by Alexander Hall

Created on: February 15, 2009   Last Updated: March 01, 2009

These are tough economic times for everyone in this country. In this recession corporations are cutting back and U.S citizens are losing their jobs left and right. No business is immune to monetary hardship. During these rough times major league sports has taken a hit and more economic pain is projected for the future.

The National Football League, which is a monster among all other pro U.S sports when it comes to revenue, is showing signs of trouble. In December it was reported that the NFL plans on cutting 150 jobs. The Washington Redskins and Cleveland Browns have already let go of employees. And next season the NFL can expect to possibly take a hit in merchandising as well.

If the NFL is feeling the economic pinch then you know the other major sports are feeling it too. According to the Wall Street Journal the NBA laid of 80 employees already and the Charlotte bobcats let go of 35 workers from their front office. Many teams are having reduced pricing offers for college students and people of the military.

NASCAR will probably take the biggest hit of all the sports because of its heavy reliance of sponsors. 3 or the top 5 advertisers for the sport last year were Ford, Toyota and General Motors. (Nielsenmedia.com) With the entire auto manufacturing businesses struggling as a whole there should be a significant impact on this up coming race season. Less people will also show up to the races according to a former poll on NASCAR.com. The poll asked how many racing events people plan to attend and the popular answer was none. And with 70 people already let go from various NASCAR teams it seems that it will only get worse.

Major league baseball had a great year in 2008 reaching the second highest paid attendance in MLB history. But this is expected to change for the impending season, so in preparation for this economic hit MLB had Paul Volcker speak to the owners in a meeting. For those who are not familiar with him he is the former Federal Reserve chairman and is currently 1st chair of president Barack Obamas' economic recovery board. While for first time in14 years the Red Sox's are freezing ticket prices.

The NHL has been a victim of the rescission also. With teams like the Florida Panthers giving away free tickets to increase attendance and Atlanta Thrashers whose arena is seating only at 72% capacity. These franchises and other more successful are having trouble during these times. One can only feel that there is more to come from the sports would during this rescission.

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