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hi everybody I'm da Loney host of
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knowledge of Wharton on siriusxm 111 we
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are here today talking about the new
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book coming out sport matters with its
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author and Wharton professor Ken
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Shropshire ken great to have you thanks
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dad good beer this is an interesting
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topic to bring up because there are
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certainly have been a rash of incidents
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involving all of the sports industry
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where we have seen a quote unquote loss
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of respect and that's something that you
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talk a lot about in this book was it's
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incredible I'm even at this this week
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just now Little League has has
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encountered further problems with this
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whole issue of integrity respect all the
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important issues that we think about
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outside of sport and we really think
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sports should project most positively so
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this has been a pretty dramatic year
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what has it been that has really changed
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within the fabric of sports booth at the
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professional level at the college level
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and even as you mentioned at the little
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league level that has really seen this
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this grand change in how people respect
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the games or do not respect the games
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well you know what's curious i mean the
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short answer might be might be money and
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kind of a more that's available if you
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are successful so that kind of striving
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for success but i think you know more
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deeply probably what what has brought
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this to our attention is how easy it is
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to get information now I mean it's more
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the if you think the incidents the the
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Donald sterling and you think the the
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owner of the Atlanta Hawks you think
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about Ray Rice I mean all this has been
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exposed in a way that we never saw
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before so historically you know Babe
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Ruth and Lou Gehrig may have been up to
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a lot of things but we didn't know about
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it so it's it's really that but has
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revealed some of this huge respect or
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lack of respect issue that occurs in so
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many levels in sports one of the cases
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that you discuss in the book involves
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the miami dolphins and their hazing case
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which is interesting because i know you
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spent time with the dolphins in terms of
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talking with them about what happened
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and maybe how they can affect change
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within their organization well i'm still
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working with steve ross and and not some
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about the organization but I think what
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he's done is really tried to capture
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that moment and a lot of ways the same
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way that I think about the book you know
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how can you positively take the things
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that happen in sport and improve society
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how can you deliver the messages and his
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focus really at the youngest age two
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kids and say if you're going to
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participate in sport here's some other
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lessons you need to learn as well and
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you need to carry forward into life so
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you know the the drama other thing to
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think about one of the things is I've
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worked with him we've struggled with is
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it's it's not too difficult to think
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about how to work with kids and get them
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to understand all these important
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lessons about you know diversity
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inclusion respect equality kind of those
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those big themes but how do you do it
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with with adults how do you do it in in
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the locker room perfect with
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professional athletes with with people
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who in many ways have been pampered
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throughout their life and haven't had to
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deal with these real-life issues who in
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many ways or have been in this sanctuary
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my motherly the right word in these
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locker rooms that are private spaces for
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so long but but again just like in the
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other incidents we mentioned have been
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exposed in a way that the people have
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never seen before so we know what goes
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on there in a way that we didn't know
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the interesting part is that you have
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the contrast between what mr. Ross is
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trying to do down in Miami and of course
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what we saw with the Los Angeles
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Clippers with Donald sterling which I
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think it it shook a lot of people to
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their core the fact that I don't know if
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anybody believes that we are a true a
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true society where racism is not part of
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everything we think but it is still a
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scary prospect that a man that owned a
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professional sports franchise that had
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obviously a great deal of power a great
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deal of wealth had these views about
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people that in some respects people that
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were working for him well and look we
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don't know again if he's alone and it's
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his thoughts or how many other people
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have said such negative things in the
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privacy in the space that he was in with
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with his alleged girlfriend then and and
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again she records in a way that
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historically we weren't able to do so he
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what he really did was with shed light
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on this issue for for those who may have
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thought we are in some kind of
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post-racial era and the Obamas in the
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White House and things are rosy all
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around that here's somebody in a
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business that's people predominantly by
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african-americans and he expresses such
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negative views of them and it really
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displays this this whole but in the book
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I talk about this kind of continuum of
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this idea of Tolerance versus respect
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and then the full place we'd like to all
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get to his acceptance and he merely
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apparently tolerated these African
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Americans and didn't want maybe one of
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the most prominent sports figures in the
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World Magic Johnson to to attend his
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games because of his race so that really
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shed a light on on where we are but but
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I think that that you know not not so
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important that that this this one man
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did what he did but just that the fact
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that this still exist and exist in the
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most powerful position in sport at the
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ownership level it's interesting because
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when you look at ownership of
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professional sports teams these days you
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have some owners that are doing some
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unbelievable work for their communities
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for their organizations but you do have
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owners that I don't know if it's it's a
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case where the bottom line still ends up
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being the most powerful thing but you
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have a case like the Washington Redskins
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where that name has obviously drawn a
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lot of attention from the American
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Indian community they are not happy with
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it for the most part yet Daniel Snyder
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the owner of the Redskins is sticking to
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his guns in some respects and saying he
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will not change the name of that's what
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that name of that team and look you know
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successful men become successful because
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they have the type of stamina and drive
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that Dan Snyder has and he's displaying
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on this issue but but what this realist
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rates further I mean again we're talking
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about owners and the different kinds of
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issues that are there is the need for
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not just diversity in these big settings
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but also inclusion that that it's never
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clear to me
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who it is that he's getting this advice
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from that that drives him to stick so
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adamantly behind his decision to stick
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with the name that is one of the most
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racist names characterizing a group of
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people in existence and and you know the
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fact that you can you can find some
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people that say and if I'm some Native
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Americans that say it's okay that you
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can pull fans and majority of fans say
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that it's okay well well there is a
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substantial group of people that say it
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is a porn it is one of the most racist
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names that exist in any and if you kind
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of take the the casual step looking
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Webster's dictionary that's the kind of
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definition you'll get it at phrasing so
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so it's not that difficult i mean sport
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we've seen name change take place quite
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a bit i mean we've seen teams take this
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movement and do it positively and when
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you saw this this past season with the
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the charlotte bobcats that's back to the
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Charlotte Hornets and it was a
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tremendous marketing opportunity they
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increase their sales so there are ways
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to do this positively it really is again
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if we think the character of many of the
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people that own these teams and who
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think that there are certainly the
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positives but but here's a negative
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moment that it also allowed this guy to
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be very successful in what he does
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character obviously played a big part in
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the aftermath of the Ray Rice case which
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was a case where there was very shocking
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video of rice and his fiancee at the
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time in an incident in a casino in
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Atlantic City but I think as horrified
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as a lot of people were of the incident
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itself they were also disillusion in
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some respects by how it was handled by
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the quote-unquote leaders that were
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involved in that case whether it be
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Roger Goodell leading the case for the
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NFL whether that be Steve bisciotti for
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the Baltimore Ravens they did take the
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ACT to action to release ray rice from
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his contract but still there were some
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some people that were very disillusioned
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by what happened through that whole
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little situation yeah one of the great
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things about that terrible incident is
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it
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it was a very vivid visual of again the
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need for greater inclusion these
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decision-making processes I mean to have
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somebody in the room that understands
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about domestic violence does have
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somebody in the room you know unlike
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myself when I saw the the second video
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when Ray Rice structures then fiancé as
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a man would hit a hit a man I'd never
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seen that in real life and I've seen the
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kind of you know comical version but
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never unfortunately I'd never seen it in
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real life so so when that occurs you
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know if you don't have the inclusive
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atmosphere in your leadership setting do
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you really know how to react and and and
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part of the lesson that we get from that
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is to understand that when something new
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something you're not familiar with
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occurs if you don't have a domestic
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violence specialist if you don't have a
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Native American or you don't have an
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african-american your leadership space
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or wherever you may be then then this is
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the time where you should go out and
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seek that additional advice and guidance
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before you take a step that can later
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later be severely criticized and proven
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to be wrong is it tougher at times when
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you have an organization in comparison
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to what the NFL went through with the
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Ray Rice case is it tougher sometimes
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when you have an organization like the
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NCAA much different situation but we're
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talking about an organization that has
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been very much under fire for a lot of
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topics a lot of issues over the last
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several years the situation now at the
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University of Miami with the
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investigation into their potential
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impropriety the situation at Penn State
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with Jerry Sandusky and how they handled
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that it's it does require a different
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type of leadership in some respects now
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it really does and then you think about
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the NFL Major League Baseball NBA you've
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got 30 or so owners that work closely
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with a commissioner and their motivation
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is profit I mean it's so it's a it's a
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lot different there's a lot a lot of
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issues about protecting the business and
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NFL they're talking about protecting the
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shield the NCAA you had a thousand plus
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member institutions you've got an
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administrative body in DNA
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apolis is the interest in making as much
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money as possible where is it in
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educating student athletes and when you
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have these additional issues that that
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come into these these institutions
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individual schools and maybe they don't
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happen all the schools how do you get
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everybody united behind the kinds of
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issues that have to be dealt with so
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it's a lot different it's a lot
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different when you think about an
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educational institution trying to deal
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with issues as opposed to a professional
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sports organization any which which is a
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a small not a small business but it's a
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relatively small business to IBM or
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others that has to make business
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decisions that aren't related to now
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we're going to get this kid to graduate
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and to get a degree and to think about
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being a donor later on yeah those sorts
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of things the interesting part about
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that the NCAA is the fact that even
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though they are tied to educational
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institutions realistically the NCAA is a
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quote-unquote money-making operation
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when you think about the contracts that
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they are dealing with to promote the
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college basketball to promote college
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football and in some respects people I
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think believe that that's at the
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detriment to the organization that they
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have so much influence over money-making
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entities that maybe do they lose sight
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of what the grander picture is at times
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right and partly the NCAA's problem is
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is it the I think much of the world
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doesn't understand what the NCAA does
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and what it doesn't do and part of the
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world doesn't really focus on NCAA they
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run a great basketball tournament that's
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that's probably the biggest moneymaker
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for the enterprise but in terms of the
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football games the football
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championships and all those that's
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outside of the NCAA's purview for the
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most part except for the eligibility of
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the athletes and the dollars that are
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coming in the new dollars that are
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really coming in that's up to the
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individual conferences so that's the
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pac-12 the SEC and all those other other
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entities and so maybe greater scrutiny
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about what they're doing and whether or
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not those dollars are being used to
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further the educational missions of the
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individual institutions I mean that
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that's really where I think the focus
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should be you know we can beat up the
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NCAA all day but let's follow the money
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and see where it's gone and the positive
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things that can be done
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and for me that's that's well beyond
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thinking about paying athletes it's
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about thinking about how do you help the
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young men and young women find their way
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in life in the end the early realization
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the sports thing is not going to last
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forever you got to forget our way to
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survive in the world that goes beyond
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balls and bats and rackets the book is
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sports matters can what would you like
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people to really be left with what
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vision would you like them to be left
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with after they read this book well you
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know part of the drama that I went
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through and thinking about this book was
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was to move away from thinking about
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although it is in my mind the dominant
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respect issue out there move away from
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just the the race issue and which I
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wrote about some years ago on another
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book and really just understand that
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that a lot of the issues they're out
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there in this space and I think beyond
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our about respect and if we can just
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figure out how do we treat people her
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respectful manner and sports provides
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provides a prison for us to think about
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that then we can all be a lot better off
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thank you very much for joining us today
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thanks
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you
