Pro Sports – A Working Meritocracy

You can observe a lot by just watching – Yogi Berra

The four major professional sports leagues in the U.S. (Basketball, Baseball, Football, Hockey) are about to start play (or restart it) for the 2020 season. Since many of the players in these leagues have chosen to insert themselves into the racial justice debate that is a big part of the current news cycle, we thought it would be interesting to consider the context from which they are proceeding.

The first thing to note about each of these leagues is that they are nearly the purest form of meritocracy that exists in this country. Whether or not you become employed as a player in these leagues, and how much you earn, is directly related to your degree of talent and proficiency at playing the game compared to others. Few, if any, other factors matter. These leagues also represent one of the purest forms of capitalism. Team owners are in the game to earn money. They make heavy investments hiring good players so their team will win and draw more fans. Those happy fans then buy merchandise, buy tickets, and increase TV ratings, which in turn draws in more advertising dollars for the owner. It is a relatively simple concept.

One thing these leagues are not burdened with, even in today’s highly charged racial climate, is any criticism about the racial composition or amount of ethnic diversity within their ranks. There is no sense of unfairness regarding the demographic makeup of individual teams or the entire league (owners aside). Nor should there be. The whole point of existence of professional sports teams, for the players and their enthusiasts, is to perform and compete at the absolute highest level possible in order to draw and keep the rapt attention of adoring (and paying) fans. With that as the goal, populating a team with the best possible talent that can fit within the owner’s budget is all that matters.

It therefore makes perfect sense that there would be no accusations of racial or ethnic bias in team or league makeup. Nor would there be any need for personnel training on bias awareness and how to eliminate it as a factor in hiring. Talent is the only thing that matters in this context, and the players and fans all know it. This is why the players and fans accept and do not question the extremely disproportionate demographic makeup of each league. Here are the current percentages:

U.S. Population:

• 13% African American
• 19% Latino
• 60% White
• 6% Asian
• 2% Other

Baseball:

• 8% African American
• 32% Latino
• 58% White
• 2% Asian

Football:

• 70% African American
• 1% Latino
• 27% White
• 2% Asian

Basketball:

• 78% African American
• 2.5% Latino
• 19% White
• 0.5% Asian

Hockey:

• 4.5% African American
• 0.5% Latino
• 93% White
• 1% Asian
• 1% Other

There is clearly no consistency in these percentages. Nor do any of them come remotely close to matching the overall demographics of the U.S. population. The fans of all these sports accept this fact as fair and don’t protest, panic, boycott, or otherwise complain about it.  As you will notice, these numbers could, in theory, make it very easy for each racial group to make a claim of unfairness. Just pick your sport.

So why aren’t claims of racial bias and discrimination in the hiring practices of these professional sports making the headlines every day? It’s because deep down, everyone knows that if the general demographic distribution of the U.S. population were forced upon these sports leagues, the level of performance and competition would drop dramatically, the games wouldn’t be as exciting, and many of the best players would be left out. That’s not what most of us want to see when watching our favorite sports teams. Try convincing anyone that reducing the percentage of African Americans in the NBA (just under 80% currently) down to their percentage in the overall U.S. population (13%) would enhance pro basketball and increase the level of competition. Without question, it would do exactly the opposite.

The racial distribution in pro sports represents what happens when a meritocracy is allowed to seek its own demographic level without any unnatural forces trying to impose a correct outcome. The wildly disproportionate numbers in these sports may be due to the superior physical skill and ability of one group over the others. It may also be due to real physiological differences between the groups. Or, it may not. It doesn’t matter. The paradox in these percentages is the best indicator of all that racism or racial bias plays no role in the choice of the best players to be in the league. The only thing that matters is that the highest level of performance and competition is maintained. The outcome of this purely merit based system is that the skill level is constantly evolving to greater heights. It works.

So why are some people so absolutely and dogmatically insistent that other endeavors in our society cannot be allowed to operate this same way? Businesses of all sorts, universities, state and federal government offices, all have programs and hiring practices that often bend over backwards in order to achieve a predetermined demographic distribution in their respective workforces or student bodies. One of the main reasons for doing this is supposedly to combat the assumed existence of systemic racism and an implied built-in racial bias in white people. A workforce having a racial distribution mirroring the country at large is viewed as virtuous, un-biased, and anti-racist. Why is this not the case in pro sports?

For a host of reasons having nothing to do with racism, the natural demographic outcome that would result if businesses, universities, and government workforces were to seek their own level might be just as wildly inconsistent as in pro sports. At any given moment, the best talent pool for a particular occupation might be dominated by one group, which could change over time. This should not be viewed negatively. In the 1980’s, who would have guessed that the percentage of Latinos in major league baseball would triple from 10% to over 30% by 2020, displacing both Whites and African Americans?

As we have expressed in previous articles, we don’t believe there is systemic racism in this country. Under that premise, to insist on forcing a particular racial distribution within a workforce, even if it seeks to mirror that of the general population, limits the performance potential of that workforce. Here’s why we think that’s the case:

• Children of previous generations do not necessarily have the same interests or talents as their parents. Therefore, it stands to reason that the demographic distribution of talents and interests can shift across the racial spectrum from one generation to another.
• Ongoing technological innovation provides new tools and opportunities to children of all races that were unavailable to their parents. It is impossible to know in advance if one racial group will have a greater interest than others in these breakthroughs or more quickly adapt to them.
• The population now includes a much larger percentage of mixed-race people than it ever has. Because of this, one racial group demonstrating more talent or adaptability than others at certain vocations is becoming less impactful to workforce demographics. This is because of the greater complexity involved in, and lesser need for, discovering the true demographic makeup of a mixed-race population. If someday, as is quite likely, we are all of mixed race, none of this would matter anymore.

Pro sports provides a shining example of a highly successful enterprise where a person’s talents and abilities are held in the highest regard, unencumbered by race, bias or anything else. We see no reason why this model can’t be applied to the rest of society. Let the demographic chips fall where they may.