Race & Sports: HBO’s Bomani Jones on the Future of Equity & Opportunity in Sports

Thanks to a partnership between the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Africana Studies, the Wharton Coalition for Equity and Opportunity (Wharton CEO), and the Wharton Sports Analytics Business Initiative (WSABI), the 2023 Race and Sports event returned on Thursday, April 27.
This year’s event was especially meaningful as it marked the first successful return of the event since 2019. Attendees welcomed HBO “Game Theory'' host and long-time sports media analyst Bomani Jones for a conversation on race and sports.
Students and members of the Penn community gathered on the second floor of Huntsman Hall for a wide-ranging and free-flowing conversation, moderated by Kenneth Shropshire, the David W. Hauck professor emeritus at the Wharton School, emeritus professor of Africana Studies, and senior advisor to the dean for Wharton CEO. Jones, whose sports media presence spans decades and several media outlets, spoke at length on gender dynamics in sports, the difficult path ahead for Black sports owners, the value of agent representation, and more over the course of 90 minutes.
Bomani Jones is the host of Game Theory with Bomani Jones on HBO, where he tackles sports and their intersections with the world. He also hosts The Right Time with Bomani Jones podcast on ESPN. As CEO of Old Soul Productions, Bomani hosts The Evening Jones, an audience driven podcast discussing a range of pop culture topics.
For over 20 years, Bomani has written on sports, music, culture and politics for various online and print publications. He is a former contributor for SBNation.com, and the former host of The Morning Jones on The Score on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio.
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#wharton #sportsbusiness #dei
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[@Samsamtwins]

I hope conversations like this are the ones that goes viral instead the ones that make us look bad

[@travisfoster3587]

Bo be on point

[@foriegnuniter]

Bo got the 11s on too😮‍💨😮‍💨

[@Bigbigenergy]

Love Bo

[@elliotwalsh3151]

this is academia at its finest. discussion, discourse, peer supported research.

[@ericlava8898]

Great discussion that needs to be continued in depth. Mr Jones is needed to continue just giving educated as well as experienced communication leading to expanding our growth from simple level

[@bellymus1]

Thank you for posting and sharing. Great conversation

[@benniecurrie]

I think the baseball decline in the black community has a significant connection to the urban decline of the '80s and '90s during the crack epidemic and the rise in street gang activity. Tough to stand outside for 9 innings when the bullets are flying. Football you can avoid until high school when all the practices and games are in a closely controlled environment. Basketball? Too rough outside, move to the gym. I remember MLB running an "RBI" (return baseball to the inner city) campaign in the '80s. But it was an uphill climb against the changing social dynamics of the time.

[@imixwhailikejaredball]

But HBCUs and the Negro Leagues were not “Black institutions” beyond them being created to segregate Black people. White money, philanthropy, ownership, advertising, investment, etc we’re still (are still re HBCUs) dependent upon White support and money. Suggesting these were somehow autonomous entities is terribly misleading.

[@imixwhailikejaredball]

Bomani is brilliant.

[@miguelbyrd5050]

@@imixwhailikejaredball 🎯🎯🎯 his reduction of this nuance made him really step on the point he was trying to make.

[@juandoe2696]

Very thoughtful and thought provoking discussion. My big takeaway expanding upon Bomani's theory of baseball and the African American community regarding soccer is that America will never be a power in Men's soccer. Continued usage of the baseball model replicated in the MLS will ensure that the leagues best players continue to be flown in from South America. It's an economic model that works well for MLS but not for the US men's national team.