Name: Harvey Van Blerkom

Social Justice Group: Sports and Equality

Date of Fieldwork: February 13, 2018

Name of Organization: ESPN

Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Max Kellerman, First Take Analyst/Host

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did:

We met with Max Kellerman at Le Pain Quotidien to discuss what he knew about the issues in the world of sport. He said that ESPN is very good at being open to new ideas in sports. They are very careful about what they do and have started inter-company programs to prevent it. He also told us that ESPN does a good job for themselves, but can’t do too much for disrespectful fans.

What I learned:

I learned that the issue of the women getting paid less than men because of a cycle. They get less media coverage, so they get paid less. They get paid less because the TV networks don’t pay the teams.

What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:

Through the fieldwork, I learned a lot about how the treatment of women in sports came to be. Max Kellerman’s standpoint was that because it has been proven that fewer women are watching sports, so as I said before, the women’s teams don’t get as much revenue as the men’s teams do. I also learned that in order to change this, everyone needs be a part of the change. If gay sports players aren’t represented because of homophobic people, the homophobic people are the ones who need to change, not the gay people.