With a viewership of nearly 10 million people, the 2016 ESPY’s represented an ideal platform for athletes and sports leagues to communicate with a significant audience, and four of the NBA’s best-known players seized this opportunity to relay an important message of justice and progress, something that happens shockingly rarely in the world of sports. In the wake of heightened civil unrest regarding gun violence, police violence, and domestic violence, and amidst historic political movements such as the Black Lives Matter movement, the LGBTQ movement, and the prominence of the politics of fear and hate in the 2016 elections, very few athletes and sports organizations have stepped up and lent their voices to important social and political causes. Traditionally, sports leagues, and thus the athletes within them, have shied away from getting involved in politics, caving to the fear that such involvement could lead to controversy among their fandom, costing them considerable viewership and revenue. However, in light of the transformative recent political and social developments, such aversion to political engagement increasingly represents an active choice to refrain from participating and can no longer be equated with neutrality. In today’s political climate, the choice of sports leagues to hide behind apoliticism, in lieu of using their immense platform to champion progressive, common sense policies, damages the social good by slowing the wheels of progress and justice.
Just recently, star defensive end for the Seattle Seahawks, Michael Bennett called on his fellow NFL athletes to stand up and be heard on important issues relating to race and society. He said, “Here in the NFL, the greatest players aren’t in the forefront of the movement…The greatest players aren’t involved like LeBron James, Chris Paul and all these guys [in the NBA],” and he is absolutely right. When talking about the NFL’s failure to be socially conscious, perhaps the first case that comes to mind is Ray Rice’s domestic violence debacle. Rice, after physically abusing his then-fiancé, received a ludicrously small suspension of only two games, a telling punishment that paled in comparison to the much harsher punishments, at times up to ten-game suspensions, for players who had been caught with marijuana. Public outcry and shaming brought this issue, or what was a non-issue to the NFL, to the forefront of the sporting world, and as a result, Rice still is not currently on any NFL team’s roster. The way in which the NFL handled Ray Rice’s case made it clear that the NFL was not interested in championing awareness and justice on an issue as critical as domestic violence and, at the time, was even willing to actively spurn its significance.
Unfortunately, the NFL is not the only sports league that has fallen short of setting an example for social and political progress. A variety of others have also failed in supporting important social justice efforts. Recently, Minor League Baseball (MiLB) and Major League Baseball (MLB) have been embroiled in an intense series of lawsuits about overtime pay for MiLB players. Unlike MLB players, who make upwards of tens of millions of dollars every season, MiLB players actually have low salaries and, after all their time is accounted for, these salaries often fall below minimum wage levels. The average MiLB player generally makes only $3000-$7500 per season, and with intense workouts, training, and practice, players often work more hours than a typical job. But because of loopholes in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the MLB and MiLB are not required to pay for overtime hours, even though those hours are entirely necessary for the job. Furthermore, the MLB chooses to categorize MiLB players as “Short-term seasonal apprentices”, a demeaning and disingenuous classification that the MLB is now trying to codify into law. Two members of the House of Representatives, Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Cheri Bustos (D-IL), who happens to be the daughter of a former MLB lobbyist, introduced an amendment to the FLSA which explicitly states that the MLB does not have to pay these overtime wages. This legislation comes at the heels of a California lawsuit, which was recently denied class-action status, where hundreds of MiLB players tried to use the court system to gain access to fair wages. A key problem in organizing MiLB players is their lack of a union, which leaves them susceptible to unfair treatment from the MLB. This lack of restraint doubly affects MiLB players since their MLB counterparts and their strong union have negotiated a minimum salary of nearly $500,000 and no salary cap for teams. Even something half as powerful as the MLB’s union (MLBPA) would have the power of collective bargaining, something a battle in court has presently denied MiLB players. Moreover, the MLB recently laughed in MiLB players’ faces with an outrageous statement declaring their support for the “Save America’s Pastime Act”, which says that the MLB has supported these players by simply giving them a job at all, a condescending and meaningless argument.
Clearly, the MLB is using its influence to save costs and restrict MiLB players’ rights regardless of the anti-unionization and anti-fair wage message these attitudes relay within the larger political arena. In reality, upgrading the salaries of MiLB players would only cost each major league team approximately $1 million, which amounts to essentially pocket change as the median MLB team salary is about $141 million. In the face of some public backlash, Cheri Bustos has rescinded her sponsorship of the bill, a sign that it is losing traction, but the audacity of the MLB to even introduce the legislation in the first place demonstrates its complete indifference for the well-being of MiLB players and for the statement its actions make on issues like this within the larger political arena.
In yet another example of a sports league’s failure to contribute to political consciousness and social progress, the WNBA recently made waves for fining multiple players who wore shirts expressing support for the Black Lives Matter movement during warm-ups. These fines were particularly striking given that the NBA chose not to fine its players when they wore “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts in 2014. Although the WNBA eventually rescinded the fines, its initial myopic mentality discouragingly showcases the organization as one that is not looking to use its platform to champion important social causes, even as its players try to do so on their end.
Still, there remains hope that more sports leagues will start using their platforms to promote progressive values since some leagues manage to set positive, constructive examples. As the ESPYs proved once again, the NBA has established itself as a leader in lending its voice and influence to social causes. The organization, most recently, pulled its scheduled 2017 All Star Game out of Charlotte directly due to the anti-LGBTQ legislation passed by the state of North Carolina. The NBA received positive reactions from across the sports and news worlds for this decision, which was also supported by the NBPA (player’s union) and many NBA players themselves. In addition, the organization, via its NBA Care program and numerous advertisements, has promoted President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper program and called for a change in attitude about gun violence in America. Moreover, the NBA has proven that it actively encourages its players to champion progressive values as seen by such examples as the ESPY’s speech from its star players, which included Carmelo Anthony, who has been especially vocal in urging athletes to speak up, and as evinced by Michael Jordan, who recently released a statement on police brutality in which he pledged $1 million each to the Institute for Community-Police Relations and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Luckily, there are also signs of improvement in leagues that have failed to support important social causes in the past. Following the lead of the NBA, the NFL has pledged millions to stemming domestic violence, has used its advertising space to decry it, and has taken policy-based steps to stop domestic violence within its own players, such as barring players with domestic violence convictions from the NFL combine. The MLB has used its platform to advocate for veterans and military service members by having a game played at Fort Bragg, where the stadium was built for and donated to the Fort, and the game was almost exclusively for service members and their families. While this game certainly does not excuse the actions of MLB with regards to its minor league players, and the NFL also has a long way to go in terms of stemming domestic abuse and other illicit activities among its players, the effort remains important.
Perhaps the progress made by these large, professional sports leagues can inspire others, such as the NCAA. The NCAA, plagued by its own share of regressive policies and player controversies, has a rare opportunity to showcase its willingness to promote social change. In this year’s Cowboy Classic, defending champions Alabama faces the USC Trojans in a highly anticipated matchup to open the NCAA football season. While the showdown between these two top-25 teams should be a juicy enough venue to promote any meaningful agenda, this particular matchup comes with a significant history. In 1970, at a time when the South was struggling with particularly heated racial tensions, USC traveled to Alabama to face the legendary Bear Bryant’s team; this marked the first time a fully-integrated football team played in Alabama’s stadium. Even though Bryant’s team had recently won three national championships, USC stomped the Alabama Crimson Tide with an historic performance from Sam Cunningham, the fullback and a player of color, who put up two touchdowns and 135 yards on only 12 carries. That rout by USC streamlined the process of integration for Alabama football and is often cited as a pivotal moment for civil rights in the South. The NCAA today can easily use the historical significance of this year’s game to honor its players of color and make a statement on the civil unrest currently facing the country. Doing so would elevate the NCAA’s position within the realm of social progress among sports leagues whereas failing to acknowledge this landmark moment would speak volumes on its own.
The mindset of maintaining an air of apoliticism for the sake of avoiding controversy can no longer stand in the world of professional sports, and this fear of alienating fans cannot remain an excuse for sports leagues to deny their integral role in changing public attitude in regards to social progress. Not choosing to stand for justice and progress is increasingly akin to a choice against these values, for what seems idealistic today, with the help of sports leagues, can become tomorrow’s norm. So, as the world mourns the death of Muhammad Ali, a sports legend and true activist who lent his voice to the progress of civil rights in America, the sports world must remember to follow in his footsteps. As Ali himself once said, “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”