Category: sports

White Paper Showcase: Black Athletes and MLB

Kim Sheehan on

Today we kick off our white paper showcase. We start with a piece by Nathan Clark, whose white paper addresses the decline of Black athletes in Major League Baseball, what it means for the MLB brand, and what they can do to address this. This is important work given MLB’s engagement in the fight against voter suppression–let’s see if they can continue to fight for diversity and equity in baseball.[embeddoc url=”https://blogs.uoregon.edu/mabr/files/2021/06/White-Paper-MLB.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google”]

MABR Cohort Perspective: Single-Use Containers In Sports Venues

Kim Sheehan on

Today’s post is from Cole Rothman.

Every year, 8 million metric tons of plastics enter our ocean and more than 150 million people attend live sporting events each year in the US alone. While these two statistics seem entirely unrelated, think about the last time you went to a sports game. What did you eat? What did you drink? Whatever it was, it was likely wildly overpriced, but what didn’t you notice? What you might not have noticed —and what the sports industry has yet to notice— is that your food and drinks likely came in a single-use container.

Every time I go to a sports venue, I feel guilty about the amount of single-use containers I use. The problem is there isn’t usually a viable alternative. Venues typically don’t allow you to bring in outside food or beverages so that they can charge you $50 for a hot dog because they know you’re hungry. Venues, for the most part, don’t use reusable containers because they don’t want to deal with the cleanup after the game. That leaves you with one alternative. single-use containers… an absolute mountain of them.

One study estimated that sport event attendees account for more than “39 million pounds of trash per year in the U.S.” A small portion of this total is organic waste, but the majority of this astronomical figure comes from single-use containers. Many organizations around professional sports have committed to increasing their recycling efforts in their venues, but don’t understand that they’re missing the point entirely. It’s not about marginally improving their already incredibly environmentally damaging practices. It’s about addressing the foundational problems in the sports concessions business model.

We don’t need recyclable single-use containers. We need no single-use containers!

It’s high time professional sports organizations stop doing the bare minimum environmentally and use their enormous platforms to make meaningful and lasting change. The Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Florida) is doing just that. The Miami Dolphins Stadium recently committed to phasing out 99.4% of single-use containers in their venue. A promise, if kept, would eliminate more than 2.8 million plastic items annually.

THAT’S JUST ONE VENUE!

Imagine what the world would look like if every venue did that. It’s not like it wouldn’t be profitable either. If anything, it could reduce some concessions margins to have reusable containers. The Miami Dolphins are selling reusable, stainless steel cups for more than their plastic counterparts. The reasons for change are endless, but it comes down to sports venues around the globe stepping up and making the environment a priority. It’s our job, as consumers, to put endless pressure on sports organizations and venues until it happens. Climate Change is the fight of our generation. Everyone must do their part.

Thomas J. Grant Jr., Green Monsters: Examining the Environmental Impact of Sports Stadiums, 25 Vill. Envtl. L.J. 149 (2014).

MABR Cohort Perspective: Should student athletes be paid?

Kim Sheehan on

Today’s opinion is from Cam McCormick.

Should student-athletes be paid? It seems to be an age-old question and debate year after year. Just recently, the NCAA announced student-athletes will be permitted to be compensated for their name, image, and likeness in 2021, however, not everyone will benefit from this new rule. Although the new ruling is forward progression, there is still money on the table in which many feel entitled.

As a student athlete myself, playing a sport while carrying a full academic load is extremely demanding. Our mental, physical, and emotional state is tested on a daily basis. There are insurmountable pressures on us that the average student doesn’t have to endure, as well as expectations and commitments a typical student doesn’t experience. Most college students are able to work to bring in money to survive, and can also control their school load. Student athletes are unable to work due to the demands of the sport and the time it takes to perfect our craft. We are also required to perform a certain number of community service hours each year to give back to the communities in which we reside. It is not uncommon for our sport to take up to 40 hours of effort each week. Playing a sport in college is simply a full-time job, and the number of credits we need to take each term cannot be adjusted.

Additionally, every time we step onto the court, field, track, pool, etc, we are putting ourselves atrisk for physical injuries, and sometimes those injuries are life-long and also life-ending.Although every athlete chooses to take the risk, the university benefits greatly by the risks wetake. When injuries occur, they don’t just affect the individual physically, but mentally as well.Mental set-backs from injuries can take a huge toll on a person, and, sometimes, they unfortunately don’t recover. Does a free education justify the risks? What price can be put on aloss of life, mental illness, or life long pain from an injury sustained while playing?

As a football player, it is clear the amount of money our sport provides to universities across the country. When the pandemic hit, the threat of seasons canceling raised alarms that some schools may close due to the lost revenue of not having a season. Many canceled multiple sport programs, because they could no longer afford to have them. This tells me, the revenues are extraordinary. At Oregon, in 2019 alone, the football program brought in $72.8 million dollars. The universities reap the financial rewards while the student athlete assumes the majority of the risks. For these reasons, paying student athletes beyond their “name, image, and likeness” seems like the right thing to do.