Change is coming to sports, too, under Obama

And on the 255th day of his presidency (Friday, Oct. 2), he will be in Copenhagen, Denmark, telling the members of the International Olympic Committee why the 2016 Summer Olympics must be in Chicago. Obama’s allegiance to the Sox (he does not hesitate to express his scorn for fans of the Chicago Cubs) and his support for an Olympics in Chicago are absolute. In an interview with ESPN’s Stuart Scott that aired on
“Sports Center” in August, Obama was asked who he would root for in a Cubs White Sox World Series. This was his answer: “Oh, that’s easy.

White Sox. I’m not one of these fair weather fans. You go to Wrigley Field, you have a beer; beautiful people up there. People aren’t watching the game. It’s not serious. White Sox, that’s baseball. South Side.”

On other issues facing the sports industry, Obama views are a bit less certain. However, a review of his campaign statements and position papers as well as ESPN.com interviews with his friends and former colleagues at the University of Chicago indicate that an Obama administration is likely to:

• produce major tax increases for team owners and players;

• Slow sales of professional teams;

• increase the powers of player unions;

• More vigorously enforce the requirements of Title IX;

• and begin to resolve the serious clashes between sports cable networks such as the NFL Network and the Big Ten Network and cable providers such as Comcast.

Obama’s views on other critical sports issues, including performance enhancing drugs and stricter controls on the powers and the finances of the NCAA, are unknown.

Experts agree that Obama’s support for Chicago’s 2016 Olympics bid will be critical and that his presence in Copenhagen could easily win the Olympics for Chicago. Former British prime minister Tony Blair’s charismatic presentations were said to have led the IOC to pass over Paris, which seemed to have the leading bid after New York City’s attempt to get the Games collapsed, and give the 2012 Olympics to London.

Chicago’s competition for the 2016 Games includes Madrid, Spain; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Tokyo. Obama, who appeared at a downtown Chicago rally in support of the bid in June shortly after he won the Democratic nomination, could have an even greater impact on the IOC than Blair did, according to Olympics experts.

“He will be the rock star of the Copenhagen meeting,” observes Allen Sanderson, a professor of sports economics at the University of Chicago. “We saw the crowd he drew in Berlin, and he will remain in the glow of an historic election triumph when he asks for IOC votes.”