Dress Code Implementation Into the NBA Essay -- Papers

Dress Code Implementation Into the NBA The controversial issue as of late is whether or not a dress code should be implemented into the NBA. These athletes are being paid millions of dollars a year and serve as role models to children all over the world. For these reasons it is essential that a dress code be implemented into the NBA. Last year during the Olympics, at one of Belgrade’s finest restaurants, Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and many other U.S. players attended a dinner in their honor. The guest list included many respectable people including the Serbian national team, who were all wearing matching sport coats. Iverson and some of his fellow NBA professionals arrived wearing an array of sweat suits, oversize jeans, shimmering diamond earrings and platinum chains, according to NBA officials at the dinner. Larry Brown, the Hall of Fame coach of the U.S. team, was shocked and humiliated. He told an NBA official that he thought about sending some of the worst dressed players back to the hotel (Washington Post). The story of this incident eventually made its way back to the office of David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA. There was already a rising concern about how some of the players were dressing and how the overall appeal of the game was being destroyed. The NBA had tried to fuse its product with the hip hop culture, trying to connect with a new generation of fans and their street fashion. This plan of attack was very unsuccessful (Washington Post). Looking at the statistics, not only were they unsuccessful, ... ... from. Like I said before, the NBA is a business, and the main objective of a business is to make money. They have to realize that the big money in sports comes from corporate dollars: Sponsorships, Commercials, and Luxury Suites. The NBA can afford to risk alienating a few kids or slow sales of throwback jerseys, because portraying their players as professionals earns $350,000 more corporate dollars from another sold commercial spot. And this is the money that they want (Not Exactly Rocket Science). In conclusion, the players of the NBA have the abilities of a professional, are paid like professionals, and are powerful role models among the youth of society. With great power comes great responsibility, and these players must be men and own up to their responsibilities of dressing like professionals.