Minorities, sports and getting started again

I'm aware of a study showing the shutdown of sports is taking some $12 billion out of the economy. And I love to listen to a baseball game as much as anyone.

But I guess I can't help but notice that the push to reopen professional sports -- at risk to the participants, even if fans are kept away -- is going to have a disproportionate impact.

Here's a 2018 report. First the MLB:

With people of color making up 42.5 percent of MLB players, the league has one of the best diversity scores among the four major sports. Last year saw the highest percentage of Latinos, 31.9 percent, in the last two decades.

The NBA:

With 80.7 percent of players being people of color, the NBA takes the lead among men’s sports for player diversity.

And the NFL:

The league is primarily composed of African-American and white players. The percentage of players of color has slowly risen to over 70 percent since 1997; the percentage of white players reached a new low, 27.7 percent.

The health burdens of the pandemic are falling disproportionately on minorities. Restarting sports over the next few months might be part of the same phenomenon.