When someone told me it took $20,000,000 to sponsor a Cup car for a year, I was speechless. I don't know about you, but that number was beyond my ability to comprehend. Yes, I know that all sports are privy to this kind of monetary sponsorship, but sheesh! That money does provide jobs for many people who then put it back into the economy and blah,blah, blah. But, it's still too much for me to bite off in one chunk.
So, I broke it down into some numbers I could relate to. $20,000,000 could do the following for those in need:
Buy 133 new homes ($150K each).
Provide insurance coverage for 50,000 families.
Pay for a four year college education with room and board (in state) for 500 students.
Purchase 4,000 used cars.
Give $1,000 each to 20,000 families that "fall between the cracks" for Christmas.
How about $20,000,000 for cancer research?
Isn't that amazing if you really think about it? Our society pumps so much money into advertising and leisure sports. What if we all took a year off and persuaded these corporations to do some of the things on the list above? Sure, we would be bored. Sure, it will never happen. I'm just "what if-ing" here.
I have an idea. Why don't we do a little fundraising instead? We could ask the big sponsors to take care of some of the issues I've listed above and we'll take one Cup car for a year! We could plaster 3 X 5's of those of us who contribute to the cause all over those cars. It would look like one big collage; a "fan-a-lage" if you will.
We could raise the funds to sponsor one Cup car if we did any one of these things and donated the funds:
100,000 bake sales
40,000 garage sales
1,000,000 smokers giving up one pack a week and donating the savings
57,142 families of four skipping traveling to a pro-sporting event (not all at the same time of course)
1,000,000 people giving up a "happy meal" once a week
Just a little food for thought. My cookies are baking as we speak and I'm heading out to have my "Glamour Shot" done tomorrow!
6 comments Last one added 8 months ago — Leave a Comment
Mary Jo Buchanan 8 months ago
It is a ton of $ isn't it? Think of all of the kids and families in need that could be helped by just a little bit of that. You put it into good persepctive and yes, the social worker in me comes out.....
Edit Comment Cancel
Saraswathi Siriginia 8 months ago
Amazing analysis racethis, thanks MJ for pointing out this wonderful article. 5 starz and POTD
Edit Comment Cancel
L.J. Burgess 8 months ago
We could do the right thing and just shut down sports for 12 months...or, hell, have a charity all-star game, world series and super bowl. A fund raising march madness, etc., and I don't mean donate the leftovers either, I mean the players, coaches, owners paying all the bills, hotels, flights, groundskeeping, electric...etc., After all these years of moneymaking, a season for free shouldn't be too much to ask.
Edit Comment Cancel
racethis 50 8 months ago
I love that idea LJ!
Edit Comment Cancel
Andy Stotts 8 months ago
You are on the right track. Is it too late to have you as our President? You know that $20 million is not even all of the costs. The sponsor still pays for a lot of other little things all year long and that adds up to about another $5 million or so.
Edit Comment Cancel
racethis 50 8 months ago
Wow, what a lovely world it would be tho, if we did have a March Madness weekend and donated all that money to something that really made a difference. *Sigh* Idealism is dead :/
Edit Comment Cancel
Leave a Comment
You must register to post a comment.