A League of Fans Special Report
May 2019
Baseball has an injury problem. It’s a big one. And an expensive one.
As but one recent example – albeit an extreme one – the New York Yankees had 13 players on the injured list by the end of April, just one month into […]
By Ken Reed
A girl accepts a scholarship offer to play soccer for the University of North Carolina when she’s 11 years old.
Two years later, the same girl, Olivia Moultrie, gives up her college eligibility by signing a multiyear endorsement deal with Nike. She begins her pro career at age 13.
[…]
By Ken Reed
Adults like competitive sports in general, and winning in particular. When it comes to youth sports, they like creating events that look similar to the pro and big-time college games they enjoy watching.
Kids, on the other hand, want to have fun playing with their friends and learning new skills without constantly […]
By Ken Reed
According to Oliver Luck and Brian Hainline, a couple NCAA executives, the way this country develops young athletes is deeply flawed. In fact, they call it “broken.”
Luck and Hainline cite single sport specialization — often pre-puberty — as one youth sports trend in the United States that is particularly troubling.
[…]
By Ken Reed
Get this: Some parents are spending more than 10% of their family income on youth sports expenses like registration fees, travel, camps, personal trainers, equipment, etc., according to a recent Time article.
The parents of one 10-year-old baseball player say they’ve already spent $30,000 on his baseball career. Another dad says […]
By Ken Reed
The Huffington Post
December 30, 2016
Kids love the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry. They are mesmerized by his skills and they want to grow up and “Be like Steph.”
Youth coaches — most notably club sports coaches — are well aware of Curry’s popularity with young athletes. And […]
By Ken Reed
Kids love the Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry. They are mesmerized by his skills and they want to grow up and be like him.
Youth and high school coaches, most notably club sports coaches, are well aware of Curry’s popularity with young athletes. And too many of these coaches utilize Curry’s popularity […]
By Ken Reed
It was refreshing to read this week about two highly successful high school football coaches promoting the positives of multi-sport participation on the part of their athletes and how they detest the recent trend toward one-sport specialization at the youth and high school levels.
Rod Sherman of Valor Christian High School […]
By Ken Reed
The Huffington Post
October 26, 2015
The latest from youth sports world: A youth football league was forced to cancel its season due to violent threats against league officials.
Nice. It’s always great when adults provide positive role models for 12-year-olds.
Earlier this month, ammunition shells were placed […]
By Ken Reed
The latest from youth sports world: A youth football league was forced to cancel its season due to violent threats against league officials.
Nice. It’s always great when adults provide such good role models for 12-year-olds.
Earlier this month ammunition shells were placed at the front gate to the youth football […]
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.
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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