Discrimination in Sports

Abstract

From explicit bans on Black players in Major League Baseball and female players in England’s Football Association to contemporary debates over pay equity in women’s sports, the history of sports contains repeated evidence of discrimination. My dissertation provides an empirical analysis of discrimination in sports. I find unique evidence of sex discrimination even in the complete absence of any potential productivity differences. I examine whether Title IX compliance can be achieved through informal mechanisms such as public scrutiny, and find that formal enforcement mechanisms are necessary. Athletic scholarships offer substantial benefits, but unrecognized are the potential unintended consequences. I find negative effects of athletic scholarships on health and academic paths. Chapter I conducts a first-of-its-kind experiment that swaps out only the gender identity of athletes, leaving all performance-related characteristics identical. Experimental subjects watched one of two soccer highlight videos that differed only in the perceived sex of the athletes. Male subjects were willing to pay $20 more on average to attend a game when the players in the video appeared to be male. After eliminating possible nondiscriminatory reasons for preferring men’s sporting events, this $20 difference provides strong evidence of gender discrimination. Sex discrimination in access to sports opportunities in educational institutions is prohibited by Title IX, but compliance is weak. Chapter II examines whether compliance improves among institutions that shifted to a higher athletic division or conference, as they should experience more scrutiny. My findings are mixed and indicate that stronger enforcement mechanisms are needed to achieve compliance. Chapter III analyzes whether athletic scholarship reliance to afford college differs by race and whether health and academic outcomes differ based on reliance on athletic scholarships. I find no racial differences in reliance on athletic scholarship to afford college, but academic and health outcomes are worse for student athletes who relied on athletic scholarships. Overall, my dissertation provides evidence that discrimination in sports persists today and identifies opportunities for policy interventions to remedy discrimination in sports.