Patrick R. McElhiney believes that professional sports teams and organizations need to be regulated in several specific ways, to make the business fair to their players, and for other reasons such as protecting the health and welfare of sports fans.
Equal Pay for Women's Teams
Patrick believes that women playing the same sports as their male counterparts should be paid equally, and that the only reason that the advertising revenues are not the same as the men's teams is because they aren't marketing the women's teams well enough. If there's equal play, there should be equal pay. Also, women's teams, such as women's soccer, shouldn't be forced to play in lesser conditions than their male counterparts, such as making them play on AstroTurf.
Women's Rights
Patrick believes that we should protect athletes pay during pregnancy, as part of Federal legislation. Athletes shouldn't be paid less after they have a family - it's ridiculous!
College Sports Teams
Patrick believes that college sports teams, such as college basketball teams, college baseball teams, and college football teams should be required to pay their athletes, because they are raising money off of advertising that is occurring while those players are playing sports. It is immoral to advertise in a way that doesn't benefit the players or influencers of the event.
Providing Healthcare to All Players
Patrick believes that all sports teams at the college level and higher must provide healthcare benefits to all of their players, due to the health risks of playing sports. An example of a sport where players currently do not receive healthcare benefits is women's hockey.
Paying Cheerleaders
Patrick believes that all cheerleaders, such as for the NFL, should be paid sizable salaries, because the sport of cheer leading is not a hobby. It is a professional career, that places regulations on the cheerleaders, and they absolutely must be paid for this reason.
False Claims of Protection
Patrick supports legislation that requires Riddell and other sports protection equipment makes to print on their packaging what their products do not protect from. It was an unspoken belief that Riddell's football helmets protected football players from concussions, but it's actually quite the opposite. There is no such thing as a football helmet that protects from concussions to the head - because they are caused by internal injury when the brain hits against the cranium that cannot be prevented by sports equipment.
The "Baseball Rule"
As we've seen in the news, the "Baseball Rule" isn't enough to protect fans at baseball games from foul balls. At the end of May, a young girl was hit with a foul ball and was sent to the hospital from the Chicago Cubs game. We need regulations that protect baseball fans - not a rule that is over 100 years old that limits the liability of baseball teams and sponsoring organizations. The Baseball Rule is part of American tort law, that holds that a baseball team or, at amateur levels, its sponsoring organization, cannot be held liable for injuries suffered by a spectator struck by a foul ball batted into the stands, under most circumstances, as long as the team has offered some protected seating in the areas where foul balls are most likely to cause injuries. It is clear that even with the new netting that reaches higher, and farther into outfield, people are still getting injured. Just because there's a law that states that baseball teams aren't liable for the injuries doesn't mean they shouldn't do everything in their power to prevent them, and this would mean even more netting reaching the entire length that a foul ball can potentially be hit to.
Fan Codes of Conduct
The code of conduct that fans are required to follow, that are usually specific to the sport, such as not touching basketball players, may not be enough to protect professional sports games. There may be a need for Federal regulations, such as criminal charges, if fans act out. There have been so many cases of unruly fans at sports games, and it really ruins the games. Federal regulations could enforce a greater significance to common sports rules.
Surfing for Sharks
Patrick believes there should be more regulations about surfing and other water sports that would commonly occur in areas where shark sightings have occurred, or there is a higher risk of shark attacks occurring, for the safety of all people concerned. There have been far too many shark attacks reported on the news, and it seems the prevalence of these incidents only increases over time. The safest thing to do is to not go in the water in areas where there have been shark sightings, and there should be enforcement of bans of water sports in these areas by local governments. Municipalities can install motion activated video cameras that alert them when people are entering an area that is restricted due to a shark sighting, and they can install digital signs that change based on the local rules, so that surfers and other water sports players know when they cannot be in certain areas. The local governments can detain violators under non-criminal laws, to ensure their safety.
