Week 3 Flashcards
(32 cards)
How does the media represent labour and sports ?
elite professional and amateur sports
* overrepresentation in media
labour
* underrepresentation in media - struggles, etc
What are the forms of labour struggles in sports ?
players
* formation of new leagues
* court battles - take employers to court
* unions - create them
What are unions ?
- organized association of workers
- collectively bargain agreement for workers at employer/industry
What is involved in unions ?
- monopaly seller of labour to employer/industry
- excepted from anti-trust/competition laws - can’t have any monopoly’s
- uses strikes/job actions + court battles - gains or advances
What are the pros of unions ?
- protect workers from employers
- secure better wages and benefits
What are the cons of unions ?
- senior vs junior workers - conflict and contradiction
- dues
- bureaucracy - some members persue own interest oppossed from members
How do tradtional and sports unions differ ?
traditional unions
* differences b/w skilled and less skilled workers decreases - gap doesn’t matter
* most stable membership - don’t have a infux of new employers every single year
* to take worker’s wages out of market competition
sports unions
* differences b/w skilled and less skilled workers increases
* constantly changing membership
* to open worker’s wages to market competition
What occurs to sports franchise owners and leagues in sport unions ?
- report losses
- players wages increase vs revenues decrease
- small markets vs big markets
- wage growth and market competition decreases
- maximum wages - NHL, NFL, NBA (unique)
- salary caps (unique)
Which leagues have salary caps ?
NHL and NFL
* hard salary cap: absolute limitation to what a team can spend to expand their roster
NBA
* soft salary cap: supresses earning of player
What leagues have a luxury tax ?
NBA and MLB
* teams can spend beyond salary cap but get charged tax and gets ditributed to non-luxary tax teams
What are the pros of salary caps ?
- parity of competition
- limit advantages of bigger markets vs smaller markets
- cost control
- benefit middle-class players
- establish spending floor - min/max budget
What are the cons of salary caps ?
- difficult to maintain winning teams
- above-average players receive maximum salaries
How do sports differ from other industries ?
sports
* owners cooperate with one another
* workers assigned to employers
other industries
* owners compete with one another
* workers choose employers
What occured during Federal Baseball Club v National League (1992) ?
- U.S Supreme Court
- Baseball was seen as a form of amusement and not as a franchise
- decided that antitrsut laws cannot be applied to baseball
When was the National Association (NA) formed ?
1871
What was involved in the NA ?
open membership
some clubs = player-run cooperatives
other clubs = joint-stock companies
* owners and managers
* annual salaries for players
When was the National League (NL) formed ?
1876
What was involved in the NL ?
reserving
* players “reserved” for contract term (1 yr)
* competition from other teams as well as other leagues (AA, UA)
reserve clause
* perpetual right to re-sign “reserved” player - trading was the only way to change teams
* 5 players in 1879; 11 by mid-1880’s
* players required to negotiate new contract with same team
* could ask to be released or traded or hold out
* no freedom to change teams unless release
last 3 points from reserve clause are seperate
When was the Players League (PL) formed ?
formed 1889; folded 1890
* best players from NL
What was involved in the PL ?
public interest rationale
* player reservation -> competitive balance
* small market teams vs big market teams
* prevent revolving and raiding of players
When was the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) formed ?
- formed in 1953
- strongest union in professional sports
- Marvin Miller was the first president
What impact did Curt Flood have ?
- He was a St.Louis Cardinals player
- got traded in 1969 to Philadelphia Phillies
- He took MLB to the Supreme Court regarding the reverse clause and paved the way for free agency (he ended up losing the case)
What occured in Flood v Kuhn (1972) ?
- U.S Supreme Court
- Preserved the reserve clause in MLB
What impact did Jim “Catfish” Hunter have ?
- 1974
- Oakland Athletics Player
- breach of contract -> free agency (first legal free agent)
- MLB’s second free agent
