Pitt87 wrote:steve784 wrote:columbia wrote:There are plenty of reasons to inflict (or not) the death penalty on Penn State.
The health of the local economy should not be a consideration.
I'm honestly not even trying to argue the death penalty here. If there is, so be it. Some businesses will take a hit and that's unfortunate. My point I'm trying to make is I don't understand the underlying theme that this whole community is responsible for this terrible coverup and should be punished. It's not like there was a town hall meeting with 50,000 people and child rape was voted to be covered up by a strong majority vote.
Screw it, maybe they should just nuke State College. Mark Madden would probably be happy at least (as long as The End Zone was out of the fallout radius).
Anyone saying that any penalties are not fair to the community, football players or other sports because it penalizes them for a crime they didn't commit is ignoring the fact that they have been benefiting from a program that committed a crime; children of embezzlers are put on the street, parents of drug dealers lose their houses, and employees of 'boiler room' businesses lose their jobs all the time. LIFE IS NOT FAIR, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE UNKNOWINGLY ASSOCIATED WITH CRIMINALS.
Its an ignorant excuse and lays blame with people that seek to penalize PSU, which is indicative of the problem; the NCAA has a responsibility to govern the programs of its members. PSU created a culture of reverence for the Football Program because of the economic impact. If the NCAA decides not to nuke the program because of the economic impact, does that not perpetuate the problem? I completely agree with what you said; the businesses that were based on the hundreds of thousands of people that flood in for football games will probably fail, but most of them will be just fine, maybe a bit less lucrative for a time. The Waffle Shop, Wegmans, The Corner Room, the Saloon... all these places will be just fine.
The Death Sentence for Football is not a death sentence for business unless you were only in it for the money, which is the basis for the cover-up anyway.
I dont really follow. Child abuse, Sandusky or not the community still benefits the same in State College or wherever there is big time college football. Cities benefit deeply from sports teams (more than people even think). Like it or not but these crimes did not change anything about the about the fans, players or surrounding businesses. If they dont commit these crimes NOTHING would have been different. 100,000 still would have shown up on Saturdays.
I just dont think its a fair argument to say the area benefited from an organization that was doing these crimes because it simplifies it down to an elementary argument. I mean I went to a college and I went to Division 1 football games all the time. I am NO different than any one student at PSU. Many athletes play at different schools for the same reason kids at PSU do.
Dumbing it down to LIFE ISNT FAIR. CHILDREN OF DRUG DEALERS blah blah is bs because those are people directly involved in the life and all aspects of the criminal act and it is crappy luck. However, a better example in relation to PSU would be - "my dad was convicted of dealing drugs so he went to prison, instead of sending me to a foster home they made sure I never had another dad again because I was associated and ate food he payed with drug money even though I had no idea he was drug dealer and just showed up to eat dinner every night at 7".
Finally - if you think all of the businesses would be fine without PSU football you have no idea about the economics surrounding sports or the shear volume of cash surrounding 100,000 plus visitors to basically a farmland. It would have a monster effect. Games, tv rights, all those jobs at the stadiums, full time staffers at PSU, month of training camp, spring practices, admins, support staff, part time workers, hotels, beer distributors, local hot dog distributors, gas stations,
TAXES on 100,000 tickets (btw even if its a dollar per ticket that is almost a million dollars per year in lost revenue for the town and I am sure its more than that), luxury box taxes, taxes for the area on salaries, coaches salaries (how many millions is that?), sales people, cleaning staff, sponsorships not just to PSU but local TV stations, radio stations, radio broadcasts, local staffers for all broadcasts, parking tax, beer tax, food tax, restaurant tax, rental car tax, students who dont go to PSU could mean teachers laid of (big time sports is a reason for a lot of kids to pick a school), bars and beer distributors for AWAY games and bowl games.
Take 100,000 and times it by $10,then $20, then $30, then $40 then $50 - take that number then times it by 6 or 7 and look at the effect this could have on the economy. Think about how much money you spend at a pro game? Then think about how much cash you would spend if you traveled for a weekend for a game? Think about how much money you spend on a Saturday afternoon game and afterwards at a bar. That is PSU.
Will it kills the area - NO. Will have a huge negative effect - if you dont think so you are only lying to yourself.
I hate Paterno for what he did. And the other schmucks too. And of course Sandusky. They can all rot rot rot in hell. But I refuse to want to punish a student body, athletes or businesses for their crimes.
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