Sports Industry's War on Athletes

In America, sports are a popular passion, and an astoundingly lucrative business as well. Americans pay out millions of dollars annually for channels and stadiums to bring them closer to their favorite players, and every year, young athletes go to greater lengths to reach those exalted fields of play themselves. Unfortunately, in the quest to offer an ever more compelling product, the sports industry is blind to the manner in which that product is created. Doping, playing through injury, and eating disorders are widespread problems in both professional and college athletics, and speak volumes about the lengths to which people will go in order to make themselves successful. Dirty play, hazing, and cheating are common even at the lowest levels. Most troubling of all, however, are the societal problems created by the sports industry, which include racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia.

Peter and Laura Finley's comprehensive work confronts the many problems facing athletics today. Using numerous examples (both historical and current), they begin with the issue as they exist at the highest levels and as they are represented in the media. They then go on to look at how the values and models expressed by professionals are adopted and utilized by coaches, parents, and eventually by amateur athletes of all ages. Finally, the Finleys provide recommendations for improving the sports environment in America, suggesting ways we can work to counteract some of these many harmful influences to ensure that sports realize their potential as a positive and rewarding activity.

Peter Finley is Assistant Professor of Sport and Recreation Management in the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University, where he specializes in sociology of sport and sport ethics. He is the author of several publications about sport-related issues, including use of the Web for recruiting, privacy rights, and a variety of other sociology of sport topics. The Finleys are co-authors of Piss Off! How Drug Testing and Other Privacy Violations are Alienating America's Youth.

Laura Finley is Professor of Sociology at Florida Atlantic University, where she teaches a variety of sociology topics. She is the author of numerous journal articles about such topics as peace education, crime in the media, school violence, and privacy rights.