The Power in Sports

Power in the world of sports is somewhat intimidating. From team owners to the TV networks. Players and their unions. The league and team owners would be nothing without the players, but the teams and players may not even exist, without the league and team owners.

The world of sports has power, superhuman power.

They come straight out of a cartoon: X-ray vision, leap tall building in a single bound, and cancel the superpowers of others.

Okay, maybe not quite that powerful. Superhuman, supernatural, and paranormal abilities exist in comic books. But sometimes it seems they play a role in sports – with all of the money and star power seen today. It’s interesting, the power of televised sports might be held by leagues and team owners.

X-Ray Vision

Leagues and team owners can’t see through objects or clothing, but they can see through a player’s character. Bad attitude isn’t invisible. Leagues and team owners do not tolerate any “phony bologna” from the players.

There is little to no toleration of character issues in sports. Leagues and owners will suspend and even ban players, regardless of talent, if they don’t follow rules. Examples include guys like Adam “Pacman” Jones and Dennis Rodman. The leagues and team owners do their best to ensure players know the difference between tenacity and being a dirty player.

This year, the NFL is cracking down on helmet-to-helmet hits. It’s a prime example. Commissioner Roger Goodell is not budging on trying to change the physicality of the league by handing out jaw-dropping fines. Like he’s the ice cream man in August.

Roger Goodell is instituting a “No Big-hit left unfined” type of policy that exhibits a type of executive power seen in politics, sans checks and balances. Players have been expressing their dissatisfaction with the extraordinarily high fines.

Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers was the latest to speak out.

Polamalu expressed that Roger Goodell has too much power and authority when it comes to the issue of fines and big hits. Although the players and their unions are supposed to have a voice and express themselves too, Roger Goodell is a perfect example of a league owner whose power is currently overruling the player’s voices and their unions.

Leaping tall buildings in a single bound

Leagues and team owners probably can’t leap tall buildings in a single bound, but they can fly, and they have the frequent flyer miles to prove it. They are a powerful group that – like the players, agents, and TV network execs – travel across the country to accomplish business.

Certainly, from a business standpoint, leagues and team owners can leap business deals in a single bound. Whether it’s the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 or a collective bargaining agreement, leagues hold an incredible amount of power to ensure the deal gets done.

The players, unions, agents, TV networks, and the rights owners do have power in the world of televised sports. There’s no refuting that fact. However, when compared to the amount of power that leagues and team owners have, all of the other groups seem grounded. The leagues and team owners have the majority of say when it comes to rules and business transactions, thus giving them the majority of power overall.

Cancelling the superpowers of others

The phenomenon of league and team owners wielding their power is nothing new. The leagues and team owners have always made it known – at the end of the day – it’s their way or the highway. Even back to Larry O’Brien in 1977 in the budding league called the NBA.

“The Punch” involving Rudy Tomjanovich and Kermit Washington had the potential to ruin the growing league.

However, Washington doled out the longest suspension in NBA history at the time, 26-games, until the Latrell Sprewell and P.J. Carlismo “choking” incident. O’Brien also handled the “Oscar Robertson Suit” which helped save the league from a merger as well as  reach a collective bargaining agreement with its players’ union.

Team owners and current league owners Roger Goodell, David Stern, and Bud Selig are three men that have the ability to cancel out the “superpowers” of the players within their leagues.

David Stern isn’t shy about exhibiting his power as NBA league commissioner. We all remember the suspensions he handed out for the Indiana Pacers vs. Detroit Pistons brawl. “The malice at the palace” was a fight unlike anything the league had ever seen before, with players running into the stands with reckless abandonment, for both their safety and the safety of others.

Stern handed out hefty fines and suspensions to the players involved who played significant roles. Stern has also flexed his muscles by instituting a dress code in the NBA. Players weren’t dressing to the standards that Stern felt conveyed a professional league, so therefore he mandated players where a collared shirt when coming to the arena for a game.

Bud Selig has played a major role in the MLB during the “Steroids Era”. There are strict policies in place for what happens to a player who tests positive for PED’s. Selig has caught criticism for not instituting stricter testing policies for steroids, but he’s swift and stern when it comes do disciplining the players of his league.

Selig does not tolerate lapses in judgment when it comes to breaking the rules. This year, Selig was swift in handing out Nyjer Morgan, of the Washington Nationals, an eight game suspension and $15,000 fine for starting a brawl against the Florida Marlins.

Players can appeal suspensions or fines, but how often do we hear about those appeals resulting in an original decision being overturned? Hardly ever.

It was mentioned earlier, but Roger Goodell may have the most power of any league owner in sports. The NFL, is by far, the most powerful and sought after league in the world of sports. With Goodell and owners such as Jerry Jones, the money and power they have is overwhelming. As a side, the Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium could easily be considered the 8th wonder of the world, and I’m sure it is to some Cowboy’s fans.

But, with the “big-hit” fines being dished out this year, Roger Goodell is showing people the best of his brawn. Although he knows players are unclear about how to play and dissatisfied with the new policy, he continues to fine players.

His mentality expresses the sense that if players don’t like the way things are being handled, then that’s too bad. Tough for them. Play somewhere else.

Overall, when it comes to power in sports, leagues and team owners possess the majority of it. David Stern, Bud Selig, and Roger Goodell are three men you don’t want to upset if you’re a player in their league.

The power in sports can be found, mostly, in the front offices of various sports teams. It seems as though it’s only a matter of time before we see a league or team owner stepping out of the sports realm and into the realm of politics. Goodell for President in 2012?