REQUIRED MATERIALS:

1.      Coakley (2015) Chapter 9 -- Social Class & Sports Download Coakley (2015) Chapter 9 -- Social Class & Sports

2.      David Zirin's appearance on Democracy NOW, July 27th, 2011, speaking about collective bargaining and solidarity among professional NFL athletes: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/7/27/dave_zirin_on_nfl_players_remarkable (Links to an external site.)

3.      David Zirin's article dated November 21, 2011: “NBA Players: Welcome to the 99 Percent”http://www.edgeofsports.com/2011-11-21-665/index.html (Links to an external site.)

4.      Article (Sept 23, 2013) "All Players United: NCAA Athletes Take a Stand for Change"http://www.edgeofsports.com/2013-09-23-866/index.html (Links to an external site.) (Also see: National College Players Association (http://www.ncpanow.org/ (Links to an external site.)).INSTRUCTIONS & REQUIREMENTS:

This week’s paper focuses on sports, money, power, class, and labor issues. The assigned videos and readings include Coakley’s chapter 9 on Social Class and several works by independent sports journalist David Zirin (Links to an external site.), the producer and host of “Edge of Sports” talk radio. He is a sports journalist who takes a critical sociological perspective on sports. I also add a optional short PBS video on the labor history of the right to "free agency" in professional athletes (workers/laborers) that highlights the courage of Curt Flood, an African-American Golden Glove and All-Star baseball player, who pushed for free agency rights of athletes. 

In the assigned readings and video, journalist David Zirin relies on sociological concepts and research to report on class and labor relations in sports and where the economic power is held. He focuses on NFL and NBA players as “workers” and athletes' contract negotiations with team owners, which Zirin views as “labor struggles.” Zirin's journalism discusses the collective bargaining of the labor union representing the professional athletes and the owner of the sports franchises that employ the player.  In the last article, Zirin examines the exploitation of college athletes of big-time revenue-producing sports, the “diseased power relationships in big-time, revenue-producing college sports,” and the reform efforts on the part of college athletes (Zirin 2013).

Using the concepts and knowledge from the required materials, discuss and assess Coakley's and Zirin’s argument(s) and/or assertions about class relations and male professional and college athletes. Specifically, your paper must address the following: 

(1) (a) Acknowledge and discuss how NBA, NFL, and/or MLB players/athletes are workers with civil and labor rights, as well as having the collective bargaining rights to negotiate working conditions and compensation with team owners/employers; (b). Acknowledge and discuss the different socio-economic class interests of players/athletes and team/franchise owners (Coakley textbook);

(2) At the collegiate level, what are the exploitative class- and race-based aspects of NCAA governance? Who are the winners and losers? And, what are the collective effort and goals of leaders and members of the National College Players Association? (http://www.ncpanow.org/ (Links to an external site.))"; and

(3) What are the relationships and interdependencies between mainstream sports journalism, corporate media, and the interests of team owners? (See Coakley's chapter).  

Your paper is likely to be around 500-700 words in length and must include the necessary citations and references from the Coakley text and required articles and news stories.   

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: This paper assignment is designed to assist students in meeting the following two learning objectives:

The second learning objective:  Students will demonstrate a good understanding of how dominant ideologies affect the meanings and structures of sports and how one’s social location affects one’s power/privilege/prestige to organize, control, and participate in sports under the conditions of one's own choosing.

The third learning objective: Students will develop a critical "sociological imagination" to reflect on how our own histories, social networks, and statuses (gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, physical abilities, economic class, and citizenship) shape our experiences and opportunities within sports.