The banality of the Olympic
Sport is another of the many economic activities that exist. The amateur side practically no longer exists. One of the last bastions was Double A baseball, but the Federal Court has ruled that professional baseball players have the right to play in tournaments on equal terms with non-professional players. So now they are all paid athletes and having a team is having a business.
Professional basketball, volleyball, baseball, and now Double-A leagues are businesses. Throughout the United States, the major league teams of the NBA and NFL are private corporations that make millions of dollars per season in ticket sales, sponsorships, and television broadcasting rights. The same is true of boxing and the UFC. The latter has gained extraordinary popularity, surpassing boxing cards in some of its competitions. In other words, what used to be a competition between countries, with the phrase “the important thing is not to win, but to compete,” is now something that has no place in any sport in the world today.
For twenty years now, there has been a movement in Canada and the United States of Indian tribes who want to have their own Olympic committee. One of their arguments is that if territories like Guam and Puerto Rico – where one is born an American citizen – have their franchises, they could have one. The same is true of Palestine, which has a stake in the games. As Suzy Chaffee, founder of the Native American Olympic Team Foundation, said: “If territories 20 miles wide can have Olympic teams why can’t sovereign Native American nations, who invented the roots of 10 Olympic sports?”
In fact, two years ago, at a summit of Indian nations at the White House, President Biden spoke in favor of a team made up of Native American athletes representing the United States at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles in the sport of Lacrosse.
The possibility of Puerto Rico having its own Olympic franchise under statehood is possible, even under the current legal system. The Olympic Charter is loose and vague, and speaks less about those who already have an Olympic franchise. What governs this matter is the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act of 1998, which replaced the Amateur Sports Act of 1978.
Ted Stevens was a Republican senator from Alaska who addressed this issue after professional athletes, such as NBA players, entered the international Olympic scene starting with the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, and to prevent other private entities from occupying the field.
In 1987, the Supreme Court of the United States heard the case of San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee, a dispute between the organizing committee for the Gay Olympic Games in San Francisco and the USOC. The organizing committee used the phrase “Gay Olympic” on its letterhead, in newspapers, and on merchandise sold to defray the cost of the games. The attorneys argued that the law violated the First Amendment and should be declared unconstitutional.
On Sunday I cried… Let’s go to Paris!
- Mr. Yldefonso Lopez Morales, #comeagain
206 countries and 24 languages at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
- EuropaPress
The decision of the high court of the nation was 7 to 2. It was stated that, “legislative history demonstrates that Congress intended to provide the USOC with exclusive control of the use of the word ‘Olympic’ without regard to whether an unauthorized use of the word tends to cause confusion.” This is because one of the clauses of the law establishes that the United States Olympic Committee “has the exclusive right to use— … (4) the words “Olympic”, “Olympiad”, “Citius Altius Fortius”, “Paralympic”, “Paralympiad”, “Pan-American”, “America Espirito Sport Fraternite”, or any combination of those words”. In other words, only the Olympic committee has the copyright, which is what this is all about.
The language is rich in words and expressions, so in the case of Puerto Rico other linguistic turns of phrase are available to avoid falling into violation of the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act.
Now, would participation in a private event, which is also a lucrative economic activity, have more weight? Statehood takes care of single mothers, the elderly, health, education, infrastructure, the poor by ensuring them three meals a day through the PAN, and inequality in rights. And those vital problems that the Puerto Rican American citizen has are truly Olympic.
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