Old Spring Spike

Spring break trips are synonymous with fun, however, searching through spring break packages to find the best one is not always a good time. If you keep some key elements in mind, it will make things much easier when trying to plan your vacation for spring break 2009.

First, lets talk price. I think most college students could agree that this is the number one factor in determining which spring break package to choose. Lets face it, most students are up to their eyeballs in debt. They can’t afford to spend $1000 on spring break vacations. The good news is that everyone else feels the same way. Because of this, the high-priced trips are typically exclusive to older couples and families…not spring breakers. This is not the type of environment spring break students want to be in anyway. They want crowds of other students to party with. Try to eliminate packages above the $700 mark. There are plenty of great trips out there that fall below $500 per person, you just need to google harder to find them.

Second, we need to talk about what is included. Spring break students don’t like extra fees and surprises. They want to pay one price and not worry about how much money they need to take with them on the trip to pay for extra things that pop up along the way. Try to find packages that include transportation(airfare or cruise). Don’t try to purchase everything separate. Spring break vacations are the only segment of travel where it is typically always best to book everything together through one agency. Summer trips, New Years, and the family vacation is usually cheaper if you book everything separate…but not spring break trips. This is an important fact that most people overlook.

Third, everyone likes free stuff. Find packages that include free trips if you book before a certain date. Many agencies offer summer trips or New Years vacations to those students that book five or six months in advance. Don’t wait until one or two months prior to book your spring break package. Agencies don’t feel they need to offer big incentives when demand is at its peak. When the bookings start pouring in, the free trips and group discounts tend to disappear. Also, you will most likely not get a room at your favorite hotel if you wait two months prior. Most popular spring break packages book out four or five month prior to your departure date.

Last, see what destination is hot right now. Cancun was popular in the late 90’s, but in 2007 everything shifted to the Bahamas. This was due to a massive hurricane that left many of the hotel lobbies with six feet of standing water and wind damage in the millions. This year, 2008 saw a record number of college spring break students in the Bahamas. Most of the hotels were sold out six months prior to March 2008.

Spring break 2009 will be wild, crazy, and non-stop fun for college students worldwide. Do your research and find the best option.

We are told that our country is not in a recession, but it certainly appears that way and feels that way to many Americans.  All the signs point in that direction which means that the economy and the job market are chaotic.  Even though there is no career that is absolutely secure in these disorderly times, it is important to take measures to ride out the storm until the economy is more stable.  There are, however, some jobs that handle the fluctuations of the economy much better than others.  Instead of finding yourself headed to the unemployment line, consider finding a career that is more secure and can withstand the turbulent times of a troubled economy.

 Even though there are no careers that are absolutely immune from the poor economic situation, there are some careers that are better able to withstand the recession than others.  Here are a few factors to consider:

*Consider a job that is high in demand. 

*Consider jobs that require special skills.

*Consider jobs that provide necessary goods and services.

*Consider jobs offered by stable and reputable companies.

 According to some recent statistics, there have been some occupations harmed by the economic downturn such as: construction, retail businesses and transportation.  There are some occupations that have been able to withstand the pressures of a troubled economy.  The following is a list of the ones we need to consider in times of a recession:

 *Healthcare and pharmaceutical careers will always have a place in our society.  As people become older and the demand for healthcare increases then more physicians, physicians’ assistants, registered nurses, and pharmacists will be needed to meet the demand.

 *Education will be necessary to meet the demand of educating children, youth and young adults at many educational levels. Therefore, there will always be a need for teachers and educational administrators across our nation.

 *Sales-Marketing careers are of value because these positions often help to increase business and save money for the company.

 *Computer-Technology careers with emphasis on managing databases and programming software are more secure in their jobs.  Having the specialized skills of being able to know the inner workings of computers and being able to work with complex computer systems will give you an advantage.

 *Accounting careers will continue to be needed as tax laws change and more laws imposed on the nation.  Careers in accounting remain secure during recessions.

 *Environmental careers should remain a secure area of employment since the green movement is in demand.  It may be a good time to consider a career in an environmental field.

 Careers that offer advice on how to stretch the dollar are usually in demand. Play it smart and plan ahead by preparing for careers that are high in demand and fine-tune your skills to bring value and benefit to the organization. 

In the United States, both baseball and football have passionate fans who claim that they follow the true number one sport in America. But, how does one determine what is the actual “number one American sport”?

There are several categories that can be considered when determining America’s number one pastime. Analyzing attendance, ticket costs, revenue from television, salaries, venues, will help to present a case for which sport is number one in the United States. These six factors will help determine which sport is more beloved by Americans.

Attendance

One way to determine whether baseball or football is more popular in America is by looking at how many people go to the games. During the year 2000, the average crowd at a baseball game was 30,125, while the average crowd at a football game was 66,077. This figure is based on a total yearly attendance, divided by the total number of games that were played in the sport. Simply based upon this one factor, it would appear that twice as many people went to football games than to baseball games in that particular year.

Ticket Costs

An aspect which can contribute to the popularity of a sport is ticket cost. An important question is: how affordable is it for the average family in America to go to a live sporting event? Pertaining to this factor, baseball is more accessible and potentially more popular overall with average, to below-average income earning American families. Baseball games, in the year 2000, cost $20.02, while football games cost an average of $54.14. Clearly, live baseball is easier to afford than live football, and watching games live is an experience that can create a lot of fans and generate plenty of excitement for a particular sport.

Television Revenue

Another important factor to consider when analyzing the popularity of a given sport is how much money that sport accumulates from television revenues. In this case, football is the clear winner. The NFL brings in about 2.2 billion dollars a year in revenues from television. The MLB earns about 340 million. The significant difference pertaining to TV revenue is that football is on a few days per week, and baseball is on nearly every night. However, football still brings in much more money from ad revenues on television, which means that there are more people watching the football games than are watching the baseball games. When it comes to television revenue, football is the number one sport.

However, this does not settle the argument. The baseball season and the football season are opposites in many ways. Baseball season is long and drawn out, with a team playing almost every night. Football games are essentially once a week, even though the league and the networks have added Saturday and Thursday games to the already successful “Monday Night Football”. This creates more of a buzz for a football game, and the TV numbers and the revenue generation is a product of that buzz.

Salaries

Another measure of how popular a sport is would be how much its players are paid. In the Major League Baseball, the average salary is a little over 2 million dollars a year; while the average salary in the NFL is right around 1.18 million dollars a year. Therefore, baseball pays its players more money, but it is essentially unclear what effect this aspect has on the fans preference between the two sports.

Venues

The different venues in which the two sports are played is another aspect to take into consideration. When attempting to determine which sport is number one sport in America, this can be a factor. The number of seats in stadiums is important because it shows the number of fans that can be expected per game. The average baseball stadium holds 47,000 people. The average football stadium holds 70,000 people. Therefore, there are more seats to watch football games, meaning that more people typically go to football games. Again, this may be skewed due to the frequency of games played in both football and baseball. However, a regular season football game is more of a major event on a consistent basis than a regular baseball game.

The Role of a Sport’s Athletes

Another factor to consider when discussing what America’s favorite pastime may be is the impact the games players have on society, both positive and negative. For instance, if an Arena football player or an A-class baseball player gets in trouble, or does something very generous, it is not big news. If a NFL or MLB player does one of those things, it usually gets plenty of coverage. This may be a draw, mostly because both MLB and NFL players are consistently in the news for various run-in’s with the law or charitable actions.

Looking at these factors together, one realizes that football and baseball are both extremely popular and also very different. Due to this dynamic, it becomes difficult to compare the two fairly. Both sports have been around for many years, and both of them will continue to be popular for many years. Which one, however, is the more popular, is still undecided.