Dave Zirin: It's Time for a SPORTS FANS COALITION

It´s Time for a SPORTS FANS COALITION

by Dave Zirin

 

 

I have made the decision to help launch a new organization called the Sports Fans Coalition. And I was inspired to do it by none other than Mike Lupica.

 

With all due respect to Mr. Lupica, the New York Daily News sportswriter motivated me by writing the most wrongheaded statement ever written by any sports journalist in history. He wrote, "You are owed nothing in sports, no matter how much you care. You are owed nothing no matter how long you´ve rooted or how much you´ve paid to do it."

 

This is so flagrantly wrong. Whether we consider ourselves sports fans or not, the athletic industrial complex owes us plenty. More than anything else, we are owed a say in how the business of sports is run.

 

We aren´t owed this because we cheer ourselves hoarse. We haven´t earned it because we pass the rooting tradition down to our children like a rare heirloom. We don´t deserve it because it would be a kind and respectful act for sports owners to bend an ear toward our concerns. We are owed it because team owners have had their hands in our pockets for far too long. By calling for and receiving public funds and taxpayer dollars, the owners of professional sports teams have an obligation to hear what we have to say....

Read the rest at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-zirin/its-time-for-a-sports-fan_b_353218.html  

 

For more information, check out sportsfanscoalition.com.