| Sport and Society They
say that sport is a microcosm of society, meaning that sport is a system more
or less analogous to society. As a social institution, sport is characterized
by regulation, formalization, ideological justification, and the transmission
of culture, and it attempts to channel human actions so that they correspond with
predefined expectations. Sport shares many
of the characteristics of other social institutions and groups. Firstly, it has
a ranking system and a hierarchical structure that is generally based on value.
The different sports are ranked in terms of popularity (in the U.S. the most popular
sports are football, baseball and basketball), as are team positions (in American
football the quarterback position is the most valued). Secondly,
like all social institutions sport has an organizational and structural aspect
with built-in roles and statuses. These provide the individual with his or her
social position within the institution (e.g. trainer, player, coach, owner) and
dictate his or her level of power within the structure. In
past articles we have examined how the role of the Black player has been devalued
within the structure of sport just like the role of Black people has been devalued
in society, i.e. Hurricane Katrina. We have also examined how the natural resource
of our athletic prowess has been leveraged to support the lifestyle and standard
of living and economic system benefiting others. To
those who disagree that the economics of the sports business industry clearly
supports the belief that sport mirrors society, consider if you will the pay of
Major League baseball executives. The two Black executives, with more seniority
that all other executives but the commissioner, earned less than all of their
counterparts for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2006. Bud
Selig, who earned $650,000 per year in 1993, earned $14.5 million in 2006. While
MLB revenue increased from $1.2 billion to almost $5.5 billion this season with
Mr. Selig at the helm, his compensation has increased by an even larger percentage
over the same period according to the league’s first public disclosure of
the information. Bob DuPuy, who has been with MLB since 1998 and is currently
baseball’s chief operating officer, was paid $4,875,000 in 2006. Pay
for executive vice presidents included $1.92 for Rob Manfred (labor relations),
$1.3 for John McHale, Jr. (administration) and $1,245,000 for Jonathan Mariner
(finance). Sandy Alderson, who quit as executive vice president in 2005, made
$875,000. Jimmie Lee Solomon, who succeeded Sandy Alderson, made $543,583 in 2006
or nearly $300,000 less than the man he replaced and $100,000 less than Selig
made nearly 15 years ago.
Apparently a bachelors degree from Dartmouth
and a Harvard law degree (Solomon) can’t take you as far as a bachelors
degree from Wisconsin (Selig) in baseball or the real world. If
you have questions or require additional information, please contact Everett L.
Glenn, Esq. at eglenn@espsportslawpro.com
or call 562.619.8460.
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