The Unionization of College Athletes

An excerpt of this appeared in NYT Room for Debate

National Labor Relations Board’s ruling that qualifies Northwestern football players as employees of the university and grants them the right to unionize is creating much debate around the issue of athletic reform in college athletics. I applaud the activism of these athletes to seek measures to obtain just treatment and a voice in the decision making process that impact their lives. It speaks to the sophistication and determination these modern day college athletes are willing to exhibit in order to bring about reform. This ruling is an example of their grassroots activism; the kind that is necessary to encourage athletic reform.

On the other hand, I am disappointed in the inertia of the NCAA, which has forced the hands of athletes to seek change and resolution externally. The NCAA efforts have been quite reactionary and defensive instead of proactive and visionary since the onslaught of cases that are challenging amateurism. Maybe their track record of losing in the lower courts and winning in the higher court is a tactical strategy they find successful. Maybe there are simply exhibiting “too big to fail” that is pervasive among corporations of this size.

I have mixed emotions about the application of this ruling because of the distance that exist between this ruling and the actual implementation of it. The process of appeals could go on for years before athletes actually benefit from having a union. Northwestern University officials have stated that they will appeal this decision. Until the development of a functional college players union, athletes will be enduring academic neglect and medical injuries that threatens their ability to be mentally and physically functional citizens.

Also, clearly there are pros (e.g., better wages, medical benefits, job security, etc.,) and cons (e.g., annual dues and fees, individuality, employee & employer collegiality, etc.) of having a union; however, I question whether this is the right methodology for college athletes; especially given the current configuration of college athletics, where there is no clear and definitive distinction between the athletes in revenue generating sports and non-revenue generating sports. Will a union be able to serve the values of both categories of college athletes? Finally, is reducing the power and governance of the NCAA in order to submit to another layer of governance and oversight of a union the plausible outcome? Further grassroots efforts should be directed at gaining a greater voice within the NCAA governing structure and making demands, by any means necessary, for long term health benefits, time to achieve a quality academic experience, and equitable economic compensation based on cost-of-living basic expenses.

Legalizing Sport Betting

A portion of this essay appeared in New York Times Room for Debate.

           The rationales for states legalizing sport betting range from the de-criminalization associated with sport betting to increasing tax revenue from the revenues generated from sport betting. In 2012, the Nevada Gaming Commission reported that $3.45 billion was legally wagered in its state’s Casinos in sport bets alone.  It is also estimated that around $380 billion is illegally wagered on sports betting. The Super Bowl is considered the mega-event for sport betting with estimates around $8 billion wagered each year. Clearly, significant revenue is generated in sport betting, which is cause for many states to consider the legalization of sport wagering.

            However, there are other factors to consider beyond the potential tax revenue and the contribution these revenues can make towards education and other civic services.  It is customary to see a rise in detrimental behaviors and physical and/or mental health issues with the legalization of certain social practices; e.g. alcohol, gambling, marijuana, etc.  For example, it has been documented that crime rates associated with the use of alcohol increased after prohibition.  The increase legalization of sport betting can witness a similar fate, where we experience an increase in impulse control disorders and the negative behaviors that are byproducts of this disorder.  As it relate specifically to sport, it can also encourage individuals to try and influence the outcome of the game by enticing players or officials with money.  It can encourage athletes to bet on games in which they compete, regardless of policies in place that prohibit this practice; such as the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992.

            In light of the various challenges professional sports are encountering, the increase legalization of sport betting can add another layer of complications.  Baseball is trying to manage the complications of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs); the NFL, although financially fit, concussion litigations may present an ongoing disruption; the NBA is struggling to fill the void of Air Jordan; and the NHL is two years removed from a lockout.  Now add the threat to the integrity of the game to these complications, and you have a disaster waiting to happen.

            Until our collective morality is at a level of maturity to handle the dysfunctionalism gambling induces the legalization of sport betting should be restricted.  Although gambling is big business, state revenues should not have to depend on the selling of false hopes or profiting off pathology.  The short-term gains of legalizing sport betting in more states are not worth the long-term complication it will create for the professional leagues, specifically, and most importantly, the complications it will add to many communities that are already challenged with other social pathologies.

NFL Concussion-gate: Admission of Guilt or Token Concession?

The NFL decision to pay over 4200 retired players, who are suffering from concussion related brain injuries, $765 million over 20 years will go down in history with other monumental settlements; monumental in terms of the lost to the plaintiffs and gain to the defendants. They will go down in history with major corporations like the Wall Street bailout, British Petroleum (BP), and Exxon Mobil; companies that paid relatively small settlements in terms of their overall financial worth and the damages they were accused of or caused.

In the case of the NFL, which consists of 32 teams with values averaging around $1.17 billion, it generates $10 billion annually.  Thus, $765 million over 20 years, a mere $38.25 million per year, is a very small percentage of its annual revenue.  Even if the NFL matched the plaintiffs’ request for $2 billion, their lost would have been minimal.  This settlement is also minimal with the increasing number of retired players who are reporting complications from brain injuries associated with concussions.

This was an opportunity for the NFL to take a stance and be a leader in being more concerned about the health and well being of the employees and former employees than their brand and bottom line.  This was an opportunity for the NFL to use their popularity and profits to contribute to the research on traumatic brain injuries and make a statement about its stance on corporate healthcare. 

Yet again, we have another multibillion-dollar corporation that misses an opportunity to express corporate responsibility. Instead, their token concessions admit their quilt and demonstrate their corporate irresponsibility and greed.

High School Football: To Televise or Not to Televise?

Debate increases on the ethical dilemma of televising high school football games.  Though not a recent occurrence, local, regional, and national coverage has increased significantly in the past 10 years.  For example, since 2005, ESPN and its family of networks (ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3) have provided national coverage for nationally ranked high school football programs. In 2013, the ESPN and its family of networks are scheduled to televise 26 teams from 15 states.  Similarly, FOX Sport South and Sport South have both increased their coverage of high school football.

Clearly, high school football is a product, and there is a demand for this product.  The sponsorship by corporations like Gieco and Under Armour provides evidence of the commercial viability of high school football.  There are advantages and disadvantages in this venture, which I will highlight a few of both.

First, televising high school football nationally provides some compensation to schools and school districts where funding for interscholastic sports have been dwindling with the cut in state funding.  Additionally, televising high school football games provides national exposure for schools, teams, key players, and coaches.  Athletes are able to display their talents and abilities before a national audience.  It also provides opportunities for athletes who are “under the radar” of college recruiters the chance to get display their abilities under the pressure of the national limelight.

One disadvantage is that, when teams have to travel from 500 – 2500 miles to compete for a national televised audience, it removes the event from the communities that bare the cost of supporting the schools and school districts.  Needless to say that interscholastic sports is a unifying factor for communities.  It also assists in instilling school and civic pride.  Furthermore, local vendors, who use these events as a means of livelihood, also lose out when these games are displaced.  But, all of this is lost to the team traveling thousands of miles to compete for a national audience.  A final disadvantage associated with the travel distance is that it creates a disruption in the academic life of athletes.  For the long distant trips, Fridays are lost to travel. Therefore, whatever classes and academic work required on Fridays will have to take a back-seat to the team’s travel schedule.

As it relates to the academic life, the increased commercialization of high school football, as a result of televised games, lends itself to further fueling the anti-intellectualism that is pervasive in the athletic culture.  This is the result of the increased athletic demand that is required for athletes to perform at optimal levels for a national audience.  This demand is socializing a group of students to focus more on athletics than academics.  Couple this with how we tend to encourage athletes to think that education is something to “fall back on,” we are informing young athletes to prioritize athletics over education; or that education is simply secondary and athletics is their primary ticket to a better life.  This is a grave mis-education of the “student” athlete.

Whether interscholastic sports will go the way of intercollegiate sports is yet to be seen.  Clearly interscholastic football and boys’ basketball are evolving as highly commercialized entertainment sports.  Reaching a healthy balance, where youth athletes are grounded in their academic experience and “value” academic excellence as the primary means of obtaining social mobility and being productive citizens, is imperative for this marriage between corporate America and public school districts and private school associations.

Therefore, beyond stressing the value of education for young athletes, establishing criteria to reduce the travel distance of teams for these televised games is important.  Also, academic criteria (team GPA’s, graduation rates, etc.) should be a part of the selection process for televising these games.  Ultimately and most importantly, reassessing the mission of interscholastic sports in the context of a challenging public educational system is vitally important.  

Professional Sports: Heading For Self Destruction

(A version of this essay appeared in New York Times: Room for Debate)

As a microcosm of our society, sports often reflect and reinforce inequalities and behaviors that are endemic at the macro-level of our society. In contact sports especially, where there is a premium placed on aggression and violent behavior, a culture exists where athletes are rewarded from a very young age for expressing these behaviors. What we are witnessing at the professional level is a culture that condones, promote, and reward aggressive and violent behaviors, where some players are not psychologically equipped to compartmentalize these behaviors to the field or arena. Because this has been their way of life since youth sports, and now it is their livelihood, these athletes are expressing accumulated years of character “underdevelopment”. These behaviors carryover into their personal lives ultimately harming the lives of those close to them or within their proximity.

The practice of distancing oneself from these athletes, in the case of some leagues behaviors (e.g., the NFL New England Patriots releasing Aaron Hernandez; Adam “Pacman” Jones released by the Titans, Chris Henry released by the Bengals, or Tank Jones released by the Bears), can only protect their profit margins, the Shield, or their brand for only so long.  Recent occurrences in the banking industry inform us that no corporation is too big to fail or self-destruct.  Confronting the culture of violence inherent in sports and developing sound programs to address the character of “underdevelopment” these leagues are inheriting conveys the corporate responsibility needed in professional leagues like the NFL.  Especially since sport has been lauded as a means of character and social development, and many youth look to these athletes as role models. 

With the prevalence of gun violence in our culture, the ease of access to guns, professional sport leagues are presented with an opportunity to be leaders in the fight against gun violence.  Not with an ephemeral press conferences or public service announcements, but with substantive practices that consistently discourages gun ownership among its players, and in the case of the NFL High School Character Development program, a curriculum that addresses anger management and conflict resolution.  Youth level coaches and administrators must also be aware of how they may be contributing to the compression of developmental stages of youth when aggression and violence is promoted over character development. 

Ultimately, as a nation we will have to determine whether our favorite sport pastimes are more valuable to cheer and their athletes more important to idolize where we turn a deaf ear and continually support senseless violence unbecoming of a civilized nation, rather than take a stand to STOP THE VIOLENCE.