How COVID-19 Exposed Bias in Major Sports Leagues

Professional sports leagues such as the NBA, NFL, and MLB have been a huge comfort during these unprecedented times. However, the bias within them has been debunked.

Sports leagues have always been a huge source of entertainment for people in the US and millions more abroad. But these leagues are also businesses, therefore they are a source of income for those who play for them, take part in them, and keep it running like a company, which it basically is. The internal operations have always been discreet, with most activity within teams undisclosed to the public. But now, due to the pandemic, these “activities” are weekly shown. And with that, the ability for leagues to hide bias is nonexistent.

Every league has a handful of those teams. The ones that are always in the public eye, always scrutinized, and always popular. In the NFL, these are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Baltimore Ravens, and the infamous Dallas Cowboys.

In the NBA, these teams are the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Philadelphia 76ers , and the Milwaukee Bucks. I most likely am missing a few, but these are the cream of the crop, meaning they compete on National Television every few days and either because of their popular players ( i.e Lebron James, Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Giannis Antetokounmpo ), success, or shortcomings, are always in the eye of the public.

Those teams are also the favorites of the league, due to most of the NFL/NBA’s income coming from fans going to those clubs’ games or viewership on television. Though they deny it, league’s are biased toward them, however much they insist that they are each models of impartiality.

A great example is the 3 day stoppage of play in the NBA Disney bubble due to racial inequality around the country. It was said, in the players’ meeting, the two biggest teams in terms of media coverage, the Lakers and Clippers wanted to forfeit to leave and help. Those few days were a nightmare for the basketball league because without those two teams ( both league favorites ), viewership, which had already plummeted due to outrage against the incorporation of the BLM movement into games, would have hit rock bottom. The league rushed to salvage that and in the end, the Lakers and Clippers stayed, with the Lakers going on to win the championship.

If a team on the lower end of the spectrum, such as the Orlando Magic ( 8th of 8 playoff teams ) would’ve wanted to forfeit, it is likely that the NBA would’ve entertained that notion. Though it is hypothetical, the COVID-19 outbreak and other issues, such as the Black Lives Matter movement, would make the scenario highly plausible.

Another, possibly more clear instance that the coronavirus exposed bias was recent, around Thanksgivinng. Among the 3 NFL games to be played on Thanksgiving Day, the most anticipated was the Ravens vs Steelers matchup. However, the reigning MVP ( Most Valuable Player ) QB Lamar Jackson contracted COVID-19. As a result, the league moved the game from that Thursday to the next Wednesday, resulting in the longest NFL week in history.

This delay wouldn’t have been as controversial if not for the Denver Broncos’ situation: the Broncos had no player at the QB position due to all contracting the coronavirus a day prior to their scheduled match. The game was not postponed, however, and the club was forced to bring in a person who was a salesman just 4 weeks before. Denver, at 4–7 at the time, had no chance at playoff contention, but the way that the NFL handled their case was unproportionate to the handling of Baltimore’s.

The league’s defense was that the Colorado-based club was responsible for their consequences as a result of recklessness and not following social distancing. Though, one could argue that a team like Baltimore, who had 18 players on the COVID list, including 7 Pro Bowlers, that the Ravens too were guilty of the same crime. In this scenario, the “who”, which was 1 highly scrutinized, highly popular quarterback on a highly popular team to 3 vital members of a bad, unpopular team. Widespread outrage was a result, and it was right to be.

Bias has always been in sports and now, really is a part of sports leagues itself, but the coronavirus has brought it to the forefront and there it should be.