Hard Truths: Sports

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Axios Sports

Sports are often sold as the great equalizer. Yet time and again, the sports meritocracy is proven to be a myth.

Why it matters: In theory, sports are an escape. In reality, they are a mirror — often perpetuating the most unjust aspects of society.

"We tend to think of sports as being at the forefront of racial progress," says Damion Thomas, sports curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

"But historically, sports have also been symbols of oppression that reinforce negative stereotypes."

The big picture: At each step along the athlete's journey — from youth sports to college to the professional world — there are glaring inequities, often along racial lines.

Youth: The widening accessibility gap in youth sports has led to historically low participation and ended a disproportionate number of minority children's athletic careers before they even started. Read more about race and youth sports. 

College: Universities generate millions of dollars in revenue off the backs of predominantly Black football and basketball players, while affluent sports like fencing help funnel rich white athletes to elite institutions. Read more about race and college athletes. 

Post-playing career: Many retired athletes stay around the game, but in leagues like the NFL, there's a lack of opportunity for minority candidates. People of color make up over 75% of NFL players but only 12.5% of the head coaches and 6.5% of the general managers. Read more about race and team ownership. 

Between the lines: It's not just the way sports are structured that can limit people of color and perpetuate stereotypes; it's also the way we talk about those sports.

A 2020 study found that soccer commentary is full of racial bias, with white players more likely to be credited with an admirable work ethic and Black players often reduced to their physical abilities.

"It's not that Black players can't be fast and powerful," wrote SB Nation's Zito Madu. "It's that in soccer, too often, it is the only thing they can be."

The backdrop: Throughout history, white American athletes have been afforded the opportunity to improve unimpeded while minorities have been left to scratch and claw for every inch.

Jackie Robinson wasn't the first Black ballplayer good enough for the majors and Kim Ng wasn't the first woman worthy of running a baseball team. They were just the first to break through doors that had previously been shut.

Looking ahead: For all the work that remains, and the unfortunate fact it's taken so long to accomplish what still feels like so little, there's reason to be optimistic about the future. 

In 2020, athletes of color fully realized the power of their collective voice, driving the national conversation and inspiring change in ways their predecessors could only dream about.

And with new legislation that will allow college athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness, at least one part of the system will begin its long-awaited course correction.

 The unequal playing field

They mirror and often perpetuate the most unjust aspects of society.

Photo illustration of an old fashioned microphone, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists at the 1968 Olympics, and a woman holding a sign reading, "True sport knows no colour only merit."

Photo illustration: Aïda Amer. Photos: Clive Limpkin (Stringer), Bettmann/Getty Images

Deep Dive: Hard Truths - Sports

Latin America and Latinos

Sports are often sold as the great equalizer. Yet time and again, the sports meritocracy is proven to be a myth.Why it matters: In theory, sports are an escape. In reality, they are a mirror — often perpetuating the most unjust aspects of society.

Shifts in technology and media are changing the way we play, watch and understand sports. Business models are adapting and social change is forcing those in charge of teams and leagues to reconsider decades-old practices.

Sports

2. A timeline of breaking sports color lines

Some athletes used the platform to bring attention to systemic inequalities.

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photos: Topical Press Agency, Ullstein Bild/Getty Images

Photo illustration of Jackie Robinson, Jim Thorpe and Althea Gibson

Photo illustration of Jackie Robinson, Jim Thorpe, and Althea Gibson

Youth sports have become a $19 billion industry centered around suburban life, propped up by the ubiquity of mega-complexes, pay-to-play leagues, personal trainers and constant travel.

Why it matters: The status quo has created a system that disproportionately affects children of color, who already seem to have two strikes against them before even stepping into the batter's box.

What they're saying: "In general, kids want to explore, they want to try things, they're curious," Aspen Institute executive director Tom Farrey tells me.

"But in communities of color, they're presented with a much more limited set of options."

The big picture: The problem largely boils down to cost and access, which combine to limit opportunities for children of color.

By the numbers: American families in 2014 spent an average of $2,292 per year on youth sports, and sometimes as much as $20,000, per a study by Utah State University.

The exorbitant cost of participation has priced out many families of color. According to 2018 census data, the median income for Black families ($40,258) and Latino families ($50,486) are both significantly less than that of white families ($68,145).

Then there's access. Suburban kids are more likely to play sports than city kids, according to an Ohio University study. But while Black and Latino residents make up 44% of the population of urban counties, that falls to just 25% in the suburbs, per the Pew Research Center.

Asian Americans' average income actually outpaces the field, but while they don't face the same socio-economic barriers, they're often discouraged from participating by racism and stereotyping.

And Native Americans, for whom basketball is a way of life in high school, continue to be overlooked when it comes to college recruitment.

Between the lines: The overrepresentation of children of color in sports like football and basketball — which provide a vast majority of college scholarships — gives a false appearance of progress when it's actually a symptom of the issue.

Compared to white parents, the parents of Black, Latino and Asian children rate the pursuit of a scholarship as 23%, 20% and 14% more important, respectively, per the Aspen Institute.

But for every kid who makes it in those few sports, there are countless others who are shut out entirely from what should be a more varied and robust offering. 

The bottom line: "It’s imperative for sport leaders, school leaders, and policymakers to introduce a wider variety of sports into these communities, and in a form that is not as cost-prohibitive as the club model of the suburbs," said Farrey.

3. The closed doors of youth sports

Children of color start with two strikes against them.

Youth sports have become a $19 billion industry centered around suburban life, propped up by the ubiquity of <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="mega-complexes" data-vars-click-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrQVTqQs1cw&amp;ab_channel=HBO" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrQVTqQs1cw&amp;ab_channel=HBO" target="_blank">mega-complexes</a>, pay-to-play leagues, personal trainers and constant travel.Why it matters: The status quo has created a system that disproportionately affects children of color, who already seem to have two strikes against them before even stepping into the batter&#x27;s box.

College sports is a multibillion-dollar industry built largely on the backs of Black student-athletes who can't profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL) and graduate at far lower rates than their white teammates.

The state of play: Football and men's basketball — both played by predominantly Black athletes — generate the vast majority of the revenue that underwrites college athletic departments and pays coaches' massive salaries.

In 40 states, a head college football or basketball coach was the highest-paid public employee as of January 2020, per ESPN.

And yet, athletes have no collective bargaining rights, long-term medical care or even guaranteed scholarships.

By the numbers: On most Division I campuses, Black students are disproportionately athletes. Take Louisiana State University, where 1 out of every 11 Black males is a scholarship athlete — compared to 1 out of every 125 white males.

The average Graduation Success Rate (GSR) for Black football players on bowl-bound teams in 2020 was 73.4%, 16.3% lower than white players (89.7%), per The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.

39.3% of bowl-bound schools had GSRs for Black football student-athletes that were at least 20 percentage points lower than the rates for white players.

What they're saying: When such a large percentage of a school's Black population plays sports — and exists in a world where athletics often supersedes academics — it perpetuates racial stereotypes, writes The Undefeated's Derrick Z. Jackson.

"The tragic stereotype that the only thing a Black man can be is an athlete — and a dumb one at that — tortures the nation's psyche."

"If universities can be so effective at finding Black men to play ball and make millions of dollars for their coffers ... why can they not find Black men who do not play sports and provide the support necessary to matriculate?"

The big picture: The popularity of football and basketball disguises the fact that the rest of college sports is made up of predominantly white, middle-class athletes.

And since those sports don't make money, the revenue generated by football and basketball subsidizes their very existence, as well as some academic endeavors.

The Nation's Dave Zirin went so far as to call the NCAA "a machine to facilitate the organized theft of Black wealth."

4. The college sports machine

The rest of college sports is predominantly made up of white, middle-class players.

Photo illustration of collage of college basketball players Eric Gaines and Dontaie Allen playing in a game, alongside a textbook

Photo illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios. Photo: Michael Hickey/Getty Images

College sports is a multibillion-dollar industry built largely on the backs of Black student-athletes who can&#x27;t profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL) and graduate at far lower rates than their white teammates.The state of play: Football and men&#x27;s basketball — both played by predominantly Black athletes — generate the vast majority of the revenue that underwrites college athletic departments and pays coaches&#x27; massive salaries.

Taiwanese American Jeremy Lin was the Knicks star player in 2012, handing his team a turnaround victory and sparking "Linsanity." But that didn't stop the racial slurs hurled at him then — and today. 

Why it matters: Lin has bounced around the NBA from team to team, and from the pros to the minor leagues and back. He's one of a handful of professional Asian American athletes who have broken color lines and struggled to open doors for athletes coming after them. 

By the numbers: Asian Americans are among the fastest-growing U.S. ethnic groups, yet are underrepresented in professional sports.  

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders account for 20.4 million people in the U.S., roughly 6% of the nation's population. 

Still, they are vastly underrepresented in the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball.

Scholars say Asian American children are stereotyped as strong students, blocking them out of the sports recruiting systems that pull in Black and Latino youth. Parents also seek to protect them from discrimination.

"Japanese Americans... were so traumatized by the incarceration during World War II that our parents told us to strive to be a professional. It's more secure. Sports is too fragile," Kerry Yo Nakagawa, director of the Nisei Baseball Research Project, told Axios.

Sports organizations don't provide mentoring for Asian American athletes because they're perceived as "not really athletic," Stan Thangaraj, an anthropology professor at The City University of New York, told Global Sport Matters in 2018. 

Between the lines:  Hearing slurs while scrimmaging as children also discourages young Asian Americans, Souichi Terada writes for the Guardian.

Asian/Pacific Islander kids quit sports at the youngest age out of all racial groups, per data from the Aspen Institute. 

Details: Stereotypes today depict Asians as nerds, emasculate Asian men and fetishize Asian women as meek and submissive, according to the American Psychological Association, images that don't align with athletics.

Of note: More than 120,000 Japanese Americans were ordered to internment camps during World War II. The internees organized baseball teams that were allowed to travel to play teams in other camps, Nakagawa said.

Reality check: Asians and Asian Americans have been part of professional or semi-professional sports in the U.S. for nearly a century. 

Kenichi Zenimura, a Japanese immigrant and semi-pro baseball player, organized tours in 1927 that brought Yankees Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig to play against Asian players.

Chinese American Walter "Sneeze" Achiu broke into the NFL in 1927 to play for the Dayton Triangles.

Diver Victoria Manalo Draves, the daughter of a Filpino father and an English mother, became the first Asian American Olympic champion after winning gold medals in 1948.

In 1984, Indian American Alexi Singh Grewal became the first U.S. man to win Olympic gold in road cycling.

At the 1992 Olympics, figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi became the first Asian American woman to win a gold medal in any sport.

In the late 1990s, Michelle Kwan became the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history.

Natalie Nakase became the WNBA’s first Asian American player in 2003.

Asian American athletes are now breaking ground in mixed martial arts (MMA). 

Joshua Quinlan has gained a following with his explosive punching and undefeated 4-0 professional record.

Quinlan, who is Japanese and white, told Axios he has always been aware that fewer Asian Americans compete in MMA because of the stereotypes.

"I'm not letting that limit me," he said, adding that it's more important for him to "push through and be the example" for other Asian Americans who want to pursue the sport. 

5. For Asian American sports pros, stereotype is the challenger to beat

Images of Asians as nerds don't align with athletics.

Photo illustration of Jeremy Lin and a collage of other sports-related imagery

Photo Illustration: Annelise Capossela. Photo: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images

Taiwanese American Jeremy Lin was the Knicks star player in 2012, handing his team a turnaround victory and sparking &quot;Linsanity.&quot; But that didn&#x27;t stop the racial slurs hurled at him <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="then" data-vars-click-url="https://sports.yahoo.com/jason-whitlock-apologizes-unfunny-jeremy-lin-twitter-145934497.html" data-vars-content-id="29be723e-302a-4336-a50c-25e50db18b52" data-vars-headline="For Asian American sports pros, stereotype is the challenger to beat" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://sports.yahoo.com/jason-whitlock-apologizes-unfunny-jeremy-lin-twitter-145934497.html" target="_blank">then</a> — and <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="today" data-vars-click-url="https://nba.nbcsports.com/2021/03/12/g-league-identifies-player-who-said-coronavirus-toward-jeremy-lin-handling-it-internally/" data-vars-content-id="29be723e-302a-4336-a50c-25e50db18b52" data-vars-headline="For Asian American sports pros, stereotype is the challenger to beat" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://nba.nbcsports.com/2021/03/12/g-league-identifies-player-who-said-coronavirus-toward-jeremy-lin-handling-it-internally/" target="_blank">today</a>. Why it matters: Lin has bounced around the NBA from team to team, and from the pros to the minor leagues and back. He&#x27;s one of a handful of professional Asian American athletes who have broken color lines and struggled to open doors for athletes coming after them.

Breaking through the systemic barriers in place for people of color on the mostly white business side of pro sports is a herculean task. 

Why it matters: When often short-lived pro careers are over, many athletes are not welcomed into the established power structure within the sport. Instead, they face the lingering financial and physical tolls of retirement with sometimes limited earning potential as they make the transition.  

Where it stands: The latest 2020 racial hiring report cards from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport show that despite an overwhelming majority of players being people of color, those numbers are nowhere near matched in coaching, management and senior administration — with the NFL having the furthest to go.

“There should be serious concern in the consistent lack of representation of people of color within general manager and team CEO/President roles on NFL teams as representation at positions of influence is vital for improving racial and gender hiring practices within the League,” wrote Richard Lapchick, director of TIDES.

The big picture: A pro sports career can be broken into four end goals: playing, coaching, top-level management and ownership. Success on the field or court isn't an easy way of "making it" to other levels.

Yes, household names like Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan went from marquee NBA superstars to sports team owners and private sector moguls  — and LeBron James just became part-owner of the Boston Red Sox. 

But for the most, it is a difficult path from player to power broker. 

Background: When Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in 1947, he paved the way for racial integration in sports — NFL and NBA players are now 75.1% and 83.1%, respectively, people of color.

However, the domino effect led to the destruction of the multimillion-dollar Black-owned and -run Negro Leagues, thanks to the MLB pilfering the talent pool, says Kenneth L. Shropshire, CEO of Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University.

The impact has been felt for generations as minority-led groups have been shut out of ownership. Even Hall of Fame baseball player Reggie Jackson was repeatedly rebuffed on attempts to become an owner.

Fast-forward: A history of discrimination, coupled with a meteoric rise in team values, means people of color are still locked out of the opportunity to buy a team because of the tremendous racial wealth gap.  

Present-day teams are sold for $3-5 billion, a sum that precludes almost everyone aside from the predominantly white billionaire set, said Shropshire. 

The impact: The lack of diversity at the top trickles down to hiring for senior management and coaching roles. 

The vast majority of NFL coaches are white even though coaches of color may boast better statistics, according to a Global Sport Institute analysis of hiring and firing trends. 

Despite a rule requiring teams to interview at least one diverse candidate for vacant head coaching positions, there are now three Black coaches in total — the same number as when the so-called Rooney Rule was implemented in 2003. 

And, more white head coaches are hired at a wider age range, and land jobs more frequently for senior positions after being fired, the report showed. 

The bottom line: Progress has been made on representation of people of color in sports, but it has been uneven.

“In some ways sports gets put out there as this great segment of society where merit allows you to be successful. Yes, on the field of play … but in terms of leadership and ownership — where dollars come into play — it is a much more difficult space,” said Shropshire. 

6. Strong barriers to the business side of sports remain

Breaking through the systemic barriers in place for people of color on the mostly white business side of pro sports is a herculean task. Why it matters: When often short-lived pro careers are over, many athletes are not welcomed into the established power structure within the sport. Instead, they face the lingering financial and physical tolls of retirement with sometimes limited earning potential as they make the transition.

We think of sports as the great equalizer. But from youth sports to the professional world, glaring inequities, often along racial lines, mirror our society.

From youth sports to the pros, glaring inequities, often along racial lines, mirror our society.

Photo illustration of Michael Jordan, Laila Ali, USA Olympic gymnastic teams

Photo Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios. Photos: Jonathan Daniel (Stringer), Stan Honda (Stringer), David Madison/Getty Images

We think of sports as the great equalizer. But from youth sports to the professional world, glaring inequities, often along racial lines, mirror our society.

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Hard Truths: Sports