
              ii.  Feel more "part of team" or involved with league

     B.  Awareness
              i.  City with many fans
              ii.  Official products of leagues
     C.  Ability to sell more products
              i.  More advertisements seen by people
              ii.  Athletes representing products

4.  History
     A.  First players endorsed
     B.  Cause of endorsements
     C.  Tactics used by businesses through sports

"Starstruck" by the Industry

In my research, I found myself wondering how I could write so much about celebrities without actually talking to one, so I did just that. Today I interviewed a movie star in our own school, Danielle Campbell. Danielle is a senior here at Central, and she's been acting now for years. Her claim to fame is the Disney Channel original movie, Starstruck, but she was also cast in the big screen Disney flick, Prom, as well as other productions such as Madea's Witness Protection Program and a reoccurring role on "Prison Break." Here are some bits from our interview...

Q: How is Disney in terms of commitment compared to other companies?

Danielle explained to me that it really depends on which part of the company you're involved in. When she signed on with Disney for the TV section she had to sign a two-year contract where the producers could pull you in for other TV productions or have you pilot for new TV shows, but when she signed on for Disney on the big screen, those contracts didn't apply. Now, though, since she has accumulated enough experience with Disney, she doesn't have to enter a 2 year contract to do a movie for Disney. Also, she told me about how easy it was for to be on "Prison Break" because the writers were really lenient- "if they wanted to bring your character back, they would contact you, but if you couldn't do it, they were really good with writing you out."

Q: What do you receive in terms of royalties for your work?

Danielle: "For movies, everything is paid to you upfront before production. For TV, you do get paid each time they rerun your movie or episode, but by the time the money gets distributed to your agents, managers, etc., you're not left with that much."

Q: There's this stigma with Disney stars that they can't just be actors- they have to sing and model and have other talents. What's it really like?

Danielle: "It's good to be versatile because Disney is such different acting than other acting because it's very over the top dramatic. The people at Disney are always going to push you to try the singing thing and the modeling thing, but if it's not for you, then they get that, and you don't have to do that."

Danielle was such a pleasure to interview. She gave me a lot of good, honest information, and was really nice with taking out time from her double life to meet with me. Thanks to Danielle Campbell!

Images: auditions-for-all.blogspot.com; justjaredjr.com; enjoythepics.com

Strong Athletics= More Money

Here's an article that deals with College Athletics and their marriage with TV rights. Nowadays, teams are changing conferences every other year. They are joining conferences all around the nation that do not fit their criteria and they are ending long time rivalries. This is not about kids or even the schools. It is about money. This is about the marriage between big time universities and TV rights that contain a net worth of 25.5 billion dollars.

• Growth rate on par to increase another 12 billion by the next decade
• Of the 120 athletic departments in division 1 only 19% reported to make a profit in 2011
•  Per student funding has dropped from 79% to 56%
• Media rights has tripled with the latest round of deals from 326 million to 1.25 billion 
• Annual salaries for top coaches average above 5 million  

Why do you think teams such as Rutgers and Maryland joined the big 10? What is so appealing about them?



This article was written by Rachel Bachman and Matthew Futterman. Two people who have looked in depth into the business of college athletics.

What Will You Get Paid When You Die?

          Imagine a salary that extends past your death and is delivered to members of your family in order for them to stay afloat. This seems unreal, right? Well this is just one of the many benefits one would acquire by working at Google.

          According to Career Bliss, Google employees have reported a 37 % increase in happiness because of the recently changed policies at their company. Though Google has previously been known as the job playground, it is emphasized now more than ever.

Some changed policies are:

• Death Policy - Google will pay the deceased's spouse or domestic partner 50% of the employees salary for ten years. The surviving spouse will also get stock benefits, and the children will get $1,000 a month until the age of 19.
• On-site hospital at the Googleplex
• Exercise facilities; including endless lap pools
• Free food and haircuts
• Maternity Perks - New parents get to spend longer periods with their children and are given a little extra spending money for it.
• Paid to Learn - Google employees are reimbursed for any extra education that may help them with   what they do.
• And many more

It seems that Google hasn't left anything out. 

*SOURCE: Huffington Post - Ramona Emerson - Ramona has been writing for the Huffington Post for many years. She is the Associate Tech Editor and has had her work published in many different medias (Oprah, Time, etc.)

Companies profit

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11718458/1/heres-how-much-apple-makes-per-iphone-5.html

Here's How Much Apple Makes Per iPhone 5

Chris Ciaccia 

Have you ever wondered how much your iPhone is worth? well if you are an owner of a new Apple iPhone guess how much profit apple made of your phone? 

these are the questions were answered in the article "Here's How Much Apple Makes Per iPhone 5"  in the short time apple released their new version of the iphone 5 they have sold over 26 million copies, overall the profitable line was at 442 dollars per device. this is why apple is one of the most profitable and successful companies in the world because they have such a high rate of 68% of profits in their products. and that's only one product. Imagine how much they could be making out of all of their products.  

 one of my questions is how do you create such a device or product that can give you so much profit and people keep buying them. how can you get people to fall for your products. and i think this is one of the key parts on what separates the best companies from the others. the amount of profit is quite high for the apple company. 

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02338/iphone5_2338246b.jpg

Games/Season= How Much $?

     There are many factors, I've discovered, that cause professional athletes to make lare amounts of money, but another question I have is "What aspects of certain sports play into the difference of average players' salaries in different leagues?"  I've looked into this before and found out that the number of teams and the amount of players on each team have to do with it, but what about the number of games being played per season? Is there a direct correlation between the amount of games being played and the popularity of the sport or how much money the average athlete receives?

     After reading articles and other blogs, I came to conclusion that the amount of games played per season doesn't equate to the average athlete's salary for a specific sport. There are a total of 1,230 games played each season in the NHL if you look at the entire league. The grand total of NFL games played are 332.  There are almost 1,000 fewer games played, total, yet the NFL still makes more money than the NHL.  Total NBA season games add up to as much as 1,455.  The NBA is, in fact, the richest league, but looking at other professional leagues, this isn't the only reason why. The MLB will play about 200 games total.  This is evidence that I used to conclude that the amount of games per season isn't a large factor playing into the average athlete's salary of a specific sport.

NFL 2012 season schedule

Causation of LOCKOUTS

     There is currently a lockout in the NHL due to a disagreement between the league and the players.  I already know that NHL players receive the least money on average out of any other men's professional sports.  I'm curious about what else plays into the lockout, which is consequently upsetting many NHL fans because of season ticket holders and whatnot.

     One reason for the lockout is believed to be precedent.  In 2004 and 2005, there was a disagreement about the revenue the league was receiving and how the money was being split between team owners, coaches, and players.  As a result, the players were "locked out" for the entire season.  Eventually, the players had a decrease of about 24% of their salaries.  This cutback in salaries recently ended and the league is at it again.  This worked for the owners 8 years ago, so the NHL is using this strategy again.  Once again, the owners have offered the players another 24% rollback in their salaries.  The revenue made by the NHL has increased from $2.1 billion to $3.3 billion, and the players aren't accepting another reduction of their pay.

     These labor turmoils have happened somewhat recently in other leagues as well.  Back in '94, there ended up being a cancellation in the MLB world series due to a 7-1/2 month strike from the players.  The NBA has also had in total 4 lockouts; the NFL 4 strikes and 1 lockout in the past.

NFL player benefits

The NFL does provide many programs for retired players with programs such as the Joint Replacement Program, Neurological care program, spine treatment program, and many others. But one plan caught my attention it is called the 88 Plan. The 88 Plan is named after Hall of Famer and NFL legend John Mackey. This plan provides former players with up to $100,000 a year for medical care resulting from dementia, Alzheimer's Disease, ALS, and/or Parkinson's disease. This plan was started in 2007 and since then it has distributed over $16 million to players and their families. This plan is a great way to make sure that players that are suffering from terrible brain injuries do get the proper care they need after they are done playing football.

      https://www.nflplayercare.com/Default.aspx
John Mackey

Luxury "Yankee" Tax

With the New York Yankees paying over 91% of the luxury tax in the past 7 years should the name just be changed to the Yankees tax?

The Yankees have always been one of the highest paid teams in the MLB. With George Steinbrenner at the helm it was no problem to spend $29 million dollars for an aging third basemen in Alex Rodriguez. That was just his attitude towards owning the Yankees. They could buy their way to championships. With the passing of George Steinbrenner how will the Yankees attitude change toward big time spending? Could this have an affect on the parity of the league? Will other teams now have a chance to get big time players instead of the Yankees buying them?

Redoing products

 Here's Apple's Next Hit Product 

by : Chris Ciaccia 

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11730193/1/heres-apples-next-hit-product.html

this are the questions one ask about a company that is successful, and one way of becoming successful is by choosing to sell or make a product that can be better every year. 

One thing that companies do to bring the customers back to buy their products is by redoing by making their products smaller, lighter, and faster. for example we have Apple's new release and biggest hit in the moment : the Ipad Mini. 

The iPad mini is a new version of Apple's Product the iPad that was released  April 3, 2010. within 3 years Apple has come out with a version every year saying that graphics are better, faster, and easier to use. and people believe this a go buy the up to date version. this is a great way of bringing back customers by just changing minor things to the products. in the article it talks about the product and it talks about how apple will control most of the tablet market the release of the iPad mini. right now they have 68% of the shares and people believe that it will go up. One of my questions is how people go every year to get the latest product if they got the previous one that came out not even a year ago? 




what drives people to the store? what makes people wait in line for days during a product release? 

http://images.apple.com/ipad/home/images/promo_split_hero.jpg

"Friends" STILL With Money

I've already talked about the huge success of the 90's sitcom, Friends, but I didn't mention the success they had continuing into the 2000's. Beginning from season 5, the Friends stars began receiving royalties for reruns. That means that the cast was receiving money every time a different network like NBC or WGN played old episodes of the series. For those last 5 seasons, they weren't just making the $100,000 to $1 million per episode, but they were also making money from reruns on top of that. The amount of money they receive in royalties is disclosed, but we can assume that by the high price of their salaries, the stars were more than well off with these additions. Friends was such a success that the show is still playing on stations like TBS and Nickelodeon.

WILL THE FRIENDS EVER STOP GETTING MONEY?

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends
This source can be trusted because Wikipedia is a widely known source for all information. Also, the source is known for editing frequently, so you can trust that the information is up to date and current.

Length of schedule

Although the NFL is hands down the most popular between the big 4 (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL) it does have the least amount of games scheduled. This affects how much money the players take in. Based on per game statistics NFL players make a significantly larger amount. Physically football players cannot play 162 or 82 games in a season because each game requires so much preparation and rest. But this does not change the fact that NFL players are being put at high risk everytime they play. Also, the NFL has by far the most athletes in the sport with close to 1,700. The NBA consists of 450 players, the MLB has 750, and the NHL has 690. This greatly affects the amount of money each player is earning. If the money has to be split between more people then each person will end up getting less money.

Do NFL players recieve any benefits after they retire from football?

         http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ycn-10423863

Salary Cap Failure

Does the salary cap work?

The numbers show it does not. The MLB without a true salary cap has had 9 different World Series champions in the past 11 years. While in the NBA in the past 14 years 3 teams have combined for 11 of the championships. The salary cap was implemented to help create parity among teams. In fact it seems that the exact opposite has happened. Why some people might ask? I believe its because since all the teams are paying equal amounts for players they care less about the money and more about being on a good team. Look at the Heat they have Lebron, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh. That is an all-star line-up, how did they get such a good line-up? They had more to offer in talent and promises of championships than all the other teams. Not necessarily the most money to pay all of the players.

Should all the Leagues end the salary cap and follow baseball with a luxury tax?


Source: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8390834/mlb-2012-season-proves-salary-caps-not-necessary-espn-magazine

No Fishing

As insane as this may sound, boating and fishing on certain waters have been illegal in America since 2006. It was established by Judge Robert G. James, in the case of Normal Parm v. Sheriff Mark Shumate, after a few Louisiana anglers were caught fishing on flooded private property.

Today, any body of water beyond its ordinary high-water mark is considered off-limits to the public, being as it’s a criminal offense (under federal law no less) to fish or boat in such areas without the riparian owner’s permission. Taking into account that our rivers and lakes constantly change their water levels, this means that many shallows in the US right now are not suitable for public usage like skinny dipping.

Going to College With Your Siblings

Is there a relation to your older siblings and how much you will pay for college?  When I first thought of this, I didn't see how there could really be any correlation.

But, surprisingly, they do relate.

It is usually hard for parents or students to pay for college tuition for even one student, and when there are multiple siblings in one family who are attending college it is a very difficult to keep up with the tuition.

But don't fret, there may be some leeway for younger siblings who attend the same college as their older siblings. "What parents may not know is that a variety of colleges offer sibling discounts that cut costs for simultaneously enrolled children."  Some colleges will discount
annual tuition for each sibling that attends the school at the same time, like Johnson and Wales University who takes $2,000 off tuition a year for siblings who attend their school.  Some colleges even offer "Family Grants" to siblings.  For example, at George Washington University, they offer Family Grants that cut tuition in half for siblings who attend the school after a sibling does.

Unfortunately one of the reasons this discount may not be available to families would be if the second or third child does not want to attend the same college as their older sibling, which is understandable and likely.

Sibling discounts specific to each school are in most cases posted on the college's website, so check them out if you are a prospective student at your older brother or sister's college!

Database: US News (found from google news)
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2012/12/11/some-colleges-discount-tuition-for-siblings