Are Players' Unions Good for Professional Sports Leagues?

by Thomas Riggs (Editor)

Overview

In 1994, baseball owners proposed a salary cap on players, an action which led players to strike. This strike effectively ended the baseball season two months early and eliminated the World Series that year. This notable instance left many fans, players, and the public grappling with the role of unions in professional sports leagues. Were they good for baseball? Should fans be factored into questions of labor in sports? If players make more than the average worker, do they really need to bargain collectively? This anthology presents the conflicting evidence in arguments responding to these questions, and prompts readers to contextualize arguments for and against unions through inquiry and analysis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780737764161
Publisher:	Greenhaven Publishing LLC
Publication date:	11/27/2012
Series:	At Issue Series
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	15 - 17 Years

Table of Contents

Introduction 7

1 Players' Unions Make Professional Sports More Competitive and Fair Timothy L. Epstein 11

2 Players' Unions Make Professional Sports Too Expensive for Fans Ben Shapiro 17

3 Football's Future If the Players Win Roger Goodell 21

4 Players' Unions Protect Owners, Not Players or Fans Am Tellem 26

5 Agents, Not Unions, Are the Cause of NBA Labor Strife Kevin Ding 31

6 NBA Labor Issues Are Based in Racism David J. Leonard 36

7 Fans Are the Real Victims of Sports Labor Strife Sally Jenkins 44

8 Fans Will Always Return After a Sports Labor Dispute David J. Berri Martin B. Schmidt Stacey L. Brook 49

9 The Success of the NFL Proves Collective Bargaining Benefits Everyone David Madland Nick Bunker 61

10 NFL Labor Dispute Reflects Wider Rift Between Workers and Employers Michael Schottey 68

11 Players' Unions Encourage Perpetual Labor Strife Richard A. Epstein 73

12 Players' Unions Give Athletes a Voice That Non-Union Workers Don't Have Paul Frymer Dorian T. Warren 80

13 Adopting European System Would Eliminate Labor Issues in US Sports David Berri 85

14 Make the Fans the Owners: A Long-Term Solution for the NFL Roger Groves 91

Organizations to Contact 97

Bibliography 102

Index 105