Sports & Politics Intersect: USAG officials tumble as Nassar victims fight to hold those in power accountable

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• WWE not pulling Crown Jewel from Saudi Arabia - With the turmoil surrounding the reported death of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, multiple corporations have withdrawn business from Saudi Arabia. However, World Wrestling Entertainment will continue to host its Crown Jewel event there in early November, though it’s not exactly making mention of where it’s being held. A major — if not the only — reason is financial: WWE, which signed a 10-year pact with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, could lose upward of $16 million by pulling the event. As if the deal hasn’t already been controversial enough, some of its performers (anonymously) aren’t comfortable with heading to Saudi Arabia, considering the nation’s human rights issues.

• Councilman holds expensive dinner, quits for sports gig - Los Angeles City Councilman Mitchell Englander announced that he was leaving his post to run the government affairs office of sports and entertainment company Oak View Group, which currently is working to bring an NHL team to Seattle. The problem? He held an $800-per-person fundraiser for his officeholder account the night before. 

• Shad Khan withdraws bid for Wembley Stadium - Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan pulled his bid to purchase Wembley Stadium in London, raising questions about both the NFL’s long-term viability in the United Kingdom as well as his own franchise. England’s Football Association will not sell the venue, but there’s a call for the Premier League to step up and provide funding for “neglected” grassroots soccer that would have been given if Wembley was sold to Khan.

• Chargers’ woes in L.A. impacting Inglewood stadium hopes - The Los Angeles area lived without the NFL for 20 years until the Rams returned in 2016, followed by the Chargers last year. The city’s apparent apathy for the Chargers (and the Rams, the NFL’s best team, to an extent) has been so evident that the league is scaling back revenue projections for when both teams move into their shared Inglewood stadium in 2020. Commissioner Roger Goodell, however, is downplaying the reports. 

• Nike’s influence on Oregon deeper than just uniforms - No school has a relationship with an apparel company like the University of Oregon shares with Nike, a relationship profiled in a new book about corporate interests in higher education. The bond, unfortunately, is rooted as much in a personal betrayal as it is in boardroom dealings.

• G League to offer six-figure salaries to elite prospects - As an alternative to the one-and-done route that has impacted both the NCAA and NBA, the G League, the NBA’s developmental circuit, will offer $125,000 to elite pro prospects. This has been praised and criticized across the basketball landscape, but it has also opened eyes to a different issue — those unproven players would make more in the minors than the best of the best in the WNBA make per year.

• How are sports leagues impacted by Canada’s legalization of marijuana? - With marijuana legalized for recreational use in Canada, there are legal questions in search of answers for the NHL, NBA and Major League Baseball since each league has franchises up north.

• Magic owners donate to DeSantis campaign  - Four members of the DeVos family, which owns the Orlando Magic, donated $200,000 to the gubernatorial campaign for Republican candidate Ron DeSantis. The family is one of the largest donors to conservative causes and was a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump.

• Doing nothing may have helped NFL with player protests - Amid all the stumbling in its handling of the player protests during the national anthem, including a controversial measure to compel players on the sideline to stand or face fines, the NFL seemingly backed into its most effective solution: doing absolutely nothing.

• Angels opt out of stadium lease, but not leaving - The Angels that are in Anaheim (not Los Angeles) opted out of their lease for Angels Stadium , yet the opt-out is a step in negotiating a new lease with the city. Meanwhile, the price for the new, retractable roof stadium for the division rival Texas Rangers rose by $200 million to $1.2 billion. While the taxpayer portion of the costs won’t go up, the money will likely come from ticket buyers.

• NHL helped raise pay for USA women’s hockey  - NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly recently told the media that the league helped “bridge a gap” between USA Hockey and players of its women’s national team by agreeing to fund the organization’s four-year labor deal. As for pro women’s hockey, it appears that a merger between the two major North American leagues is inevitable, according to NWHL commissioner Dani Rylan.

• Leroux reveals details of miscarriage - On Twitter, U.S. women’s soccer star Sydney Leroux shared her story of a heartbreaking miscarriage — something that affects one-in-four women — over the summer as part of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. 

• MLS negotiating sale of Crew SC to Jimmy Haslam - As the future home of Columbus Crew SC remains in dispute, Major League Soccer is talking with Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam and the Columbus-based Edwards family about purchasing the franchise and keeping it in Ohio. A founding member of MLS in 1996, Anthony Precourt bought the franchise in 2013 with designs of relocating it to Austin, Texas.

• Qatar/UAE dispute makes way to youth soccer - There has been a diplomatic crisis between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates since 2017, and the tension may have reached the pitch during the AFC Under 19 Championship opener between the two nations.

• New Jersey sees lift in betting thanks to football - As the state that pushed the Supreme Court to lift the federal ban on legalized sports betting, New Jersey stood to greatly benefit from the ruling. Early reports have shown how much action the Garden State has picked up since the start of football season — about $184 million worth. (Of course, if you bet on the Giants winning games, seek help immediately.) 

• Seahawks, Blazers mourn the passing of Paul Allen  - Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen passed away from complications of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of 65. Allen simultaneously owned the Portland Trail Blazers, Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Sounders. NFL owners said that while the Seahawks will likely be sold, the franchise will remain in Seattle.

This week in sports and politics history: The most memorable protest in sports history still resonates 50 years later.

“We wanted to do something profound but nonviolent that would radiate throughout society. … Fifty years later, it seems we hit the nail on the head.” - Former U.S. Olympic sprinter John Carlos to the San Francisco Chronicle about the iconic black-gloved, fists-raised protest by teammate Tommie Smith and himself at the 1968 Summer Games. 

John Carlos had a pretty good idea that day, Oct. 16, 1968, his life, and that of U.S. Olympic teammate Tommie Smith, would change. When Carlos and Smith joined together to deliver the most recognizable image of protest in sports, and perhaps world, history, they knew their actions at the 1968 Olympics would have a lasting effect. 

Fifty years later, he was right.

The golden anniversary of Smith and Carlos’ moment on the medal podium during the playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner” following the 200 meters — which Smith won and Carlos finished third — has been celebrated in earnest this week. The pair were on hand at San Jose State University — where they were members of the track and field team and a statue of the protest stands — to commemorate the moment. 

A half-century later, the protest, inspired by famed sociologist and activist Harry Edwards, the founder of the oft-forgotten Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR), is felt even more profoundly than it was that day in Mexico City. While other black U.S. athletes talked of boycotting the ‘68 games as a show of support for Edwards and the OPHR, which Carlos and Smith were both associated, the duo went to the Games with a purpose, or purposes. They competed for legendary coach Stan Wright — a vocal opponent of Edwards — then became an unforgettable piece of world history.

According to Carlos and Smith, their protest had more to do with racial and economic injustice than Black Power. Regardless of the reason at the time, their premeditated action earned both a suspension from the U.S. team, strong-armed by the International Olympic Committee.  

But back then, even some of their white U.S. teammates supported their stance. “It was a time where you had to get involved. Or at least I felt that, or we felt that,” Andrew Larkin, a Harvard rower and member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic team, told WGBH in Boston. “It’s a little silly to be playing around in boats when the whole world is going to hell.” 

That moment has paved the way for many forms of subtle protest in sports, none more prominent than Colin Kaepernick peacefully acting out against issues such as social injustice, human rights and poverty. While such action as an NFL player kneeling during the national anthem no longer seems shocking, the resulting loss of a job and apparent ostracization from professional football for the former Super Bowl quarterback shows how much work still needs to be done in that area.

Though Carlos and Smith will forever be intertwined because of their shared moment in 1968, they are individuals first and foremost. One keeps to himself (Smith), while the other has no problem speaking his mind (Carlos). Different people with different lives now compared to then, who joined together for a silent moment of action that spoke volumes 50 years ago and resonates even louder today.