From the Cotton Fields to the Football Fields: Plantation Politics, College Football, and Racial History in ESPN’s 30 for 30
Type of Presentation
Individual presentation
Brief Description of Presentation
In this presentation, we will critique two ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries that treat race-based exploitation as a thing of a past. Ironically, the documentaries focus on college football, where poor, black bodies are endangered and celebrated to create recognition and wealth for the universities. ESPN is highly invested in college football’s success and is in no position to produce and distribute a radical critique of the institutional racism that occurs on college football fields across the nation and on our television screens.
Abstract of Proposal
ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series has raised the status of ESPN programming (Vogan, 2012). But, while they highlight important moments of American sports history, the station’s investment in the success of the sports industry makes ESPN incapable of producing and distributing critical stories of economic and race-based exploitation in sports. In this presentation, we will explore two 30 for 30 films that concern race and college football: The Ghosts of Ole Miss (2012) and The Best That Never Was (2010). Both are compelling stories, representing important moments in college football and race relations; but both actively place racism in the past and ignore the ongoing institutional exploitation. African American bodies and brains are used as disposable commodities on college football fields. The players garner huge profits for their universities, while their own futures are, medically and financially, at significant risk (Hawkins, 2010; Nixon, 2014). The NCAA justifies this by the term “student-athlete” based on antiquated notions of “amateurism” (Branch, 2011). ESPN is highly invested in collegiate football, with a $5.64 billion television contract until 2025. While these two documentaries skillfully confront racism in the past, their critiques become blunt when connecting to the present racial moment. Through the use of white directors, highlighting ways race relations have improved, and vague references to a more harmonious future, they minimize today’s blatant exploitation of poor, black bodies. While the 30 for 30 series brings serious programming to ESPN, their financial investments requires them to disconnect past racism to the injustices today.
Location
Coastal Georgia Center
Start Date
3-26-2016 8:10 AM
End Date
3-26-2016 9:40 AM
Recommended Citation
Chapman, Daniel and Horner, Robert, "From the Cotton Fields to the Football Fields: Plantation Politics, College Football, and Racial History in ESPN’s 30 for 30" (2016). International Critical Media Literacy Conference. 10.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/criticalmedialiteracy/2016/2016/10
From the Cotton Fields to the Football Fields: Plantation Politics, College Football, and Racial History in ESPN’s 30 for 30
Coastal Georgia Center
ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series has raised the status of ESPN programming (Vogan, 2012). But, while they highlight important moments of American sports history, the station’s investment in the success of the sports industry makes ESPN incapable of producing and distributing critical stories of economic and race-based exploitation in sports. In this presentation, we will explore two 30 for 30 films that concern race and college football: The Ghosts of Ole Miss (2012) and The Best That Never Was (2010). Both are compelling stories, representing important moments in college football and race relations; but both actively place racism in the past and ignore the ongoing institutional exploitation. African American bodies and brains are used as disposable commodities on college football fields. The players garner huge profits for their universities, while their own futures are, medically and financially, at significant risk (Hawkins, 2010; Nixon, 2014). The NCAA justifies this by the term “student-athlete” based on antiquated notions of “amateurism” (Branch, 2011). ESPN is highly invested in collegiate football, with a $5.64 billion television contract until 2025. While these two documentaries skillfully confront racism in the past, their critiques become blunt when connecting to the present racial moment. Through the use of white directors, highlighting ways race relations have improved, and vague references to a more harmonious future, they minimize today’s blatant exploitation of poor, black bodies. While the 30 for 30 series brings serious programming to ESPN, their financial investments requires them to disconnect past racism to the injustices today.
