The Position of Power - Professional Male Athletes
Often I see articles centered around the plight of female athletes whether at the professional, semi-professional, or college level. However, I find less content centered around the professional male athlete and how their position of power, when not used in advocacy, is one of the biggest detriments to female athletes. Many professional male athletes, in North America, who are currently playing have never been without a union. However, many female athletes who are currently playing have only recently had the luxury of union support and bargaining in a position of power.
It is hard speaking with professional male athletes and recently retired male athletes on this topic, because they are subconsciously blinded by their own positions of power. Some of them don’t even recognize they have a position of power. However, many of them have not taken the time to see how their bargaining power came to be and rather seem to take it for granted.
National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) - Established 1954
Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) - Established 1966
National Hockey Players Association (NHLPA) - Established 1967
National Football Players Association (NFLPA) - Established 1956
Major League Soccer Players Association (MLSPA) - Established 2003, the league was established in 1993
On the other hand, the major professional women’s leagues in the United States have only recently had unions and some leagues do not have any established union.
Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) - Established 1998
National Women’s Soccer Player’s Association (NWSLPA) - Established 2018
Players Association of the Premiere Hockey Federation (PA PHF) - Players have not unionized although the players elect player representatives to represent their interests.
Before unions were formed in men’s sports, the players were being treated unfairly and had zero say in their own careers. One of the earliest cases of professional male athletes looking to have more say in their careers happened in baseball.
John Montgomery Ward and eight other players in 1885 formed the first players union in baseball -- the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Player.
Then in 1900, 1912, and 1946 the players tried in vain to bargain for the end to the reserve clause, which bound players to their respective clubs.
In 1965, MLB players sought help from someone outside of baseball to help them unionize officially.
Their search led them to Marvin Miller, a highly respected economist for the United Steelworkers of America who immediately began to mold the players into a bona fide labor union. His first steps were to shore up the union's finances by beginning a group licensing program and educating the players about the fundamentals of organizing and solidarity.
It is vitally important for a players’ union to have money in the bank in order to execute actions that will help the players. Action costs money and players have to invest in a union before they will see the benefits of unionization.
In 1968, Miller helped players negotiate the first-ever collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in professional sports. The agreement raised the minimum salary in baseball from $6,000 -- the level at which it had been stuck for two decades -- to $10,000 and set the tone for future advances. In 1970, Miller helped players negotiate the right to arbitration to resolve grievances -- an achievement Miller considered the most significant of the union's early years because the process paved the way for future gains.
Despite the gains the MLB Players had made through unionization, there were still inequities to resolve. In 1972, baseball player Curt Flood unsuccessfully challenged the reserve clause, which bound players to the same team for life or until the club released them, in court going all the way to The Supreme Court of the United States. Even though he did not receive the verdict he wanted, it brought the issues to the main stage.
Then in December 1975, two other players took up the torch and this time the case was heard before an arbitrator and not a court. This was due to the work Miller had done to allow players to bring grievances to a skilled arbitrator. This time the players won and free agency in baseball was born.
The male professional leagues have also been operating under collective bargaining agreements longer than some of the women’s leagues have even been around. A collective bargaining agreement (CBA), on a basic level, is an agreement between the union and the league that lays out the parameters of the employment of the players including benefits, salary caps, travel requirements, etc.
NBPA CBA first ratified - 1970
NHLPA CBA first ratified - 1975
MLBPA CBA first ratified - 1968
MLSPA CBA first ratified - 2004
Unions in sport are usually formed due to players finally being fed up with poor treatment, low salaries, inequity in bargaining position, and too much power exerted on them from management.
WNBPA CBA first ratified - 1999
Players Association of the Premier Hockey Federation - No CBA in place
A union being formed is generally preceded by a labor stoppage in the sport. Players go on strike and refuse to continue to settle for less than they deserve. However, in order to form a union, there are a few steps players must follow.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was created by the United States Congress in 1935 to assure fair labor practices and workplace democracy nationwide and agency staff investigate and remedy unfair labor practices by unions and employers. The National Labor Relations Act is the federal law that grants employees the “right to form or join unions, engage in protected, concerted activities to address or improve working conditions, or refrain from engaging in these activities.”
If a majority of workers wants to form a union, they can select a union in one of two ways:
1. If at least 30% of workers sign cards or a petition saying they want a union, the NLRB will conduct an election. If a majority of those who vote choose the union, the NLRB will certify the union as your representative for collective bargaining.
2. Your employer may voluntarily recognize a union based on evidence - typically signed union-authorization cards - that a majority of employees want it to represent them.
When players are unwilling to lose their roster spots and salaries, very rarely do unions form. Players must be willing to speak out about inequities in their sport in order for change to occur. Many professional male athletes don’t recognize the sacrifice their predecessors made in order to secure a union and a collective bargaining agreement. And because of that lack of awareness, they can’t fully understand the inequities professional women athletes currently deal with on a regular basis.
The male athletes don’t understand how a two-league system for professional women’s sports would work or why it is even necessary. For instance, since professional women’s sports currently pay relatively low salaries in the United States, many athletes must play overseas in order to make ends meet or they must hold down two or three other jobs outside of their playing career. This rarely allows them time to rest and recover and take care of their personal lives before having to pick up and move overseas or work their other jobs. This poses a lot of problems and is currently playing out in international media with the case of WNBA star and 2-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner being detained in Russia over allegations of possession of vape cartridges in her luggage containing hashish oil. Griner has played in Russia for approximately seven seasons where she gets a huge salary for her basketball skills.
Male professional athletes have the luxury of only having to hold down one job. They do not understand the struggle and mental health ramifications of the lives of professional female athletes. Semi-professional male players wholeheartedly understand the struggle and they are fighting for many of the same benefits and levels of treatment as the professional women athletes.
As fans of professional women’s sports, we got to see an entire union formation and collective bargaining process happen before our eyes with the NWSLPA. This happened due to widespread sexual abuse within the sport and the lack of meaningful change being executed by management and governing bodies. Claire Watkins wrote an insightful piece for Just Women’s Sports which encapsulated the pivotal moments.
“There was relationship-building, there was education, there was organization — fortifying our own constitution and bylaws — and going to preseason to meet with the players to explain what a union is,” says Yael Averbuch West, . “None of us were part of a union ever before; we’ve not worked in other industries.”
Education is key for all athletes at every level, but especially for players looking to change the status quo.
“It was almost a freeing feeling,” Brooke Elby says. “I stopped caring if I had a job or not. If somebody was going to waive me, that’s fine. I cared about the players, and I was like, if I have to be the one to say something that nobody wants to hear, or that’s going to get somebody cut from a team, I’m willing to say it because this isn’t a career that I love anymore.”
Education is vital not only for players, but for their fan bases as well. If the fans of the sport and the players don’t understand the WHY behind actions or lack of action then they cannot help push the sport forward. If athletes in positions of power do not speak out and educate themselves on their position of power and how they got there, then women will continue to carry the burden while also playing their sport.
I urge professional male athletes to speak to your elders who fought on your behalf. Educate yourself on their struggles and you might gain more empathy for those who are not in positions of power. Educate yourselves on WHY there are one-league systems in men’s sports. One league systems were not always the case but antitrust exemptions from the federal government forced these systems to be put in place. It is not as simple as one league “won” out against the other. Many leagues were forced out through the court system and not through a lack of viewership or through a fair-market system.
Do not force leagues where women are playing to follow a broken pattern. Just because you had to deal with problems and issues doesn’t mean the next generation must also carry that load. Extend the ladder down, do not gate keep or force broken constructs onto these players.
A rising tide lifts all boats.