Ralph Nader Puts Out Call for Budding Sports Reformers
League of Fans Asks Fans and Athletes to Also Become Sports Citizens
Ralph Nader announced today that his League of Fans organization is starting a campaign to recruit fans, athletes and other sports stakeholders to join the League of Fans’ effort to make sports more just, ethical and safe.
“The number of important issues and abuses in sports has never been greater,” said Nader. “Win-at-all-costs and profit-at-all-costs policies and decisions are warping the original intent of sports and gradually sapping the joy from them. We need to come together and work to take our sports back from those who view them as just another way to make a lot of bucks.”
Ken Reed, League of Fans’ sports policy director, said that sports, at all levels, have become so commercialized and professionalized that those who love sports need to become engaged beyond being diehard fans and active participants.
“We can’t just blindly sanctify sports anymore and look at sports with the romantic eye of our youth,” said Reed. “Sport is more than just another industry, or form of entertainment. It’s a major cultural practice in this country that greatly impacts our way of life, from the little leagues to the professional leagues. As such, the multitude of social, cultural, economic, health and legal issues in sports deserve serious attention. Those of us who love sports — but hate what they are becoming — need to join together and reclaim sports from those who are abusing them with their ego-and-greed-based actions.”
League of Fans is asking sports fans and athletes – of all abilities — to get involved and work to mitigate the negatives in sports while enhancing the positives.
“America needs more sports reformers, activists and change agents,” said Reed. “All significant social change begins not with government, or corporations, but with citizens – we the people. You don’t need to have a lot of power, status, or money to make a difference in your community, or even nationally. Just a strong desire to make sports better for you, your family, your community, your country, and the next generation. What we’re calling for is citizenship through sports activism.”
The announcement came in conjunction with the release of the League of Fans’ twelfth and final report from its Sports Manifesto, “Calling All Sports Reformers.”
The 12 Manifesto reports contain ideas for ways sports fans, participants, and consumers can get involved in the sports reform movement. Other ideas can be found on the League of Fan’s website: leagueoffans.org.
Fans, athletes and other sports stakeholders are encouraged to send League of Fans their thoughts, concerns and ideas regarding any sports issue or problem, as soon as possible.
League of Fans
P.O. Box 19367
Washington DC 20036
Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #30 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The State of College Athletics with Dr. David Ridpath: Problems and Potential Solutions – Ridpath is a sports administration professor at Ohio University and a long-time member of The Drake Group, a college sports reform think tank.
Listen on Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Anchor and others.
Follow on Facebook: @SportsForumPodcast
More Episodes on Apple Podcasts; Spotify; Google Podcasts; PocketCasts; & Anchor
Episode #29 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The Honorable Tom McMillen Visits League of Fans’ Sports Forum – McMillen is a former All-American basketball player, Olympian, Rhodes Scholar and U.S. Congressman. We discuss the state of college athletics today.
Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world. We discuss problems in youth sports today.
Episode #27 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Kids’ Sports: How We Can Take Back the Game and Restore Quality Family Time In the Process – Linda Flanagan is author of “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports and Why It Matters.” We discuss how commercialized and professionalized youth sports are hurting kids and their families.
Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
Episode #25 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Physical Education Should Be a Critical Component of K-12 School Design – Michael Horn is co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- Reed Appears on Ralph Nader Radio Hour League of Fans’ sports policy director, Ken Reed, Ralph Nader and the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner discussed a variety of sports issues on Nader’s radio show as well as Reed’s updated book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan. Reed's book was released in paperback in February, and has a new introduction and several updated sections.
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
Books