Racial Discrimination in Professional Sports

1
Racial Discrimination in Professional Sports

• By
• Karl Hedstrom, Ryan Oberbeck, Michael Renery,
  Taylor Sakamoto, and Dora Vedder

2
A Brief History of Racial Discrimination in Sports

• History of Sports
• - basketball
• Est. 1949 when NBL and ABA joined. ABA
  joined in 1976.
  
• -baseball
• Est. in 1868, when there were color lines. As
  time progressed, black were excluded from pro
  leagues and created Negro leagues.

3
Black Pioneers in Sports

• Jackie Robinson - Baseball
• Chuck Cooper - Basketball
• Charles Follis - Football
• Willie ORee - Hockey
• John Shippen - Golf
• Althea Gibson - Tennis
• Jesse Owens Olympics

4
TIMELINE

• 1868 1st official color line
• 1869 Desegregation
• 1884 Moses Welday Walker play professional
• 1885 First Black pro team
• 1920 Negro leagues form
• 1947 Breaking of color line

Rube Foster
5
MOST NOTABLE PLAYERS

• Josh Gibson 962 Home runs, 84 single season
• Lifetime Average .373
• Satchel Paige 1931-1937, 97 wins 15 losses
  Cleveland Indians, 1948
  
• Cool Papa Bell Fastest player ever in the
  game

6
THE TRAILBLAZER JACKIE ROBINSON

• A LIFE IS NOT IMPORTANT, EXCEPT IN THE IMPACT IT
  HAS ON OTHER LIVES

7
What Were Doing

• Referring to Beckers neoclassical economic
  theory, we will mainly be focusing on consumer
  and employer discrimination
  
• Our study focuses on sports, particularly
  baseball and basketball because statistics are
  widely used and available
  

8
Consumer Discrimination in Baseball

• Study by Andrew Hanssen and Torben Anderson.
• Investigates voting results for Major League
  Baseballs All-Star teams looking for evidence of
  discrimination.
  
• By looking at All-Star votes, we can see unbiased
  view of which players are most popular with
  fans.
  
• Looked at data from 1970 to 1996.

9
Regression Variables

• Dependent Variable Dummy 1 if Black, 0 if non
  Black
  
• Batting performance
• Fielding performance

• Popularity and television recognition of player
• Amount of playing time
• Years of experience

10
Results Of Regression
11
Discrimination in MLB-2001
12
Discrimination in MLB-2001

• Result of fans change in attitudes.
• League expansion has increased the competition
  for talent.
  
• More diverse make-up of front offices/manager
  positions signifies changing attitude in hiring.
  
  
• 54.41 of players are minorities.

13
Discrimination in the NBA-1988

• Study by Brown, Spiro, and Keenan.
• Hypothesis Customer discrimination among fans
  who like to see White players on their team.
  
• Team owners bid up salaries of scarce talented
  White players to please fans.

14
Discrimination in NBA-1988

• Highly non-Black populations (Phoenix, Salt Lake
  City, San Antonio) had 41 active players, 16 of
  which were White
  
• Cities with highly Black populations (Atlanta,
  Detroit, Washington) had 39 active players, 7 of
  which were White.
  
• Probability of this randomly occurring .0103

15
Discrimination in NBA-1988

• Found race to be significant.
• Blacks paid 15.6 less than comparable White
  players.
  
• So, Whites paid premium to play in White areas

16
Discrimination in NBA1988

• Dependent Variable Attendance
• Minutes played by Blacks not statistically
  significant.
  
• Fans do not avoid attending teams that play Black
  players.
  

17
Discrimination in NBA-1988

• Study by Kahn and Sherer showed attendance at NBA
  games depended significantly on the racial
  composition of the home team.
  
• Therefore, fans must have been satisfied by
  having Whites on the team, even if they dont
  play.
  
• Could this still be the case?

18
Bodvarsson and Brastow Study of Basketball
Discrimination

• Studied wages of black players and white players
  in 1985 and 1990.
  
• Accounted for race of head coach, racial
  breakdown of teams hometown, and racial make-up
  of team.

19
What They Discovered

• Black players made up 74 of league.
• Only 2 of 23 head coaches were black in 1985. 4
  of 27 in 1990.
  
• In 1985, found that black players playing for
  white head coach made 22.4 less than a white
  player with comparable stats.
  
• This despite black players having higher numbers
  in most of the primary statistical categories.
  
• Found no discrimination in 1990 between players
  of equal abilities.

20
Why Did the Gap Disappear?

• League expansion diminished the talent pool,
  making highly skilled players more valuable.
  
• Collective Bargaining Agreement in 1988 increased
  player bargaining power.
  
• Less discrimination against black players by
  owners and head coaches.

21
Conclusion

• Study results- Exciting trend in public opinion
  resulting in conclusion that today discrimination
  is not as prevalent in Basketball and Baseball
  
• Other interesting studies- signing bonus data,
  managers, central offices, endorsement deals