The Politics Of Sports Business 2022

The Politics Of Sports Business 2022

By Evan Weiner, TV and Radio pundit, newspaper columnist and public speaker

Dedication: To my two granddaughters, Roberta and Ellie, the two greatest kids in the world (don’t we all say that?)

About the author:

Evan Weiner is an award-winning journalist and recognized global expert of the Politics of Sports Business. He has a daily video podcast called The Politics of Sports Business. In the United States, he has been a radio commentator, TV pundit on MSNBC, and ABC. He is also an author of eleven books and is a frequent college speaker. He has been a regular on BBC radio as well as Talk Sport London and has been quoted in Bolivian and Australian newspapers. From 1988 until 1992, Evan was a member of the Minnesota North Stars radio broadcast team. In 2007, Evan was selected by the United States Department of State to speak at Texas A & M -George Bush Presidential Library to explain how the American government partners with sports addressing 16 hand selected foreign nationals. He won the 2010 Ronald Reagan Media Award from the United States Sports Academy. In 2015, Evan was featured on the documentary, The Sons of Ben about the economic fall of Chester, Pennsylvania and how the city thought a soccer team would be a key to economic revival.

Cover photo: Mount Vernon, New York’s new high school football stadium.

ISBN: 9781005319014

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Evan Weiner holds the copyright to the materials used in this book. Copyright 2023 Evan Weiner

This is another book of a series that takes a day to day look at the Politics of Sports Business in 2022, 365 commentaries and all of them are derived from one central thought. How sports operates with three absolute needs to be successful. Government backing. Money from television. Corporate support. It really does not matter if a sport is headquartered in the United States or in China. The 365 essays reflect that thinking.

Evan Weiner, January 2023.

January 2022: Omicron, the COVID-19 variant is impacting sports. MLB owners’ lockout of the players continues into a second month. MLB says no to a Sister City plan. Calgary’s dead arena plan was springing back to life, maybe.

Happy New Year From MLB Owners And Players

January 1, 2022

The new year for Major League Baseball begins much the same way December 2021 started. The Major League Baseball owners and the Major League Baseball players are in a labor impasse and it is because of money. How to split up the billions of dollars that flow into the industry annually. The business of baseball has continued though as the Cleveland Guardians’ ownership is getting hundreds of millions of dollars of public funding to upgrade the team’s stadium. The Oakland A’s and the Tampa Bay Rays ownership groups still want new stadiums.

It is always about money. MLB does not have money problems. In the lead up to the lockout, MLB owners spent more than $1.7 billion signing players to long term deals. Distressed industries do not spend that kind of money on employees so it follows that MLB is not a financially depressed industry. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the work stoppage was bad for business. Manfred said the union's proposal for greater free agency and wider salary arbitration would damage small-market teams. The players' association proposed, starting with the 2023-24 offseason, a change in free agency from six years to five years. The players also want free agency for non-free agency eligible players 30.5 of age and older. Manfred said, shortening the period of time that teams can control players makes it even harder for them to compete. Until there are spring training facilities closed and games missed, only industry people will notice there is a lockout. The lockout was designed to gain leverage over the players and prevent the players from going on strike. The 2022 Major League Baseball season is scheduled to begin on March 31st. No one has lost money yet so there is no urgency. There are two months left to get a deal done without impacting the upcoming season.

COVID-19 Has Ruined The Integrity Of The NHL Season

January 2, 2022

The National Hockey League has an integrity problem because of the Delta and Omicron variants of the COVID-19 illness. The league allowed the New York Islanders to play in November despite 40 percent of the team’s roster being infected with COVID-19. The league stopped Ottawa Senators games around the same time because of COVID-19. The league paused operations for a few days and returned only to postpone games again. The NHL is not alone in putting out a flawed product that has been impacted by COVID-19. The National Basketball Association is resisting canceling games as much as possible. To fill rosters, teams are literally signing players off the streets. The National Football League has pushed back games because of COVID-19 outbreaks among teams and is forging ahead. The college football industry got very lucky and was able to get its two playoff games played. Other college football games were canceled because of Omicron.

The Brooklyn Nets franchise has Kyrie Irving back on the roster on a part time basis but he cannot take part in games in Brooklyn and against the Knicks in Manhattan. He refuses to take a COVID-19 vaccine. New York City’s vaccine mandate requires all residents to have at least one shot of any COVID vaccine to enter indoor gyms. In Washington, Wizards guard Bradley Beal took a coronavirus vaccine and will be able to play games within the District at the Wizards’ arena. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a mandate saying no one can enter entertainment venues and indoor facilities, without taking a COVID-19 starting on January 15th. Washington joins New York City and San Francisco mandating shots to enter large indoor venues. The NHL still has a problem. There are different rules in the United States and Canada for quarantine for those recovering from COVID-19 and that will continue to impact the product.

Now Comes The Hard Part For Alabama And Georgia, Stay Healthy For The Championship Game

January 3, 2022

The University of Georgia is scheduled to play the University of Alabama for the College Football Playoff National Championship in Indianapolis, Indiana on January 10th. That is the easy part of the championship contest, having two contestants. But getting to play the game might prove troublesome with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 infecting people on a very high level, including the two college teams’ personnel. But college football is moving ahead with its money-making game, a game that makes money for everyone except the majority of the players who don’t have marketing deals who are putting their bodies on the line for a ring. Some players have the ability to make some money off of their faces and names. Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars that comes in from television and marketing partners along with those who buy high-cost luxury boxes and club seats, most players could pursue an education but will not get a share of the money.

As far as the championship game, there seems to be some flexibility as to when the game will be played if there is a COVID-19 outbreak impacting Alabama or Georgia. The game could be played on January 10th or 11th or 12th or 13th or 14th but should both teams be unable to field teams, the 2021 title would be declared vacant. The College Football Playoff management is going to leave it up to the two schools to make a decision on whether they have enough players healthy to take the field should the schools encounter a COVID-19 outbreak. Omicron took a toll on the college football bowl season with a number of games canceled and other bowl games featuring replacement teams because football programs had a COVID-19 breakouts. The College Football Playoff management team desperately wants the game played. They want the money.

Ukraine Throws Its Hat In The 2030 Winter Olympics Ring

January 4, 2022

It appears Salt Lake City is going to get some additional competition in the race to land the 2030 Winter Olympics. Sapporo, Japan is going after the event despite Japan’s disastrous 2020 Summer Olympics experience which included cost overruns and the COVID-19 pandemic. Barcelona, Spain is interested in pursuing the 2030 Games and Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Huttsait said his country plans on bidding on the 2030 Olympics. Vancouver backers also want the 2030 Winter Olympics. Why countries continue to go after the Olympics remains a mystery. The event is a big money loser with cities, municipalities and nations paying off large debt for years. Some of those venues are unused after the event and rot away.

But Huttsait said Ukraine looks at landing the 2030 Olympics in a positive manner. The country will get attention. Well, first of all the country's prestige. Hosting the Olympic Games in the country means attracting powerful investors, new infrastructure, new sports infrastructure. We understand that the more sports infrastructure there will be, the more where children will come to study. We will not see the result today or tomorrow. But what is being laid in the country today in terms of the sports infrastructure, we will see this result in 10 years, do you understand? In other words, Ukraine will lose lots of money hosting the Games, but think of the prestige. Prestige can serve as a deodorant and cover up the stench of rotting Olympics venues. Meanwhile, Salt Lake City Olympics backers are looking for money, probably from the Utah state government and the federal government because the initial estimate that a 2030 event would cost nearly $2 billion is not enough money. Another quarter of a billion dollars is needed and that is in 2022 dollars. The Olympics event is a money loser.

TOPPS Baseball Cards Gets A New Life

January 5, 2022

It appears that the production of annual TOPPS baseball cards will not stop in 2026. Fanatics is going to purchase the TOPPS’ name along with the TOPPS’ sports and entertainment division. Initially, Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association were going to have a different trading card partner, Fanatics, starting in the spring of 2026 kicking TOPPS to the sidelines. TOPPS has been putting out baseball cards since 1951. The Fanatics-owned TOPPS cards probably won’t be too much different from the product that Sy Berger perfected for TOPPS. The modern baseball card. Kids really were introduced to players through those cards. Berger’s product cost a penny a card but was very important financially to players in baseball, football, basketball and hockey. The player’s picture was worth money or in some cases an opportunity to get a gift from a catalog.

The players’ pictures would become even more important as time went on. Marvin Miller and the Major League Baseball Players Association fought with TOPPS over money. Miller eventually got TOPPS to pay players $250 plus a percentage of baseball card sales. Licensing money from cards is controlled by the players association and has been used for strike funds. TOPPS played hardball with Miller, and other companies looking to get into the business. In 1980, a court allowed Miller and the players to offer licenses to other companies to produce baseball cards. Cards still bring in licensing money but long gone are the days when kids looked forward to the first series of the new year's baseball cards. It is a business. The Fanatics’ deal will pour billions of dollars into Major League Baseball. TOPPS’ has changed owners a number of times over the decades but the name goes on. The days of five cards and gum for five cents a pack are gone.

Calgary Arena Deal Dead

January 6, 2022

The city of Calgary and the Calgary Flames ownership group have officially ended the agreement that would have seen the construction of an arena. Flames ownership did not want to pay for cost overruns of the construction, after all Flames ownership agreed to pay half of the estimated $608.5 million Canadian cost. Since July, the estimated cost of the project has risen by more than $25 million Canadian. Ten million dollars Canadian seems like pocket change in the arena building business but the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation put out a statement there is no viable path to complete the Event Centre Project. That statement came in the middle of December.

Flames’ owners have been pushing Calgary city elected officials to fund a building for years. Flames’ ownership wanted a revenue generating arena but needed to get some public loonies from the city to subsidize the building’s cost. In 2017, the Flames’ ownership threw in the towel and decided to end talks with Calgary elected officials and said they were going back to the old arena. The owners would move the franchise but cooler heads prevailed and the two sides spoke again. In sports no owner ever walks away from the table stomping his or her feet saying I am not talking to you anymore about you spending money for my factory. Two years later, in 2019, the two sides reached an agreement to build an arena. In 2021, the two sides hit a speed bump delaying construction. In July, it was full speed ahead for a new Calgary Flames building. The Flames ownership will for now use the city owned arena and probably will eventually meet with city officials about building a new arena or perhaps renovating the old building. Or Flames ownership could look to move or sell the team. The arena game continues.

COVID-19 Continues To Plague Sports

January 7, 2022

COVID-19 and Omicron are having a major impact on sports today and in the upcoming months. The National Football League is looking for a backup stadium in the event Omicron’s spread in Southern California puts the Super Bowl and all of the related Super Bowl festivities including a fanfest and parties in jeopardy. League spokesperson Brian McCarthy did confirm that the league contacted Arlington, Texas officials to see if that city could handle the game on short notice at the Dallas Cowboys stadium. But McCarthy added the NFL always has a backup plan. As part of our standard contingency planning process that we conduct for all regular and postseason games, we have contacted several clubs to inquire about stadium availability in the event we cannot play the Super Bowl as scheduled due to weather-related issues or unforeseen circumstances. Our planning process for the Super Bowl in Los Angeles is ahead of schedule and we look forward to hosting the Super Bowl there to culminate another fantastic NFL season for our fans and clubs.

While the NFL is looking for a backup, Australia has decided that the unvaccinated tennis player Novak Djokovic should not be in the country and should not play in the Australian Open. Djokovic is fighting the Australian decision. Initially Djokovic had been given Covid vaccination exemption permission to travel to Australia to play in the tournament. Australian Open organizers want him there. Tennis is a global business and the tournament is worth more money to marketing partners with Djokovic playing. And speaking of playing, the National Basketball Association’s Brooklyn Nets franchise has decided it is better to have the unvaccinated Kyrie Irving as a part time player than not having him at all. Irving cannot play games in New York City due to COVID-19 restrictions. COVID-19 is throwing a curveball at sports.

The College Football Championship Game Seems Unaffected By Omicron

January 8, 2022

In the college football championship game universe there seemingly is no such thing as Omicron. There doesn’t appear to be any Omicron-related problems in the Alabama or Georgia programs. The college football championship playoffs semi-final games were played without any reported problems and so far, all it is business in Indianapolis. City officials are banking on $150 million worth of economic impact from packed hotels and spending in town because of the game. Of course, no one ever does a study on the real economic impact of a big event because the numbers may not come back anywhere near the economic estimates. Neither Indianapolis nor Indiana elected officials seem to care about advice from health experts as there won't be any Omicron-related changes to the original plan and safety precautions for the College Football National Championship game. The more than 60,000 college football championship in-venue customers are not required to wear masks but they will be encouraged to wear them to protect themselves and others. Indiana reported 15,277 COVID-19 cases two days ago. Indiana health experts are saying that people in the area also need to wear better masks. All of the Indiana championship host committee volunteers who will run the game related activities during the three days leading up to the event will be masked.

Everyone makes money here, the college football teams, the college football industry, the coaches, some players with marketing deals but not all the players, Disney-ESPN, the cable TV rights holder, the performers in the events leading up to the game. If the game is so lucrative, why did the host committee need 2,000 volunteers for game related activities. It seems that being a volunteer for a big event is a bragging issue for someone. If the event is so lucrative, everyone should be paid employees, not volunteers.

Is The End At Hand For The Washington Football Team Brand Name?

January 9, 2022

The last day of the 2021-22 National Football League regular season could feature the final game in the history of the Washington Football Team. The business is expected to be rebranded on February 2nd and the team owner Daniel Snyder could maintain the name or just opt for a new brand name like the Washington Armada, or Presidents, or Brigade, or Redhawks, or Commanders, or Defenders. The RedWolves and Wolves are out of contention because of trademark problems. The name and team logo are sales points for the business which is why it has taken 18 months to find a name.

On April Fool’s Day 1987, Major League Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth tossed out a notion looking for an answer at a function announcing that MLB had a new film partner. On that April 1st date, Ueberroth had a simple but complex question. What is the most important asset for any sports team? Any sports league? Ueberroth’s answer? The logo of the brand name. Ueberroth’s logic was simple, owners come and go, front office personnel come and go. Players, no matter how important to a team’s success or how beloved, come and go. The logo and the name remain long after everyone else comes and goes. It is a complicated business to rebrand. The Washington team founder George Preston Marshall just named his Boston team the Braves in 1932 and changed the name in 1933. He kept the name when he moved the team to Washington in 1937. Marshall’s team name became inappropriate and was dropped in 2020. Snyder won’t have to worry about the new name or logo and sales. He has a loyal fan base who will buy merchandise. Ueberroth was right. The brand and the logo are the most important things a team name has.

Nashville Is Looking To Bring A Women's Sports Franchise To Town

January 10, 2022

John Loar may be pushing Major League Baseball to place an expansion team in Nashville. But the Metro Nashville Sports Authority isn’t waiting for Major League Baseball’s lockout to end and MLB resolving its Oakland and Tampa Bay stadium problems in its pursuit of getting another franchise into town. It appears the authority wants a women’s professional team which would be far cheaper than an MLB team and would be able to use existing facilities. To that end, the Sports Authority is working with CAA ICON in an effort to find out whether there would be local interest for a women's pro sports team. The Metro Nashville Sports Authority's Women's Sports Initiative Strategic Assessment has invested $75,000 into a study that includes distributing questionnaires to survey the community along with conducting focus groups and corporate interviews to get answers. The surveys are being distributed by local colleges, businesses and pro franchises and the findings will be presented on January 12th to the Metro Nashville Sports Authority’s ad hoc committee.

The Metro Nashville Sports Authority is seeking to find out exactly what local Nashville area sports consumers’ interest level is for a women's professional team. The authority also wants to know if local sports customers have attended any women's college sports events in the last 10 years and which local women's college teams they support and whether they would support a pro women's sports team in Nashville. The authority wants to know what the interest level locally is in six women's pro sports leagues. The WNBA, Premier Hockey Federation, National Women’s Soccer League, softball, volleyball outdoor/indoor and women's indoor arena football. Nashville has hosted a handful of women’s sports events over the past decade. Meanwhile Loar’s Nashville Stars concept is moving ahead as Music City Baseball is looking for a stadium site for a Major League Baseball expansion team.

Jets' Home Games Will Be Played In Winnipeg Despite Omicron Restrictions

January 11, 2022

The National Hockey League’s Winnipeg Jets franchise will not for the short term be playing any home games in another jurisdiction because of the Omicron spread. Jets ownership, True North Sports and Entertainment, surveyed its customers wanting to know how they would feel about the team moving home games to an area that has limited restrictions on arena attendance. Manitoba is limiting attendance at professional sporting events to either 50 per cent capacity or 250 people, whichever is less. Manitoba public health rules require proof of vaccination at large events. Jets’ attendance will be capped at 250 people in the building for the time being. A look inside the Jets survey numbers revealed that 40 percent of ticket holders had negative feelings about relocating home games. Another 30 percent did not care either way and the rest, 30 percent more, were comfortable with whatever the Jets owners decided.

Jets ownership did get several thousand responses and going inside the numbers again, there were some real concerns about attending a game. Only half of the team's customers would go to games right now, while 28 percent would be hesitant and 22 percent were undecided. It was thought that the Jets owners might have been interested in playing home games in Saskatoon because Saskatchewan has fewer COVID-19 or Omicron restrictions. The National Hockey League is having massive COVID-19 or Omicron problems with most of the league’s 32 teams being impacted by the COVID-19 Omicron variant. More than 100 NHL games have been postponed and rescheduled. Some of those games will be made up during a two-week period in February that originally was supposed to be empty because of NHL players participation in the 2022 Beijing Olympics but Omicron wiped that out. The NHL is still postponing games.

New Yorker Files A Civil Suit And Demands Giants And Jets To Move Back To New York

January 12, 2022

In the either you have a lot of time on your hands or you have money to waste on lawyers’ world, Abdiell Suero has decided the National Football League’s New York Giants and New York Jets franchises need to change the team names to New Jersey Giants and New Jersey Jets by 2026 or hand over $6 billion in damages to him and others in a class action suit for false advertising, deceptive practices and interstate wire fraud. Suero also wants the Giants and Jets to return to New York by 2026 as well. There is a reason why the New York Jets franchise plays in New Jersey, there was no public appetite to build the Jets owner Robert Wood Johnson IV a stadium on Manhattan’s west side nearly two decades ago. New York officials are focused on getting a Buffalo Bills stadium built in the Buffalo area. The Bills' present stadium is in the municipality of Orchard Park, not Buffalo.

While Suero is at it, he should sue the NFL’s Chargers and Rams. Neither team plays in Los Angeles. The franchises have games in Inglewood, California. Then there is Jerry Jones’ Dallas Cowboys franchise which is located in Arlington, Texas. The Washington Football Team is based in Landover, Maryland. The San Francisco 49ers business calls Santa Clara, California home. Robert Kraft’s New England Patriots is housed in Foxboro, Massachusetts, not Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, Maine or New Hampshire which are part of New England. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers play on land in Tampa, not in the middle of Tampa Bay. The Miami Dolphins franchise’s stadium is in Miami Gardens. Perhaps William Shakespeare should make the final call on this after all he once asked. What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.

Tempe City Council To Meet, Will The Coyotes Arena Proposal Be Discussed?

January 13, 2022

The public could begin to learn more about the bid of the Arizona Coyotes National Hockey League franchise ownership to gain access to land in Tempe which would allow the owners to build an arena on the property when the council meets. Local hockey fans plan to let council members know their feelings which would coincide with the hockey team ownership’s wish. There was one newspaper story out of Phoenix by Craig Morgan that suggests the project may not get the green light to go ahead from the Tempe City Council. The hockey team owners, the city council and the National Hockey League are keeping quiet about the story. The council has a meeting planned. According to Morgan, a couple council members may vote no and kill the project because the hockey team’s ownership did not pay all of its bills to its present landlord at the Glendale arena. There seems to be a trust or money issue. The arena proposal did make it through an executive session in December.

In 2021, elected officials in Tempe put out a request for proposal to develop a parcel within the city with the NHL team in mind. Arizona ownership was the only group to submit a proposal. Tempe officials want a sports stadium or an arena and a practice facility on the property. They want a team owner to create a stadium or an arena village that would include 1,000 residential units, 200,000 square feet of retail space, and a large plaza with amenities. Name recognition for Tempe and an opportunity for Tempe public service announcements. The RFP seemed to be written for the hockey franchise. Additionally, it is possible that the Arizona hockey team ownership could get a sports betting license at the Tempe building if the arena-village concept gets a green light from Tempe officials.

Bach Claims Olympics Is Above Global Politics

January 14, 2022

The opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing is less than a month away with the event scheduled to start on February 4th. There is no guarantee that will happen because of the Omicron variant spreading quickly around the globe. This international event was scheduled in 2015 and China ended up with the Games because almost no country with the exception of Kazakhstan wanted the 2022 Winter Olympics. China was awarded the Games and with that has come all sorts of criticism and scrutiny of China’s human rights record including the treatment of the Uyghurs and the seven decades long problem with Tibet. There is also the dispute with Taiwan which started in 1949 and the handling of the COVID-19 situation in terms of the virus’s possible start in China. The United States is leading a diplomatic boycott of the Games but there will be no athletes boycott by the United States, Canada, England or Japan. The National Hockey League barred its players from participating in the Beijing Olympics because of the North American Omicron outbreak.

The President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach is aware of the international problems but Bach is trying his best to deflect world realities claiming the IOC is not involved in global politics although his thought is not true. The Olympic movement is all about politics. Bach contends, the Olympic Games stand above any conflict. He adds that the Games are beyond all political disputes. We are looking forward to the successful Beijing 2022 Winter Games, and we have great confidence to build on our experience that we will stage and a safe and secure Olympic Winter Games for everybody. The support of the international community for these Winter Games is very evident and is very much welcome. Except there is limited support but the Games must go on.

Modesto Nuts Owners Want A New Stadium

January 15, 2022

There are some people in Modesto, California who think people living in the San Francisco Bay Area which includes Oakland and San Jose, will make the 90 mile or so trip down to Modesto to watch minor league baseball and enjoy Modesto’s finest restaurants if a new ballpark for the Modesto Nuts is built. The Modesto Nuts franchise is a baseball team that plays in the lowest rung of the minor leagues. The stadium that Nuts owners want would seat 5,000 people and requires at least $75 million in public financing. The Nuts would share the facility with men’s and women’s soccer teams, along with concerts and other events. The Seattle Mariners ownership, which has a piece of the Nuts business, would manage the facility.

Modesto stadium backers have rolled out an old notion. If you build it, they will come. A new stadium would be an economic generator and put Modesto on the map. The stadium proponents claim a new stadium would help make Modesto a destination. A far more attractive city, and would attract high-skilled, high-wage workers and spur the building of offices, housing and stores in downtown. It’s much more than building a new ballpark or facility downtown, said Lynn Dickerson who is one of the stadium backers. We want to do this because we think it’s something that will make our community better and stronger. Why is there a need for a new stadium? It is because of Major League Baseball’s 2020 takeover of Minor League Baseball. MLB has come up with new standards for minor league facilities and has told local communities fix up an old stadium to our standards or you will lose your minor league baseball license. The present Modesto facility was built in 1955 and was renovated in 1996 in an effort to satisfy the Single A California League requirement for stadiums.

Tampa Bay CEOs Say Yes To The Rays Sister City Plan

January 16, 2022

It appears that Major League Baseball and the Tampa Bay Rays ownership has sold its sister city plan, splitting 81 home games between the Tampa Bay market and Montréal to Tampa business leaders. About 40 Tampa Bay area business leaders are in favor of the scheme as a win-win-win for all parties. In a letter published by the Tampa Bay Tribune, the business leaders think building a new stadium for a part time franchise is actually a good idea.

We endorse the leadership and membership of the three prominent regional chambers who supported this Sister City Baseball plan and the construction of an open-air neighborhood ballpark in Historic Ybor City. The site would serve as home not only for the Rays during the first portion of the season, as well as for half the postseason games, but also as home of the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The new multi-use facility would be an economic development platform to host national sporting events, concerts and community gatherings, similar to the versatility of Tampa’s arena. It would also help spark development in and around Ybor like replicating what other successful urban ballparks like Fenway Park and Wrigley Field have done across the country. After many years of analysis and conversations, the time has come to prioritize a new home for our Tampa Bay Rays on terms that the current market frames, a shared season in an intimate neighborhood venue, with the benefits of a lasting connection to Montréal and its fans who will come visit here and make Tampa Bay a destination of choice for tourism and commerce. Selling the plan to the Major League Baseball Players Association though will be a daunting task. The players will look at the sister city scheme rather simply. The team will play three quarters of its games on the road and that is unacceptable.

Discrimination In Sports Was Common When MLK Became A Civil Right Leader In 1955

January 17, 2022

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebrations are taking place at various venues around the country including NBA arenas. King became involved in the civil rights movement in 1955. At that time, not every Major League Baseball team had Negro players. There was an unofficial quota of four Negro players on each National Football League team. No Negro could be a quarterback, a center or a middle linebacker because it was thought, Negroes lacked intelligence. George Preston Marshall would not hire Negro players for his NFL Washington team. Marshall was the last NFL owner to hire Negro players. Marshall gave in because of a threat by the Kennedy Administration to bar Marshall from moving his football team into a federally funded DC Stadium in 1962 for violating equal opportunity work requirements. When King got involved with the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, Negro football players could not enroll at a good number of colleges in the south. In 1947, the Cotton Bowl in Dallas wanted Penn State to play SMU in the January 1st, 1948 game but they did not want Wally Triplett to play. Penn State players said we are Penn State. Triplett played. The NFL ended an informal color barrier in 1946 as Los Angeles Coliseum officials told Cleveland Rams owner Daniel Reeves, he could move his team and sign a stadium lease there if he hired Negro players.

The Harlem Globetrotters basketball team was bigger than the National Basketball Association but in the 1950s while the team could entertain on the court in southern cities, the players could not stay at certain hotels or eat at certain restaurants. American Football League players boycotted the league’s planned 1965 New Orleans All Star game because of Jim Crow. Conditions for