Class Relations and Who Has Power
in Sports
Sport decisions are made at many levels, from neighborhood youth sport programs to the International
Olympic Committee. Although scholars who study sports in society are concerned with identifying those
who exercise power in various settings, they usually do not develop lists that rank powerful people in
sports. But such lists do exist. For example, The Sporting News, a national weekly newspaper in the United
States, has published a list of “the 100 most powerful people in sports” every year since 1991. The list
appears at the end of the calendar year, and it is based on the editors’ estimates of which people during the
past year had the greatest influence on elite-level sports in the United States. Although people from outside
the United States may be included, their rank generally reflects how much influence they have on what
happened in the world of sports from a U.S. perspective.
Table 10.1 identi•es the Sporting News “Top 25” people from the list for 2002 and indicates their
ranks in 1990 and 1996. The “Top 100” for 2002 identified 116 people. This is because two or more people
were sometimes ranked together as decision-making partners in an organization or business arena. The
“Top 100” included 3 women, 6 people of color, and 109 white men. The “Top 25” actually lists 36 people,
including three men identified as “emperors” because they have vast power over sports around the world.
Of these 36, there are 8 executives from media organizations, 8 from sponsoring corporations; 2 from sport
management companies; 16 from sport organizations, including professional sport leagues and college
athletic conferences; and 1 athlete. Thirty-four of the thirty-six, or 94 percent, are white men. Tiger Woods,
ranked 25th is the only person of color in the Top 25, and Dawn Hudson, President of Pepsi-Cola North
America, is the only woman in the Top 25. The 16 white men on the list who control professional and
college sport organizations have power partly because they deal with the white men who control media
organizations that broadcast games and pay them rights fees. It is clear that in addition to structural factors,
such as access to wealth and control of major corporations, gender and racial ideology also influence who
has power in sports.
It is interesting that there were no coaches on the list, and only 9 athletes. Few athletes, even when
they are highly paid, have influence in sports that matches the influence of people who control sport
organizations or control multibillion-dollar corporations, especially media corporations. As you will read in
chapter 16, celebrity athletes are visible and have market status, but they have little power because their
images and personas are heavily controlled by people who pay them and cover them in the media.
Table 10.1 The Top 25 in The Sporting News’ “Power 100,” 2002*
Rank
Name
**
**
**
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
13
14
15
16
Michael Eisner
Chairman/CEO
Rupert Murdoch Chairman/CEO
Ed Snider
Chairman
George Steinbrenner Owner
Paul Tagliabue
Commissioner
Bud Selig
Commissioner
George Bodenheimer President
David Stern
Commissioner
Phil Knight
Chairman/CEO
Mark McCormack Chairman & CEO
David Hill
Chairman/CEO
August Busch IV & President
Tony Ponturo
V.P., Marketing
Gary Bettman
Commissioner
Bill France, Jr.
Chairman
Dawn Hudson & President
John Galloway
Director, Marketing
Ron Askew
Director, Marketing
Roger Goodell
Exec. V.P./COO
Mark Shapiro
Exec. V.P.
David Baxter
President
Bruce McMillan Exec. V.P.
17
Myles Brand
10
11
12
Position
President/CEO
Organization
1990 Rank
Disney
NR^
News Corp
NR
Comcast Spectacor
NR
New York Yankees
NR
National Football League
3
Major League Baseball
11
ESPN
NR
National Basketball Assn.
5
Nike
46
Int. Mgmt. Group (IMG)
6
Fox Sports Television Group NR
Anheuser-Busch
NR
Anheuser-Busch
NR
National Hockey League
NR
NASCAR & ISC
40
Pepsi-Cola North America NR
Pepsi-Cola North America NR
Coors Brewing Co.
NR
National Football League
NR
ESPN
NR
Reebok’s OnField
NR
Electronic Arts
NR
(video games)
NCAA
NR
1996Rank
5
6
NR
NR
16
22
NR
8
2
4
30
NR
26
18
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Ed Goren
President
Jim Delany
Commissioner
Thomas Hansen
Commissioner
Mike Slive
Commissioner
John Swofford
Commissioner
Michael Tranghese Commissioner
Kevin Weiberg
Commissioner
Bob DuPuy
President/COO
Mike Helton
President
Robert Kain
President/CEO
David D’Alessandro Chairman/CEO
Mark Parker
President
Tiger Woods
Pro Golfer
Fox Sports
NR
Big Ten Conference
NR
Pac-10 Conference
NR
Southeastern Conference
NR
Atlantic Athletic Conference NR
Big East Conference
NR
Big 12 Conference
NR
Major League Baseball
NR
NASCAR
NR
IMG Americas (sport mgmt.) NR
John Hancock Financial Serv. NR
Nike Brand
NR
Professional Golf Association NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
47
NR
35
*The list ranks the 100 most powerful people in sports during the preceding year. This is done every year. I use rankings
published as of January 7, 1991; January 1, 1996; January 8, 2003 in The Sporting News.
**These three people were not ranked, but were described as “Emperors” controlling broadcast and cable television empires as
well as teams. Their power transcends the everyday decisions in sports, so they were included as a special part of the list, but
they were not ranked.
^ NR means “not ranked”
We can see how power operates in sports by taking a closer look at the three men who were
identified as “Emperors” by The Sporting News: Michael Eisner, Rupert Murdoch, and Ed Snider.
Michael Eisner is the Chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, a corporation that owns
ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Disney channels, other ESPN channels in nearly 150 countries, ESPN The Magazine,
ESPN Radio, a portion of NFL.com, the Mighty Ducks in the NHL, the Anaheim Angels in MLB, and
ESPN Zone (entertainment park), in addition to all the other Disney holdings. When the Anaheim Angels
won the 2002 World Series, they had their victory parade in Disneyland with Mickey Mouse sitting next to
the coach and Most Valuable Player in the lead parade float decorated in a Disney theme. Of course, it was
covered by ABC News and ESPN. The decisions made by Eisner and the executives who work for him
influence what millions of children see in cartoons and films, and what adults see in news and sports
coverage. Such power has an impact on what we see, the narratives we hear, and how we become sport
spectators and fans.
Rupert Murdoch is the Chairman and CEO of NewsCorp, a media corporation that owns Fox,
(Fox) FX, Fox News, Television Games Network (horseracing and betting), a portion of the Golf Channel,
Fox international sports channels, along with cable, broadcast, and satellite systems and channels in Asia,
Europe, Latin America, and Australia. Murdoch’s company decides what soccer games will be seen by
billions of people in more than 140 nations. The company also owns major newspapers around the world. It
owns sport teams, including the New York Knicks (NBA), the New York Rangers (NHL), the New York
Liberty (MSL), the Los Angeles Dodgers (MLB), and a number of minor league teams in various sports. It
also owns Madison Square Garden, Dodger Stadium, Dodgertown, and the National Rugby League. Fox
has television contracts with all the major professional men’s sports in the United States, and it has fueled
the national popularity of NASCAR by covering its stockcar racing circuit. NewsCorp also has working
relationships with Disney. Murdoch’s decisions influence what sports become popular and what sports
don’t receive media attention. His company makes things happen in sports, and it keeps things from
happening in sports.
Ed Snider is Chairman of Comcast Spectacor, a sports and entertainment company that is an
emerging power in sports. It owns a major cable system, the Philadelphia Flyers (NHL), the Philadelphia
76ers (NBA), and many minor league baseball teams. It owns Ovation Food Services, and it manages many
of the new multimillion dollar sport arenas that pay for those services. The arenas, often built with public
money, serve as massive profit machines for those who manage them and own the teams that use them.
This is discussed further in the box, “Public Money and Private Profits” on page 336–337. Comcast
Spectacor also owns arenas, including First Union Spectrum and First Union Center in Philadelphia. Ed
Snider’s power is enhanced because subsidiaries of Comcast Spectacor have close working relationships
with Disney and NewsCorp (see Harvey, Law, and Cantelon, 2001, and the January 7/14, 2002 issue of The
Nation, which is devoted to media power). Finally, The Sporting News excluded Paul Allen from its Top
100 list. Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and current owner of much Microsoft stock, might have been the
fourth “Emperor” in the list except that he owns The Sporting News. The editors of the magazine explain
that it might be a conflict of interest if they listed him and outlined all the power he has in sports. This
means that issues of power even influence lists about power in sports!
Descriptions of others on the list (www. sportingnews.com/features/powerful2002/index.html)
clearly indicate that economic wealth and power matter in sports. Those who control economic resources
around the world make decisions that influence the visibility of sports, the ways in which they are
organized, and the images and meanings associated with them. Although these decisions do not ignore the
interests of people around the world, their main purpose is to establish and expand the power and
profitability of the organizations represented by the decision makers. Therefore, sports tend to revolve
around the meanings and orientations valued by those with economic resources and power while providing
enjoyable and entertaining experiences to people around the world.
This is why some critical theorists have described sports as cultural vehicles for developing
ideological “outposts” in the minds of people around the world: when transnational corporations become
the primary providers of popular pleasure and entertainment, they can use pleasure and entertainment to
deliver many other messages about what should be important in people’s lives. This is a clear manifestation
of class relations at work.