Sports Forum is an ongoing discussion about current sports issues. The host is League of Fans' sports policy director Ken Reed. The goal of the podcast is to find ways we can improve the sports experience for all stakeholders by enhancing the positives and mitigating the negatives in today's sports environment.
Ken Reed Announces His Retirement and Chats With League of Fans Founder Ralph Nader
Ken Reed starts off this episode by announcing that he is retiring from League of Fans after 13 and 1/2 years serving as Sports Policy Director.
In this episode, Ken is joined by League of Fans Founder Ralph Nader. They talk about the history of League of Fans and the reason it was created. They then move into a discussion of a variety of contemporary sports issues that League of Fans has been working on in recent years. Ken and Ralph end by talking about the need for sports fans and athletes to get involved in the sports reform movement and be activists and change agents on issues important to them, whether that be at the local, state or national level.
As athletes, fans, and other sports stakeholders who see the value in sports, and what they can be at their best, we need to continually fight for justice, fair play, equal opportunity, safety, and civil rights in sports; and against win-at-all-costs (WAAC) and profit-at-all-costs (PAAC) mentalities and policies.
5 Dec 2023
Joe Posnanski, Prolific Sportswriter and Author
One of America's best sportswriters, Joe Posnanski, joins us for this episode. Posnanski has twice been named the best sports columnist in America by the Associated Press Sports Editors. He's also written for The Athletic and Sports Illustrated.
In this episode, we chat about his new book, "Why We Love Baseball," as well as a couple of his other books and his new Substack newsletter called Joe Blogs.
Topics covered include how baseball treats its fans, MLB's numerous rule changes this past season, whether or not a robo ump will soon be part of MLB games, is baseball losing popularity, and if so, how the sport can become more fan-friendly, the debacle that is the Oakland A's situation, the annoying number of ads on radio game broadcasts, and the greatness of Negro Leagues champion Buck O'Neil.
25 Oct 2023
Foul Ball Safety Is Still an Important Issue at Our Ballparks
It is estimated that more than 5,000 fans have been injured, some seriously, by foul balls in Major League Baseball (MLB) and minor league baseball stadiums since 2012.
While significant improvements have been made at the Major League level in recent years (in terms of protective netting being installed to the end of the dugouts or down to the foul poles) fans in some minor league and college baseball parks are still unprotected, except directly behind home plate.
Our guests for this podcast are Jordan Skopp, founder of FoulBallSafety.com and Greg Wilkowski, a Chicago based attorney. Wilkowski has filed a class action lawsuit against the Peoria Chiefs, a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals in Peoria, Illinois. Chiefs management has refused to put up protective netting at their field beyond the netting directly beyond home plate. The result has been numerous fan injuries.
We discuss the historical problem of foul balls injuring fans, the "Baseball Rule" that teams have used to avoid liability, the specific case in Peoria, why some teams are still hesitant to put up protective netting, and the fact the vast majority of players are for more protective netting in stadiums.
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