Are Pro Sports Growing More Altruistic?

Neil Howe’s (2010) “Are Pro Sports Growing More Altruistic?” is an interesting piece about the change in the Millennial Generation’s preferences in sport. The author charges that the current generation of young sport fans are more disinterested in the economic elements or the violent tendencies of professional sports, but rather, they are more interested in the seeing athletes that help their communities and are there for their families. Reading this article, I certainly see merit to this argument. Programs such as RBI in Major League Baseball and Play 60 in the NFL are hugely successful and widely publicized, as they highlight the altruistic nature of those leagues. Additionally, it seems as though every athlete has their own community program- if you look along the walls of any NFL stadium, you will see advertisements for the various programs that each athlete sponsors. Certainly, there is a demand to see athletes give back to their respective communities.

However, while Millennials do love to see “feel-good” stories, the notion that they do not want to see greed or violence in professional sports does not ring true. While it is true that athletes such as Cliff Lee are lauded for taking less money for a better chance at a championship (as well as to be closer to a top-tier hospital for his child), the largest contracts still dominate the national spotlight. Athletes such as Alex Rodriguez and CC Sabathia make the largest headlines due to their massive contracts and the bidding wars that surround them. Likewise, while Millennials may cringe at James Harrison’s helmet-to-helmet hits, hockey fights, or NASCAR wrecks, there is still a demand for violence among this generation. As another classmate pointed out, the UFC is one of the fastest-growing sports leagues in America, fighting still draws attention to the NHL, and the NFL remains far and away the highest rated sport in the US. Our generation may love “feel-good” stories, however, our tastes are not that much different than those of the Boomer Generation or Generation X.

While this article does point out some differences among the generations, they are not universal, and often misguided. It is impossible to simply turn a generation into a caricature. The Millennials, like all other generations, are a complex group of individuals with wide-varying tastes, and it is inappropriate to try to squeeze them into a box.