TELL US: Has money made sport better or worse?

Exactly. There WAS no defensive system. The muddy ball was the defense.

I generally agree but in one way the quality of the game has declined due to modern coaching developing better defensive/negating tactics and techniques. Sheek claims players aren't as skilled but I think that's absolute rubbish. The opposition is just faster and better prepared putting them under greater pressure.

And we have The Roar , best rugby discussion forum out there .... Will collect my Noddy badge later.

People go on about modern day sport and money making it popular or more popular, well hello -3 super rugby sides dumped/tv ratings down for super rugby/corwds like extremely down for super rugby/no one turning up to watch NRL games/this weekend the NRL is giving away thousands of free tickets to there grand final coz they can't fill an 80,000 seat stadium anymore/tv ratings right down for super rugby/test cricket tv ratings and crowds right down/ wallaby tests have has huge decline in crowds they were only able to attract 55,000 to watch the AB's this year. Pumas can't even pull 20,000 to a match in Australia/springboks are just as unappealing to the casual aussie sports fan they have to play in perth(south african ex pats to pull a crowd... So all this money isn't generating interest..

Many people are better off. Competitors are better off getting paid, often handsomely. Fans who watch competitions are happy enjoying the show. Sponsors and media companies are better off doing marketing with sports. Politicians are better off, as people pay attention to sports and not political problems. Who is worse off? Regular people who don't get public funds, unlike sports competitors, federations and promoters. Competitors who can play professionally because the other player had a nicer smile or was better doing business.

Well said Johnno and I also applaud the rise of women's sport. Cricket, soccer, AFL, rugby, you name it, these girls are really on top of it and going places. s

We have a World Cup, which is delicious. Better athletes are being lured away from other sports. I can watch the All Blacks play the Boks in real time on my iPhone as I ride a bike in the Bois de Bologne.

Better. Much better. In every respect. The athletes are exponentially more skilled, quick, agile, and powerful. There are half as many scrums. The coaches are vastly better prepared. The stadia have three times as many beers. The cheerleaders are friendlier. The players can retire rich. The medics are smarter. The action is faster and more furious. The rugby world is more connected; and growing.

Are you saying i don't speak for the majority of fans, i want fans to be slower and less skilled and smaller and more errors, as it relates to the common man more. But do the majority of modern day casual sports fan not think like me in that they don't want there top athletes to have full time jobs, train twice a week, smoke and drink live of fast food and a bit of footy chucked in, do most modern day fans demand more from there athletes..

Better. The quality of preparation (of the pitch, the sportsmen, the referees, the coaches, the fans) is better before each game; the athleticism and speed and power and skill level is exponentially superior; there are half as many (or less) scrums; the tactics have been refined; stadia are more entertaining; cheerleaders are rife; you can get ten types of IPA beer; spectators smoke less; the post-match analysis is never-ending; the pressure is deliciously higher; players can retire rich; coaches are rock stars; you can watch the All Blacks play the Boks on your phone as you ride your bicycle in the Bois de Bologne; the uniforms look sleeker; the feats of agility and strength are much more remarkable; corruption is down because the money is above the table; you are more sure the best players are on the field; losses are less acceptable; wins are more glorious; and the sport we all love ... grows.

Disagree If a player as bad as Pek Cowan can command several hundred thousand a season and claim to be on ‘suicide watch’ after the Force were cut speaks volumes of over-payment and player entitlement. I just don’t see the passion anymore these days and add to it the embarrassing conflict of interest with the ARU propping up the Waratahs like an idiot son living off his parents when they’re 40

Depends on the sport . It has certainly imo made rugby and cricket better . In the amateur era players had to make huge and often unfair sacrifices to play at the top level. It has gotten out of hand in soccer though and as a result placing so much power in a far too concentrated amount of clubs. Most clubs now just cannot compete with the likes of Real Madrid , Manchester City , Bayern Munich etc. Boxing has become a bit of a joke primarily to the big money spinners manipulating who fights who, not based on pugilistic skills but more on the ability of the fighters to be marketed. .But .....at the end of the day it is what it is and no amount of agreeing or disagreeing is going to change current trends. Also of course the problem with wide scale betting is the unsavoury element it brings with it . Cricket particularly in Asia is facing a real credibility crisis as a consequence.

Money talks, and we are all in business to make money. If you look at the pros and cons of money in sports, then the cons outweigh the pros for the average earner. Those football transfer deals is what pisses me off. That Neymar transfer fee is just ridiculous. That money could've gone to far better things. Betting and gambling is a problem, as mentioned by previous comments. If salary cap is a problem, then why not extend the cap, it can't be that much. Price tickets should be fair. Salaries for football and American sports compare to Rugby,League, Cricket and other sports salaries are miles apart, way unfair. But for the better of sport tho I think it depends on you being a fan. If you're an avid supporter of a team, or a fan of a player, or a sports fan in general, than money problems in sports doesn't bother you. If you can afford it, you will buy the tickets, you will buy their jerseys and all the support gears, or you just simply watch it on tv. Money is the root of all things good, and evil. Sports is just one them.

Concentrate on rugger to answer this, am I as a fan better off in the professional era than I was in the days of amateur rugby. No doubt, it's got to be a big yes, I can watch any match of importance if I'm so inclined (I'm not) I can only handle a certain amount. The one thing that's certain, there is no going back, in sport money talks and it always will.

Governments really need to get involved to prevent the integration of gambling in sports. Making money is high on the priority list for sporting codes so unfortunately if they can cash in on gambling agencies, they will.

In terms of live sport (ie. people going to games) you may have a point there, but the flip side is the huge amounts of TV dollars going into sport leads to the professionalism of the game which - while creating that disconnect - also improves the quality of the on-field action. In rugby league for example wingers score tries that players in the 70s wouldn't have dreamed of, while the combination of speed, size and skill in the game is better than ever. That leads to more people watching on TV, which leads to more TV dollars for the sport, etc etc. Most people watch sport on TV these days, so even if there are 10,000 fewer people at NRL games for example (and I'm not sure if that's the case) there are many more watching games on Nine, Fox etc. In that sense money's helping the game, even in spite of those flaws. And in the US and European football where the money side of things has gotten out of control, there's still no sign the sports themselves are struggling because of it.

The fans lose coz the players can't relste to fans anymore unlike the good old days where Warnie was ya best mate and Don Bradman was a normal regular Aussie battler bloke, unlike today where rich types like Michael Clarke live in mansions and hardly ever turn out for there grade side or do the sausage sizzle at there club..

Other sports eg NBA-NBL/AFL/A-League/T-20 cricket/e-gaming

..........depends on your perspective but really, 'Sport' no longer espouses what it was intended to and thats because it has been infected by obscene amounts synonymous with big business. Sport at this tier is an oxymoron truth be told. It is a shame that a zin and zang can't be reached between the commercial and the virtuous but such is the human condition i.e. avarice and excess. From my perspective, all those traits that I once derived so much pleasure from as a supporter and indeed player of sport, have been compromised, suffice to say I don't 'consume' sport at the elite tier. I have been known to make an exception at AFL GF time however, so ill be watching the Tigers v Crows with mates who support both these entities, albeit with reservations, this Saturday arfy........

Most people will complain that money has corrupted ‘insert sport here’. But the reality is I would argue that without money, there is no sport. Sure amateur sport has existed, and always will. But there is always some form of finances that prop up that sport, regardless of whether an athlete is paid for their services. Without money – there would be local sport and nothing else. Without money you wouldn’t be able to turn on the TV screen and watch your team play. Without money, your team couldn’t travel to play any teams that are more than a stone throws distance away. Without money – the best athletes will swarm to areas where there is money. If you have ever whined about a player going to ‘x’ club (or in the case of league – ‘x’ sport) because he can earn more money doing something else ------ that is what happens when a sport does not have money. Without money – sport is not advertised – media won’t report on it and you will hear much less about it. Without money – I wouldn’t be interested in sport because I wouldn’t have easy access to it. And I doubt most people responding (save the hard-core fan who played that chosen sport since they were a child) would be any different. Don’t believe me – I present you the W-League, WBBL, WAFL and WNBL. All sports that exist in the minority because the money is not there. This is not a slight on all the athletes who play these sports – in fact – I would strongly advocate that as sporting fan we should all get behind these leagues. But the reality is, if the money isn’t there, the exposure isn’t there and the losers aren’t us the fans, but those athletes who participate in these leagues because they are not compensated appropriately. You might not like it….. But money makes sport better, because it makes it accessible to you and me.