Owners of Professional Sports

The Shot Callers

By: Brandon Akins



Source: Jerry Jones



On October 18th, 2012 in class we talked about owners of professional sports teams. I wanted to write about the owners of professional teams because I feel like these are the people in sport who do not receive enough attention or any for that matter. When you think about it how many owners of sports teams are actually in the public eye of the masses there might be a handful of owners one can name. People like Mark Cuban, Jerry Jones, Art Rooney, and Michael Jordan. In recent years, you see more celebrities like Michael Jordan buying partial ownership of sports teams "Magic Johnson and the LA Dodgers: Top Five Celebrity Sports Team Owners". I believe this is a smart business move seeing how the sport industry is the 4th biggest industry in the nation and 11th in the world. The article shows that former athletes, musicians, and even former presidental candidates all want a piece of the pie. Owners now days are more diverse than maybe say 15-20 years ago but still are a mjority of white. On page 373 of the text Coakley talks about how the tendency to think alike as owners has been especially strong in the recent years between the owners of the teams in the major North American sport leagues. Unity among owners has led to the formation of effective cartels. A cartel is a centralized organizing group that coordinates the actions of a collection of people or businesses. Therefore, even though each sport franchise in each league is usually a seperate business, the team owners in each sport come together to form a cartel representing their collective interests. Now there are many sources of income for team owners such as:

1. Gate Receipts

2. Social of media right

3. Stadium renevue (leases on club seats, PSC's, luxary boxes, concessions, etc)

4. Licensing Fee and merchandise

 Not all owners of sports teams have very profitable organziations some are ok with breaking even or making little if any profit, mostly at the minor league level. But they are the ones that do the hiring and firing of the organization, though they hire people to make decisions for them they are somewhat like the president they have the right and power to veto something they do not agree with. Many Owners play the back role and stay out of the spot light and this is why they do not get enough credit. If you had the opprotunity to take over a professional team do you think you could handle the pressure?

Race in Sport

Are there genetic advantages in terms of race?

By: Brandon Akins



Source: Chillmedia

On November 15th, 2012 in class we talked about race in sport and the stereotypes brought with it. In today society it is seen as the sports based of athletic ability (speed, agility, quickness, and explosion) are dominated by Black athletes, sports such as football and basketball. I only mention these sports these are the most marketable and bring in the most money of the sports. Also these are the top two sports that are almost based solely on athletic ability. Which I find kind of ironic because the these sports are dominated by black athletes and yet we know not to much about their history in the sport, which was a topic Dr. Higgs opened my eyes to but that's neither here nor there. She also brings up another good point in class about the stereotypes in sport regarding to race, and this was most of us fall into these race stereotypes. Think about it most of us have played pick up games of a sport whether it was in school or in your neighborhood, who are the first people selected to be on teams.. the nerdy "white" kid in the back or the athletic looking "black" kid in the front. I believe  the picture to the top right kind of define the stereotypes about race in sport within our society. Is this to say white people can not like athletic no but genetically it is more common for black people to look it because the build muscle easy and typically have fast metabolisms. Do I agree with these stereotypes? The answer is yes, this is because numbers do not lie and statistics show that these stereotypes hold true. Dr.Higgs provided us with a couple figures that back these stereotypes: 87% of the NBA is black and 70% of the NFL is also black. Then from there you break it down by position in football your "skill" positions (running back, wide receiver, corner back, and safety) are dominated by black athletes. You take it to the NBA almost every position on the court is dominated on the court. Now on page 282 Coakley talks about Race, Race Ideology, and Sports. He starts off by saying that none of us are born with a race ideology, but that we acquire it over time as we interact with others and learn to give meanings to physical characteristics such as skin color, eye shape, the color and texture of hair, or even specific bodily movements. And that is when we as people begin to classify other people into racial and associating categories with particular psychological and emotional characteristics, intellectual and physical abilities, and even patterns of action and lifestyle. I think this goes hand in hand with what we discussed in class and that was it is not that black athletes are born better but given the demographics of where they grow up as opposed to white athletes it is more available for them to play these sports. Black kids typically grow up in urban areas and white kids grow up in suburban areas. So with black kids having more access to local recreational centers and parks it is easier for them to participate in these sports, with white kids typically living far away from the city they tend to play individual sports because they are far away from the bulk of the population and usually have the financial background to participate. Black kids usually do not have these resources to participate so they gravitate more to sports that do not cost as much and are at their disposal. I recently read an article " ESPN Survey on Race and Sports Reveals Huge Differences in the of Whites and African" where it talks about how black people even though are presented the same opportunities feel like they are not equal ones, the article goes into more detail. I know the stereotypes are basically in stone but how do you feel about them? Do you believe them to be true?



Media in Sports

How Sport and Media have became Strong Partners

By: Brandon Akins
 

 

 

On October 26th, 2012 in class we talked about if sports and the media could survive without each other. When you look at sports in connection to the media today, they pretty much need each other to maintain.  But first I to revert back to some figures Dr.Higgs provided us with earlier in the year.

1. 15% of all major network coverage is devoted to sports

2. USA Today devotes 1/4 of it print space to sports and dedicates 100 journalist to this section alone. 

3. Sports constitutes the 4th largest industry in the U.S. (11th in the world). Gross revenue is estimated at $350 billion.

Source: Social Media

I decided to include number three because I believe it holds volume. What I mean by it holds volume is the figure itself is staggering, and to me it puts the connection between sports and media in perspective. When you look at media it has to be appealing to the consumer because if it wasn't it would be unsuccessful and alot of people would be out of a job. Since sport is so popular through out the world it makes sense it constitutes much of the media we see on a regular and daily basis, because it is very appealing to the consumer. Though media is not just based on sports they do depend on it alot in the aspects of print media (newspaper) and television. Recently I read an article "Why ESPN Is Worth $40 Billion As The World's Most Valuable Media Property" which basically talks about how ESPN is the most profitable Media property in the world and is worth $40+ billion. In the article it states that cable networks were the driving force behind Disney’s earnings. These cable networks were responsible for 57% of the company’s total operating income. The channel doing most of the heavy lifting for Disney is ESPN, which along with a contribution from the Disney Channel, generates more profits than the rest of Walt Disney combined. ESPN makes about $6.1 billion in international affiliate fees which helps stabilize revenue each quarter. On page 411 of the text Coakley talks about how television companies in North America also depend on sports for programming content and advertising revenues. Sports are a major part of the programming schedules of national television networks and many cable/ satellite companies. He then goes on to say television companies even create and sponsor events that they promote and televise, such as ESPN's ownership and presentation of the X-Games. Also as of late social media has became a big part of sports. You can see on Sportscenter all the time about how this player said that on twitter, that coach said this on twitter and as the analyst is talking about what was said on twitter their twitter name appears under them. I can not talk to much about all sports but i know in the NBA and the NFL at the all star games the players have a machine on the sidelines where they can tweet during the game. I mean that right there shows how big social media have became in sports. I have seen cases where players have been fined for things they have said on twitter and players lose scholarships for things they have said on twitter. A couple years ago you seen teams and sports organizations were all promoting Facebook pages telling fans to go like there page. There are many ways that Sport and Media depend on each other but to answer the question ("can sport and the media survive without each other?") I think not.

   



Deviance in Sport

The presence of Deviant behavior in Sport

By: Brandon Akins

 

Deviance - an act that differs from the norm, especially behavior or attitudes that differ from acceptable social standards. This in recent years has been hard to determine if it is good or bad seeing the way society is shaping. On Page 157 Coakley says there are two forms of deviance: formal deviance, which involves violations of official rules and laws that are punished by official sanctions administered by people in positions of authority, and informal deviance, which involves violations of unwritten customs and shared understandings that are punished by unofficial sanctions administered by observers or peers. Since formal deviance is more relevant in today's society I will spend more time talking about that. On November 1st, 2012 in class we talked about how America has became a violent society and how it translates to the society of sports also. Violence in sports parallels the reality of violence in society as a whole; we see violent acts reported on T.V. every day on the news. We see it so much it begins to lose the element of surprise and we as a society begin to accept behavior of the sort and it almost becomes a norm.

 

 As you can see here in this video Cortland Finnegan the self-proclaimed dirtiest player in the NFL (#31 white), seemingly from the start of the play was looking to fight with Andre Johnson (#80 blue). If you keep watching it shows the previous

play where they got into a scuffle and Finnegan's helmet comes off.

As you watch the video you can make the connections to society, though it is not so to say acceptable people as consumers of sports love to see stuff like this. When you ask people their favorite thing about hockey more than not that person will say the fighting that takes place. To think there are people who actually go to hockey games to see their favorite players fight is kind of sad. Even more the sport allows them to do it is even sadder. Think about it if you took fighting out of hockey how many fans do you think will leave? Now my opinion might be basis because traditionally I am not a hockey fan, but from personal experiences this is one of the most attractive aspects of the sport. This is when I raise another point when things such as the video happen it is viral in minutes and everyone is watching/talking about it. Why are there never viral videos or conversations about doing the right thing or showing good sportsmanship or non-deviant behavior? The answer is quite simple; people do not find things that are good interesting and it is almost becoming a lost art. When you think about the most popular athletes they are always the egotistically very cocky dirty ones, because they are the most "interesting." 

Source: Saints Bounty

This past year the New Orleans Saints were involved in one of the biggest deviant scandals in sports history. To summarize what happen former Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams would preach to his players to injure the opposing star players or attack players that were already injured coming into the game. It was basically a win at any cost scheme, he then later created a bounty system which would reward players for the hardest hit of the game or to injure the target player of that week. This essentially turned his players into hard hitting monsters and players were indeed hurt. He emphasized hard hits to the head and repeatedly preached "Fear brings Respect." Further details about this topic can be seen at "Saints bounty Scandal". To say this was the only occurrance of this in the NFL would in my eyes be a very wrong; it's just the only case that got caught. I don't really think you can justify wishing harm on another person but in football or any contact sport for that matter is taught in the light of its either hit or be hit. Which I believe coincides with society today, because we live in a world where there is a mentality of either stand up or be put down and that's on the physical, verbal, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels.

Now I'm no expert nor do I proclaim myself to be but as a consumer of sports and an active follower of sports I do not see deviance making its way out of sports, What do you think? 

Drugs in Sport

Will there ever be an end

By: Brandon Akins

 

 

Since sport started becoming a major part in society many years ago,  it has picked up many trends some good and some bad. On October 6th, 2012 we as a class talked about one of the fastest growing trends in sport today which is drugs in sport.  I have provided a video above that discusses almost everything we spoke about on this topic. The video really goes into detail and i recommend you watch it for a complete and full understanding of what these drugs are, what types, how they are used, and why they are used. 

 

Source: Justin Gatlin

On page 180 of the text Coakley says performance-enhancing substances are difficult to define. Stubtances can include anything from aspirin to heroin; they may be legal or illegal, harmless or dangerous, natural synthetic, socially acceptable or unacceptable, commonly used or exotic. He then states they may produce real physical changes, psychological changes, or both. This means that sport organizations face challenges whenever they develop antidoping programs and must define what they mean by doping. In the past 25 years there has been countless athletes that have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. House hold names have been accused of taking these performance enhancing drugs tarnishing their legacy, such as: Barry Bonds(MLB), Mark Mcgwire(MLB), Jose Canseco(MLB), Lance Armstrong(cycling),  Justin Gatlin(Track & Field), Shawne Merriman(NFL), Chris "the birdman" Andersen (NBA)  just to name a few. We stated in class that Drug use in sport and society are reaching endemic proportions and do not seem to be slowing down. Here is a list of some of the reasons why these athletes take performance enhancing drugs:

Reasons for taking Performance Enhancing Drugs

winning gives financial rewards

2.      the desire to be the best at all cost

3.      to recover from injury quicker or to mask pain

4.      make the most of a short sporting life

5.      influenced by others to improve performance immorally

6.      will to win overrides conscience

7.      to meet expectations of others

8.      willing to risk cheating for public acclaim

9.      natural ability not good enough

10.  better results lead to better sponsors and endorsement contracts

Prior to 2005, most pro leagues didn't test for PED's on a regular and random basis. When we look at the four major leagues we see they have all picked up drug use policies and all do random regular tests which come with suspensions.

 





NHL - No drug testing prior to 2005, new policy negotiated in the latest CBA. First offense 20 game suspension, second offense 60 game, third offense permanent.

NBA - tests for steroids and "street drugs." Increased penalty in last CBA to 10 game suspension for first offense, 25 games for second offense and lifetime ban for a third.

MLB - instituted a new drug policy in Jan. 2005. 50 games for first, 100 games, for a second, and a lifetime ban for a third.

NFL - most stringent testing policy (1987), spent $10 million on steroid abuse programs, HGH testing (2011). Mandatory 4/8/12 game suspension.

 





Drug testing has became one of the main protocols for the Olympics in a society where doping is very relevant. Here is an article that talks about the testing of the athletes that participated in the London games and it has interactive charts where you can see how many tested positive and the percentage to the total number of athletes in that sport "Doping in Olympics events: how does each sport compare?"

 

Some of the findings were:

 

- Of the 26 sports included in the 2012 Games, the worst offender in terms of the rate of findings per sample (averaged across all eight years) is cycling, 3.71%.

-The second highest rate - 3.05% - was found among boxers. Badminton had the lowest rate of usage-indication findings per sample, at 0.87%.

-Footballers were the most tested athletes in terms of the total number of samples (30,398), followed by athletics (25,013), cycling (21,427) and aquatics (13,138). 



 



Professional Athlete Salaries

What they have came to be
By: Brandon Akins



Source: Salary Comparison

On October 18, 2012 we spoke upon a very relevant topic in class that is very present in today

society of sports. this topic was professional athletes salaries and what they became over the years. This is a very relevant topic to sports because in the past several years three major leagues had player lockouts one still currently in session (hockey) and a referee lockout. Quickly I want you to take a look at the comparison chart I have provided above, and that gives you an idea of what I will be talking about in this blog. As you can see in this chart found in the article "Clyde Drexler on the Dream Team, then and now" that over the past 20 years the salaries of the NBA's finest players have in some cases quadrupled. You take the the highest earner from the 2012 team (Kobe Bryant) and then compare him to the highest earner on the 1992 Dream Team (David Robinson) and the results are mind blowing. Kobe makes almost 5x what David did and almost 20x as the lowest earner on the 1992 Dream Team (Clyde Drexler) and these figures are annually based. These results remain true for almost every other major league TEAM sport (NFL, NHL, and MLB). Now since this is the case that lets face it Pro salaries have became a tad bit outrageous this brings major conflict. Owners of teams have became worried as of late of some of the blockbuster deals that have been taking place, and hence some of the lockouts owners feel like the players are receiving to much money and they don't want them to be able to monopolize sports. On the other hand the players feel as if they don't get enough money from outside sources other then their base salaries, such as merchandise, ticket sales, etc. The players then go on "strike" until they can meet a tentative deal with the owners. In the past 12 years there have be some contracts to remember. Here is a list you can see that has the top 10 biggest sports contracts ever "The Biggest Contracts in American Sports: Top 10" , notice how all but the expect of one are contracts from 2001-present and that Alex Rodriguez made the list more than once. if you can remember Peyton Manning current Quarter Back for the Denver Broncos formerly with the Indianapolis Colts signed one of the biggest contracts in NFL history with the Colts which is on that list. This past year he signed a 4-year $96 million contract with the Denver Broncos which was front loaded and will be earning $40+ million in 2012. It's not just the players whose salaries are growing at alarming rates either but also the coaches. Nick Saban head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide is the highest paid College football coach in the NCAA today (Extension makes Nick Saban highest paid coach).
Now in the text on page 382 of Coakley's text there is a chart of Average salaries in major U.S. professional leagues, compared with the median U.S. family income from 1950-2008. For the major four major (NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB) leagues it was the same or similar change, it went from about $5,000-$13,000 to an avg. salaries between the four of $2,679,250 compared to the family income that only increased $54,480 ($4,000- $58,480) over the 60 year span.This is very similar or the same chart we as a class looked over. Given the facts stated in this blog do you think professional athletes are overpaid or do your think they deserve all the money they receive?




 



Source: Peyton Manning

Source: Nick Saban



Title IX

Women Are Just As Deserving

By: Brandon Akins





Source: Female Athletes

On September 13, 2012 we discussed the topic of Title IX we didn't go into much detail about it so that is why I have provided the video above to give a little overview about Title IX and some history of woman sports. Title IX is what gives/gave the right to play sports and not be discriminated against like how they were prior to the passing of this law. On page 235 of the text Coakley explains that Title IX did more for women then just allowed them to play in sports. It was originally made for educational opportunities in schools, its many purpose was to eliminate gender-based barriers to all programs defined as "educational." He went on to state that when it was first passed it wasn't controversial, but when people realized that it could be applied to sports programs sparks flew. As a nation gender equity sounded good but the men running and already participating in sport did not support the idea of women being able to compete in the same sports as them. Me personally love the fact that women have the chance to compete like men even sometimes with them. If it wasn't for Title IX we wouldn't have female sports icons such as the Williams Sisters, Mia Hamm, Danica Patrick, Pat Summit, and many more (15 of the most influential women in sports).  These women show that even in a man-ruled sexist society they can do anything a man could maybe even better. In recent year you can also see that there has been a raise in support and popularity in female athletes and sports. 

Source: Vivian Stringer

Did you know that this year is the mark for the 40th year anniversary of Title IX? Just think 41 years ago if your would have said a female would be a Superstar athlete you probably would be laughed at, now one would ask which one are you talking about. One of Slippery Rock's own is a women's basketball icon as a coach (Rutgers University), Vivian Stringer. If it was wasn't for the rights Title IX gave women she would have never had the opportunity to accomplish the things that she has. Title IX is just another big step in history for the equality between men and women.

   How dos you feel about this, do you agree with Title IX or the men that thought it should have stayed the way it was?