By Ken Reed
I’d hate to be a college athletic director, or football or basketball coach, right now. Between name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation and the transfer portal it’s pretty much chaos in College SportsWorld today.
“We have an ecosystem where anything goes,” says Darren Heitner, a sports attorney based in Florida. […]
By Ken Reed
I’m going to stray a bit today from pure sports policy issues to address a hot baseball topic: Is the Los Angeles Dodgers big offseason good or bad for baseball?
After the Dodgers landed Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Teoscar Hernandez this past offseason to go with superstars Mookie Betts […]
The rise of overbearing parents and coaches in youth sports is a growing concern
By Ken Reed
Originally published by Troy Media
I was at a sixth-grade girls’ basketball game last weekend. I saw a lot of adults yelling and screaming at both referees and 11-and-12-year-old kids. Let’s just say a lot of what […]
By Ken Reed
The newest inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York are Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer and Todd Helton. Besides being outstanding baseball players, they have one other thing in common: they were all terrific multi-sport athletes growing up.
Beltre’s best sports were tennis and basketball as a youth in […]
“Nothing, according to the research, predicts excellence like finding the task fun.” — Alfie Kohn, sociologist
By Ken Reed
I was at a 6th grade girls basketball game last weekend. I saw a lot of adults yelling and screaming at both referees and 11-and-12-year-old kids. Let’s just say a lot of what I saw and […]
Meanwhile, the National Labor Relations Board Holds Hearings on Whether or Not College Athletes Should Be Considered Employees
By Ken Reed
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee Chair Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) yesterday announced a subcommittee legislative hearing titled “NIL Playbook: Proposal to Protect Student […]
The sports media has to do better to address major issues within the world of sports
By Ken Reed
Originally published by Troy Media
For the most part, the sports media is falling dreadfully short when it comes to examining major sports problems, why they exist, and what can be done to mitigate them […]
By James F. Humphreys
“Every aspect of each sport should be reconsidered with an eye towards brain trauma.” — Chris Nowinski, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Center at Boston University.
Ken Reed has written a clear, and sometimes provocative, analysis of what is wrong with sports in present day America and, what’s more, has provided a […]
By Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
For the most part, the sports media is falling dreadfully short when it comes to the in-depth examination of our major sports problems, why they exist, and what can be done to mitigate them or prevent them.
Even when key issues and scandals are identified […]
By Ken Reed
Sports gambling companies, like Fan Duel, Draft Kings, and Bet MGM, are increasingly promoting in-game wagering via mobile apps. They know in-game wagers are usually impulse bets because there isn’t time to give these types of wagers careful consideration.
These companies are sending push notifications to bettors encouraging in-game bets not […]
Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #33 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Ken Reed Announces His Retirement and Chats With League of Fans Founder Ralph Nader – Ken and Ralph talk about the history of League of Fans and the reasons it was created. They then move into a discussion of a variety of contemporary sports issues that League of Fans has been working on in recent years. Ken and Ralph end by talking about the need for sports fans, athletes, and other sports stakeholders to get involved in the sports reform movement and be activists and change agents on issues important to them, whether that be at the local, state, or national level.
Listen on Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and others.
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More Episodes on Apple Podcasts; Spotify and others.
Episode #32 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Prolific Author Joe Posnanski Joins the Show – Posnanski is one of America’s best sportswriters and has twice been named the best sports columnist in America by the Associated Press Sports Editors. We chat about his new book, “Why We Love Baseball,” his new Substack newsletter called Joe Blogs.
Episode #31 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Foul Ball Safety Is Still an Important Issue at Ballparks – Our guests are Jordan Skopp, founder of FoulBallSafety.com and Greg Wilkowski, a Chicago based attorney. We discuss the historical problem of foul balls injuring fans and why some teams are still hesitant to put up protective netting in some minor league and college baseball parks.
Episode #30 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The State of College Athletics with Dr. David Ridpath: Problems and Potential Solutions – Ridpath is a sports administration professor at Ohio University and a member of The Drake Group, a college sports reform think tank.
Episode #29 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The Honorable Tom McMillen Visits League of Fans’ Sports Forum – McMillen is a former All-American basketball player, Olympian, Rhodes Scholar and U.S. Congressman. We discuss the state of college athletics today.
Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world. We discuss problems in youth sports today.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- Reed Appears on Ralph Nader Radio Hour League of Fans’ sports policy director, Ken Reed, Ralph Nader and the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner discussed a variety of sports issues on Nader’s radio show as well as Reed’s updated book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan. Reed's book was released in paperback in February, and has a new introduction and several updated sections.
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
Books
