Buying Athletes/Swimmers?

Paul, I'm not sure I understand your concern. We've chatted a bit on this site about making swimming more of a big time sport. One of the components of that, as many of us have agreed, is for world class athletes to have better opportunities to earn a living while pursuing swimming excellence full time. Well then, here we go. Like it or not the international meets where teams are fielded by nations is the big time in swimming. The World Cup series has made some strides focusing more on individual swimmers instead of national teams. But only the big meets, the Olympics especially, where the casual fan identifies with his nation's athletes really get the attention. In that context why shouldn't a nation with high aspirations, just like a soccer club or a baseball franchise or dare I say it a University willing to spend money in ways the NCAA will permit, be able to sign free agents? Certainly this will open up new forms of compensation for professional swimmers and create new opportunities. Also, to the extent it creates interest in elite level swimming in a nation like Qatar, it creates a demand and a market for elite swimming that did not exist anymore. Didn't we already say we were interested in that? Yes, I see your point about this development loosing the common nationality between the swimmer and the fans from his "home." That is valid, but it is a point we've faced and gotten over in any other professional sport. Free agents jump from team to team. Teams move to new cities. As Jerry Seinfeld observed, we're really cheering for laundry, but for leagues like the NFL, it seems we're OK with that. At the college level, you do lose something when you shift from Div III where you can sit next to a star athlete in your English Comp class, to Div I where that rarely happens. Last time I checked, Div I fans are just as passionate about the strangers that play for dear old University. Also, there is a dark side to getting picky about nationality. What are the criteria for who is genuinely Qatari? Do you have to be born there? By that measure, Lenny Krazylburg flunks out as a real American. Do you have to be ethnically Arab and/or religiously Muslim? Do NOT get me started about the demons that would unleash! Moreover, such a test would be nonsense in nations that pride themselves on their immigrants, like the U.S. or Canada. How about having to become a naturalized citizen first before you can compete? That is something, but it would not stop a nation from adopting a perfunctory naturalization process for the star athletes it wants to import. Personally, I think there is more up side than down side to this developement and I'm in favor of it. Just my self-appointed loudmouth's opinion. Take it for what it is worth. Matt

Paul, I'm not sure I understand your concern. We've chatted a bit on this site about making swimming more of a big time sport. One of the components of that, as many of us have agreed, is for world class athletes to have better opportunities to earn a living while pursuing swimming excellence full time. Well then, here we go. Like it or not the international meets where teams are fielded by nations is the big time in swimming. The World Cup series has made some strides focusing more on individual swimmers instead of national teams. But only the big meets, the Olympics especially, where the casual fan identifies with his nation's athletes really get the attention. In that context why shouldn't a nation with high aspirations, just like a soccer club or a baseball franchise or dare I say it a University willing to spend money in ways the NCAA will permit, be able to sign free agents? Certainly this will open up new forms of compensation for professional swimmers and create new opportunities. Also, to the extent it creates interest in elite level swimming in a nation like Qatar, it creates a demand and a market for elite swimming that did not exist anymore. Didn't we already say we were interested in that? Yes, I see your point about this development loosing the common nationality between the swimmer and the fans from his "home." That is valid, but it is a point we've faced and gotten over in any other professional sport. Free agents jump from team to team. Teams move to new cities. As Jerry Seinfeld observed, we're really cheering for laundry, but for leagues like the NFL, it seems we're OK with that. At the college level, you do lose something when you shift from Div III where you can sit next to a star athlete in your English Comp class, to Div I where that rarely happens. Last time I checked, Div I fans are just as passionate about the strangers that play for dear old University. Also, there is a dark side to getting picky about nationality. What are the criteria for who is genuinely Qatari? Do you have to be born there? By that measure, Lenny Krazylburg flunks out as a real American. Do you have to be ethnically Arab and/or religiously Muslim? Do NOT get me started about the demons that would unleash! Moreover, such a test would be nonsense in nations that pride themselves on their immigrants, like the U.S. or Canada. How about having to become a naturalized citizen first before you can compete? That is something, but it would not stop a nation from adopting a perfunctory naturalization process for the star athletes it wants to import. Personally, I think there is more up side than down side to this developement and I'm in favor of it. Just my self-appointed loudmouth's opinion. Take it for what it is worth. Matt