Commentary: Sports team owners and the call for racial justice
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Ken Makin Correspondent
It had been nearly two weeks since the death of George Floyd at the hands of police sent shock waves through the United States. The residents of Minneapolis and protesters had their say. Now, the world of sports would speak out. The NFL, long maligned for its actions toward Colin Kaepernick, stunned the public with a :
We, the National Football League, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people. We, the National Football League[,] admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the National Football League, believe black lives matter.
Mr. Goodell鈥檚 words came a day after that challenged the NFL to take a stand against social injustice. The players were on board, and the commissioner, the primary representative for the owners, was on board. Only one thing was missing 鈥� the owners themselves.
Why We Wrote This
Sports team owners鈥� silence during last year鈥檚 racial reckoning begs the question: Should owners, who are mostly white, add their voices to the calls for justice from their players of color?
Historically, star athletes of color have taken the burden of responsibility on themselves when it comes to racial justice in sports. The calls for change have not begun in the luxury boxes or executive suites. One reason is obvious: NBA, NFL, and MLB teams鈥� primary owners are almost all white; there are only .
By comparison, the NBA, NFL, and MLB all have a high number of players of color 鈥� roughly 81%, 73%, and 43% respectively. Until very recently, the athletes speaking up were those who felt the sting of prejudice and injustice personally and felt morally obligated to use their power for more than endorsement contracts.
The pressure for that to change is mounting. Less than a year after Mr. Floyd鈥檚 death, another Black man, Daunte Wright, was killed by police in Brooklyn Center, about 10 minutes from Minneapolis. This time, when the world of sports , it was the elder statesman of NBA coaches, Gregg Popovich:
How many young Black kids have to be killed for no ... reason? How many? So that we can empower the police unions? We need to find out who funds these people. I want to know what owners in the NBA fund these people who perpetrate these lies. Maybe that鈥檚 a good place to start, so it鈥檚 all transparent.
Owners鈥� investments 鈥� and actions
The split between owners and players was underlined by a USA Today article last October that听 the political contributions of 183 team owners from 2019-2020. The results showed that the majority of owner money supported Republican candidates or causes. The margin wasn鈥檛 even close 鈥� Republican interests and causes had been supported at nearly an 86% clip. Comparable data for players is not available, but the racial justice issues they have endorsed typically find more support from Democrats than Republicans.
The imbalance in owners鈥� political contributions leads some players to essentially write them off as potential allies in racial change. : 鈥淚鈥檓 not going to give my energy to that, because it鈥檚 not surprising. My mom has always told me, control what you can control. And I can鈥檛 control that. What I can control is what I鈥檓 doing on my side.鈥澨�
But an earlier tale of two owners decades ago hints at the potential for a different picture.
Nearly 60 years ago, NBA luminary and legend Bill Russell led a听听of a preseason exhibition game in Lexington, Kentucky, after two of his teammates were refused service at a segregated coffee shop. Eventually, seven players, all Black, participated in the boycott 鈥� five Celtics players and two St. Louis Hawks players, Cleo Hill and Woody Sauldsberry.
There was a stark difference in the response from Celtics owner Walter Brown and Hawks owner Ben Kerner. Mr. Brown told Celtics coach Red Auerbach that the exhibition should have never been played after the players were refused service and declared that he would 鈥渘ever subject my players to that embarrassment again.鈥�
Mr. Kerner, meanwhile, traded away two of the Hawks鈥� three Black players, including Mr. Sauldsberry. After a coaching change, Mr. Hill, the lone Black player on the team, was virtually blacklisted. In 1968, Mr. Kerner sold the franchise to Thomas Cousins and former Georgia governor Carl Sanders. The piece about selling to a Georgia governor is ironic, if nothing else, because of MLB鈥檚 recent decision to听 in light of criticisms that听state Senate Bill 202 encourages voter suppression.
A new approach
The path forward might certainly contain a spirit in ownership that not only protects the right to protest, but promotes it through financial support. Another path lies in understanding the power of ownership that organizes in the spirit of social justice from the outset.听
Last July, Angel City FC, the group working to bring a women鈥檚 soccer team to Los Angeles, was founded. Its high-profile owners and investors include actor Natalie Portman, tennis luminary Serena Williams, and more than a dozen former U.S. women鈥檚 national soccer team stars. Angel City FC is majority-women owned and will join the National Women鈥檚 Soccer League in the spring of 2022. In her as co-founder and president, Julie Uhrman affirmed Angel City FC鈥檚 commitment to 鈥渢hink differently about ownership鈥� and 鈥渕ake a positive impact on our local community.鈥�
Founding investor Alexis Ohanian, Ms. Williams鈥� husband and the co-founder of Reddit, acknowledged that while this is a 鈥渂usiness decision,鈥� there are a lot of good 鈥渟ocial reasons鈥� for the decision:
The athletes are far more popular and have already transcended the sport and culture. And while I am all for [what] this represents 鈥� a generation of athletes who should get paid what they鈥檙e worth, who should get treated fairly and equally 鈥� I also know this is tracking in the right direction. The free market is actually going to show that this has been undervalued for way too long by far too many people.
It鈥檚 promising to think of a world where franchise owners, with the amount of wealth they have amassed, take the lead when it comes to social awareness. Once it happens with regularity, then it won鈥檛 just be an issue of small change. The money 鈥� and the movement 鈥� will start to turn in a way that helps everyone.
