Week $5$ Case Study Ethical Dilemma $$ Pay for Play

For years, your local community has offered a variety of sport and recreation options to children in the area. As the Director of Community Sport, you oversee recruiting players, coaches, and officials to participate in soccer, hockey, golf, field hockey, lacrosse, football, cheerleading, baseball, and softball. Participants range from age three to $18,$ and sport in the community has become a local mainstay on weeknights and weekends.

Since $2000,$ the fee to participate in the sport and recreation options has been $$10.$ Most of the funding for the community sports has come from a town board allocation. However, at a recent town board meeting, it was decided the budget would be reduced by one$-$third, as the town is now grappling with a deficit and inflation. It was left to you to decide how best to proceed with a limited budget.

For inspiration, you looked to the neighboring town that has a pay$-$for$-$play system in place for youth sport participation. Depending on the sport, the cost to participate ranges from $$100$ per season $($soccer$)$ to $$1,500$ per season $($ice hockey$).$ After instituting the change, the neighboring town had a decrease in the number of participants $($around $40\%),$ but an increase in the competitive success of the teams, with several youth teams making it to the regional and state$-$level competitions. However, the neighboring town has a median household income of $$84,000,$ while your community has a median household income of $$48,000.$ You are concerned that a similar price structure would devastate your community and price out many families from participation.

Working with your assistant director, you attempt to come up with a plan to account for the budget gap while also taking into consideration the large number of sport offerings and the discretionary income in the area. To make this important decision, which has immense ramifications for your community$$s youth, you decide to examine the organization$$s mission statement and apply an ethical decision$-$making model to the dilemma. Your current mission statement reads, $$We strive to provide athletic and social opportunities to all children in the community in a safe, productive, and healthy environment.$$

Question for Class

Using Malloy$$s Seven$-$Step model for ethical decision making in Sports, break down the above issue, identify some $($at least three$)$ options to this problem, choose what your group feels is the best decision ethically:

Recognition of the Ethical Dilemma

Generation of Alternative Options

Evaluations of all options $($The original and the alternatives$)$

Identify what would be the ideal $$perfect$$ ethical option

Intention

Make a decision as to what option is best one to choose

Evaluate the decision after the fact to determine if it was the correct decision

With the recent budget changes and your group$$s choice$/$solution to resolve issue, does the mission statement need updating?

If yes, select a new mission statement

If no$,$ how does solution chosen by your group enable the original mission statement to be met?

Principles and Practice of Sport Management $$ Lisa Pike Masteralexis and Mary A$.$ Hums