Sunday's edition of ESPN's "OTL" featured a roundtable of pro sports union leaders discussing Martin Luther King Jr. and how his legacy impacts sports today. MLBPA Exec Dir Tony Clark said of diversity in sports, “It's come a long way, but as I'm expecting a lot of the tone to be today, there's still a lot more that needs to be done. Our foundations have been laid by African-American players." NBPA Exec Dir Michele Roberts said the "notion of a black coach, of a black GM, you can't not be proud of that. We need to do a lot more though in the ownership ranks. That's where I think there's substantial room for improvement." NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith added, "All of those things changed because of the same reasons that the civil rights movement was so successful: The ability to organize, the ability for unions to stand up and collectively bargain." Clark said of hiring African-Americans for positions in sports, "At the end of the day, I refuse to believe there aren't more qualified African-Americans, women, people of color in general, for a role from the janitor all the way up to the owner." Smith: "We understand the role of sports, but we also understand that we are, in some respects, in an entertainment industry. I think if we want to make systemic changes to make sports better, it means that we have to get away from just trying to make it better entertainment."
LARGER ROLE IN SOCIETY: Roberts said of NBA players protesting police-related deaths in N.Y. and Ferguson, Mo., "If anyone has any question about the fact that our players have an impact on people's thinking, there's no question in my mind those were among the prouder moments I've had as Executive Director." Smith said that he received a letter from the National Fraternal Order of Police regarding protests by NFL players after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson. Smith: "I take issue with it because we want our players to be socially conscious and aware. So when I flew with some of the St. Louis Rams’ players to a town that had been torn apart by a tornado, they went because they are socially conscious and aware. Nobody wrote me a letter complaining about that. So when the same players from the same team are socially conscious and aware of what’s going on in another neighborhood, suddenly they're supposed to shut up and play? No" ("OTL," ESPN, 1/18).
