Little League is as Corrupt as They Come
The IOC, NCAA, FIFA, and Little League - the four horsemen of Global Sports Corruption. While I watched this summer'sLittle League World Series I was continually reminded of how many people had volunteered their time to make the tournament so successful. From the umpires to the managers and even the concession stand workers, everyone 'working' at the LLWS seemed to be doing it pro bono. At first, I thought, "wow that's really impressive - these people give up their time and energy to help put on this tournament," but then I began to wonder if something more sinister was going on.
In Summer of 2013, ESPN signed an 8 year extension for the exclusive rights to the Little League World Series worth $60 million, or $7.5 million per year, according to John Ourand, a staff writer for Street & Smith's Sport's Business Journal. That deal is worth nearly double the $30.5 million extension signed in 2007. If ESPN is willing to dole out the cash, just to have the rights to the tournament, then you can imagine how lucrative the advertising revenue is. So my question is, where is all of that money going? Little League's lack of financial transparency is shocking. There is not profit sharing among the teams who compete in the Little League World Series and the tournament seems to pride itself on the fact that they don't pay any of their workers. It seems highly unlikely that the revenue from the ESPN deal is reinvested into fields and infrastructure as most, if not all, little league fields are funded through private donations or municipal tax dollars. So the short answer to the question of "where does the money trail end?" is into the pockets of the Little League big wigs.
Little League baseball has become big business as TV ratings and viewership have steadily grown since ESPN began covering the tournament in 1987. The LLWS regularly tops cable sports ratings during it's 2 week block in late August, even beating out it's Major League counterpart. The 2015 International Championship game recorded 4.5 million viewers and an average of 1.4 million viewers over the 33 game tournament. A record 5.5 million viewers tuned in for a 2014 game that featured Mo'ne Davis as the starting pitcher for her Taney, PA team.
Little League's profits may be minuscule in comparison to the NCAA, FIFA, or IOC, but what makes them truly evil is that their coffers are built on child labor. 11 and 12 year olds each Summer are unknowingly subjugated to months of unpaid labor, disguised as sport, in order to line the pockets of the Little League International Board of Directors. In short, Little League is exploiting children for profit.
The very premise of the NCAA's extensively documented legal battles is that they're essentially exploiting unpaid labor for profit. That college student athlete's deserve a cut of the astronomical revenues they they're generating for the organization. That, at the very least, student athletes should be entitled to full health benefits and protection of their rights. Don't Little League athletes deserve the same rights? If little Johnny Smith tears his 12 year old ACL rounding 3rd in the semi-finals who's going to foot the medical bill? I can guarantee Little League won't be signing any checks. The 11 and 12 year old athletes who make the journey to Williamsport each Summer are the life blood of that $60 million TV deal and they deserve a cut of the profit. I'm not saying they should unionize or deserve a big pay check, but a stipend to buy some gum balls would be a good start.
