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Sports & Politics Intersect: The Dallas Stars take a stand
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Sports & Politics Intersect: The Dallas Stars take a stand

Front Five: The top stories that shaped both sports & politics this week

"Dallas welcomes all, and we welcome all." - Dallas Stars President Jim Lites on proposed bathroom bill in Texas

During the special summer legislative session in Texas, a bathroom bill that would prohibit transgender men, women and children from using facilities that they identify with was brought to the table again by Gov. Greg Abbott. Texas lawmakers have tried, and failed, several times to pass similar bills that restrict where transgender Texans can relieve themselves or change clothes.

Prohibiting where transgender Texans can change clothes would open up a world of issues for transgender athletes, who could be left out of their sports for not being able to enter locker rooms with their teammates. Several cities in Texas, including Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, currently have protections for the LGBTQ community in such situations, but SB3 would rip those protections away, leaving trans athletes without the support needed to participate in athletics.

While the bill has not passed, and probably will not pass again because of big business not wanting to lose out on Texas hosting financially lucrative events and top talent, the Dallas Stars were the first team to come out in opposition of the bill. In a statement about the bill, the team said, “The Dallas Stars stands [sic] strongly opposed to any legislation perceived as discriminatory, including proposed bathroom legislation.”

Knowing how much the NBA and NCAA hurt North Carolina’s bid for hosting the NBA’s All-Star game and the NCAA Tournament, the Stars' strong opposition of the bill could send a message to the state that it could lose out on some of the same opportunities that North Carolina missed out on in 2016. Texans owner Bob McNair has opposed the bill. In North Texas, the Cowboys refuse to make any public statement, but sources say that they’re worried about potentially losing out on their opportunity to host the 2018 NFL Draft should SB3 pass.

While it’s unlikely that SB3 passes during the summer session, this is a debate that will continue in Texas and across the country — and continue to affect sports leagues at all levels. 

-Phillip Barnett


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"After all, the Olympics needs L.A. a whole lot more than L.A. needs the Olympics.” - Jules Boykoff, Pacific University professor and Olympics expert

The Los Angeles City Council approved an agreement between the International Olympic Committee and LA 2028 — the organization behind the city's bid — that will commit and financially bind Los Angeles to host the massive sporting event 11 years from now. It's a big step for the city, one that is making a lot of people justifiably nervous.

The IOC wants to officially announce Paris and Los Angeles as the respective hosts of the 2024 and 2028 Olympics in mid-September. But before it can do that it needs both cities to contractually agree to taking on the games. In L.A.'s case, the city council did approve the agreement Friday, which means city officials voted without an updated budget for what the games are expected to cost is completed. Remember, the current $5.4 billion budget submitted was for the 2024 games, which Los Angeles didn't get.

The organizing committee is trying to assuage any anxiety by pointing out that much of the plan for 2028 is the same; the city will still use existing venues instead of building new ones. Committee members have also noted that the IOC will give Los Angeles even more money than if it hosted the 2024 games — $2 billion instead of $1.7 billion. Supporters also like to point out that Los Angeles actually made a profit when it hosted in 1984.

Valid points, sure, but it doesn't change the fact that L.A. officials blindly signed on the dotted line, agreeing to pay for something without knowing the price tag. A lot can happen in four years — the current presidency is proof positive of this. The extra waiting period could bring about an unexpected catastrophe that could compound the financial burden on the city. Not only that, but the city approved a plan that doesn't include a California State Legislature guarantee to cover up to $250 million in overage costs should the games really go over budget (the city would absorb the first $250 million in additional costs). State legislators will likely agree to the same terms for 2028, but that vote won't take place until next year.

-Fidel Martinez


Yardbarker Illustration/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Getty Images

"I firmly believe that God chose me to help bring two races together under one last name — Tomlinson.” - LT during his Hall of Fame speech

Last weekend, the NFL’s newest class of Hall of Famers was inducted into Canton, and a pair of speeches touched on social commentary framed about race and unity. LaDainian Tomlinson and Kenny Easley both had powerful moments during their induction speeches. And while Colin Kaepernick’s name wasn’t brought up in either, both speeches felt awfully timely, especially with another quarterback receiving a job ahead of the ex-49ers signal caller.

In Tomlinson’s speech, he told a story about his great-great-great grandfather who was a slave 170 years ago and how LT grew up on the very plantation on which his ancestors toiled the soil. LT took this story and turned it into an opportunity to give not only the football community a call to action to come together as a single, united team, but the whole country.

“On America’s team, let’s not choose to be against one another,” said Tomlinson. “Let’s choose to be for one another. My great-great-great grandfather had no choice. We have one. I pray we dedicate ourselves to being the best team we can be, working and living together, representing the highest ideals of mankind. Leading the way for all nations to follow.”

Easley, on the other hand, was a bit more direct in his speech, addressing social issues that plague the country today. “Please allow me this opportunity and this moment for a very serious message for which I feel very strongly about,” Easley began. “Black lives do matter, and all lives matter, too.”

Easley was referring to the BLM movement that was started as a direct response to the police brutality levied on several unarmed black men, women and children. It’s this same cause that led to Kaepernick to begin sitting, then taking a knee during the national anthem last season.

“But the carnage affecting young black men today from random violence to police shootings across this nation has to stop,” Easley continued. “We’ve got to stand up as a country, as black Americans and fight the good fight to protect our youth and our American constitutional right not to die while driving or walking the streets black in America. It has to stop, and we can do it, and the lessons we learn in sports can help.”

While the league still wrestles with current players who have taken political stances, there’s little it can do to curtail the voices of those who are enshrined as legends in the sport.

-Phillip Barnett


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"...[If] it weren’t for the baseball games and the men who played them, the owners would not be raking in these Disney Billions now." - Craig Calcaterra, baseball writer, on announcement that Disney was buying a majority stake in BAMtech.

Media giant Disney became majority owner of streaming service pioneer BAMtech after agreeing to pay $1.58 billion to Major League Baseball and other minority owners (including the NHL) for an additional 42 percent ownership stake in the company. Disney already owned 33 percent of BAMtech, which spun out into its own entity by MLB in 2015. The acquisition could potentially and drastically change the landscape of sports streaming, and will likely serve as a point of contention for upcoming collective bargaining agreements between players and team owners.

On the more immediate side of things, it gives Disney a big weapon in its looming streaming war against Netflix. Prior to the acquisition, Disney announced that it was pulling its content from Netflix after the distribution agreement expired with the intention of rolling out its own services. Purchasing BAMtech, which pioneered online streaming back in the early 2000s when it was just MLB's IT team (around the same time that Netflix was still mailing out DVDs), gives Disney the technology to make any future service a reality. In addition to the tech, BAMtech's ties to MLB mean that Disney's strategy will rely heavily on sports. Disney is planning on rolling out a standalone ESPN streaming service, which will include one baseball game a night because of the acquisition.

As per the long term, things are a little more nebulous, particularly  when it comes to what this means for the players and their cut of future MLB profit sharing. It's unclear whether this deal means that MLB will have an additional revenue stream — will Disney pay for broadcasting and streaming rights? — that it'll have to divvy up with its workforce. In recent collective bargaining agreement negotiations, MLB has all but fleeced the players union. If more money is on the line, don't expect owners to be any more eager to part with it.

-Fidel Martinez


Hindustan Times/Getty Images

“No governing body has so tenaciously tried to determine who counts as a woman for the purpose of sports as the I.A.A.F. and the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.).” - Ruth Padawer, NY Times

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has until the end of September to file evidence that women with higher testosterone levels than what is considered normal for a woman have an advantage over those within that range. The IAAF is out to prove that Dutee Chand, a sprinter from India who was born and raised a woman, and others like her, should not be allowed to participate in international track and field events.

Chand, who was found to have hyperandrogenism, a condition that produces higher levels of testosterone in women, fought a case that pressured to permanently change her body to be able to compete. While she temporarily won her case two years ago, the IAAF is putting together a case with published research to reinstate a rule that would keep Chand from competing in international track and field competitions.

The question about what qualifies a woman to be a woman is far from the only thing at stake in this case as women have repeatedly been humiliated after being subjected to sex testing. Dora Ratjen, Maria Jose Martinez-Patino, Helen Stephens, Santhi Soundarajan, Caster Semenya and countless others have been publicly humiliated on both local and international levels because word got out that they failed "gender tests." For Chand, she cried for days after word got out that she failed a gender test, telling the NY Times, “Some in the news were saying I was a boy…”

Many believe it’s impossible to prove that hyperandrogenism would give anyone an unfair advantage. There are countless variables that go in to determining why one would outperform another, including height, limb length, nutrition and training. However, the case presented in September could have long-term implications for women who are born with bodies seen as too male to compete.

-Phillip Barnett

Of note: 

  • Janine Talley, wife of former Buffalo Bills defensive end Darryl Talley, describes the bonds forged through a private Facebook group of the partners of current and former players who are coping with the physical and mental struggles after their playing careers. Janine discovered how much she related and empathized with many of these women, including Keana McMahon, the ex-wife of former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Justin Strzelczyk, who was posthumously found to have suffered from CTE.
  • “We are treated like sporting slaves,” Ethiopian middle-distance runner Lily Abdullayeva told The Guardian in a wide-ranging investigation of richer national sporting organizations that “bought” multiple runners from Africa to change nationalities that were allegedly mistreated, forced to take performance enhancers and be denied their winnings.
  • Houston’s homeless population has dropped significantly over the last five years thanks to the city’s increase of emergency housing, yet not all of the displaced choose to accept shelter. The Houston Chronicle highlights the story of a homeless woman who remains in her tent outside of Minute Maid Park.
  • A community group is attempting to put the kibosh on David Beckham’s long-awaited dream of a Major League Soccer franchise in Miami. This past Wednesday, clergy and residents rallied against the proposed stadium site because the agreement made between the soccer legend’s group and local authorities lacks benefits for the communities that will house the facility.
  • Brothers Zygi and Mark Wilf, whose family owns the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, have joined an ownership group of a potential MLS franchise in Nashville. After losing out on a bid for Minnesota United FC, the Wilfs decided to link up with Nashville-area billionaire John Ingram, who remains the lead owner.
  • Since the death of team patriarch Bud Adams in 2013, the ownership of the Tennessee Titans has been in limbo due to a lack of a direct succession plan. The uncertainty continues as Susie Adams Smith plans to sell her stake in the team’s parent company, which also includes one-third of the Titans. Her sister and controlling owner, Amy Adams Strunk, was fined last season for running afoul of the NFL’s ownership compliance laws after declaring that she intended to keep the team despite not having a plan in place to do so.
  • The Pro Football Hall of Fame has partnered with Rodale Publishing to develop a series of educational children’s books about some of its enshrined legends. These books will tell young readers about what motivated these Hall of Famers to play as well as “the challenges they faced— including poverty, racism, education, athletic and physical limitations, and injury—along the way."
  • The Buffalo Bills have become something of a trailblazer in the NFL thanks to not only hiring its first full-time female coach last season, but including two more women this year as coaching interns during training camp and preseason.
  • Former presidential candidate Jeb Bush was forced to bow out of yet another ownership bid for the Miami Marlins. 
  • To rub salt in the wound for Bush, he previously lost a power struggle in his original group with New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter. Now, Marlins owner Jeffery Loria reportedly agreed to sell his club to Jeter's group. Don’t worry, Jeb, everyone involved in baseball has lost to Jeter once or twice.
  • SunTrust Park has been a maddening boondoggle, a surprise to absolutely no one in metro Atlanta. Yet, it’s also an urban planner’s nightmare, according to the Deadspin feature on the Atlanta Braves’ new suburban home.
  • The Champions Basketball League was supposed to tip off in July, a league which would feature former NBA players on teams where fans had direct financial investments through crowdfunding efforts on social media. That hasn't exactly happened as Deadspin followed the trail of questionable finances, broken promises and a continually delayed launch.

-Jason Clinkscales

For the record books: This week in sports politics history


Bettmann/Getty Images

“You have got to hate to lose and get up off that floor and come back to fight again.” - Richard Nixon, former president of the United States

This week marks the 43rd anniversary of the resignation of Richard Nixon. On Aug. 9, 1974, Richard Milhous Nixon went in front of the cameras to announce that he was stepping down from the presidency in light of his impending impeachment. In addition to having the dubious distinction of leaving the White House in the middle of his term, Nixon was also an avid football fan. Such was his love for the gridiron that he even called a football play during an important playoff game between the Washington Redskins and the San Francisco 49ers in 1971. Well, sort of.

The story goes that George Allen, the Redskins coach at the time and friend of the president, had arranged it so it looked like Nixon had given him a play call to be used during the important matchup. Allen wanted to make the leader of the free world look good. The plan was set in motion when Nixon called Allen in his office in the days prior to the 49ers game. Redskins quarterback Billy Kilmer was present during the phone call. The two men talked, and then Allen handed his quarterback the phone. It was at this point that Nixon outlined the trick play, a reverse to wide receiver Roy Jefferson.

Lo and behold the Washington Redskins actually called the play right before halftime, with the Skins up on the Niners 10-3. It failed spectacularly. The reverse resulted in a 14-yard loss, and the Redskins went on to lose 24-20.

"(George) wanted the president to look very sage," Marv Levy, the former Buffalo Bills coach who lost four straight Super Bowls and served as special teams coordinator for the Redskins during this debacle, said in 1994. "Afterward, I remember chuckling among ourselves about it. George gave the play to the president, then it didn't work."

-Fidel Martinez

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