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Economic Distortions: Infringing Human Rights in Sport

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An Economic Roadmap to the Dark Side of Sport

Part of the book series: Palgrave Pivots in Sports Economics ((PAPISE))

Abstract

Economic distortions refer to those economic practices in the sports industry which, at the end of the day, infringe human rights of either some sport participants or workers of this industry. This chapter first covers the widespread economic literature about economic discrimination in sport, starting with different forms of gender discrimination. Then comes racial and ethnic discrimination, which extends to national origin and mother language (e.g. French Canadians) distinguishing between entry discrimination, consumer (fan) discrimination and labour market and wage discrimination. Human rights are also infringed with teenage player transfers below the age of 18 often dubbed as child snatching (a so-called Coubertobin tax is suggested here) and child and migrant labour in the sports industry.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Goff reminds both the “black power salute” of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the winners of the 200 metres in the 1968 Olympics, and nearly 50 years later, Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers, taking a seat during the playing of the national anthem before a preseason game and wound up on the cover of Time.

  2. 2.

    In 2010, when the Texas Rangers went bankrupt with a debt facing 30 unsecured creditors, the team owed $25 million to Alex Rodriguez, the highest salary player in the league.

  3. 3.

    These data published in the press are to be taken with caution.

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  1. Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne, University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France

    Wladimir Andreff

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  1. Wladimir Andreff
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Andreff, W. (2019). Economic Distortions: Infringing Human Rights in Sport. In: An Economic Roadmap to the Dark Side of Sport. Palgrave Pivots in Sports Economics. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28456-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28456-5_4

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