David Stern turned the NBA into a billion dollar business. However, when Stern started his mission, the NBA had a serious image crisis: The league was perceived as drug-infested and too-black. Stern himself claimed that race, if everything else was handled correctly, would not be an issue in professional sports and basketball in particular. With regards to Stuart Hall, this paper will investigate what the dominant, or as Stern phrases it 'correct', way of handling race looks like and what kind of conclusions can be drawn on the basis of that approach. The main focus will be dedicated to the (by the NBA) created image of Blackness and how they try to portray and depict their players.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Basketball from 1891 to 1980
3. The David Stern Era
a. Bird, Magic, and Jordan
b. Ghetto Aesthetics and the Malice in the Palace
4. Summary
5. Outlook and recent tendencies
Objectives and Core Themes
This paper examines how the NBA under commissioner David Stern constructed and managed specific representations of Blackness to navigate the league's economic transition into a global business. By analyzing the "encoding" of player images through marketing, rules, and disciplinary actions, the research explores how the league attempted to align Black athletes with dominant American values to appeal to a broad, predominantly White consumer base, while simultaneously addressing tensions between commodification and racial stereotypes.
- The role of the NBA as a business and its reliance on audience perception.
- Representation strategies from the 1980s rivalry (Bird/Johnson) to the Jordan era and "Ghetto Aesthetics."
- The impact of media ideologies on the public construction of Black athlete personas.
- Disciplinary and regulatory responses by the league (e.g., dress codes, infantilization) following controversies like the "Malice in the Palace."
Excerpt from the Book
a. Bird, Magic, and Jordan
Larry Bird, who made it into the league in 1978, and Magic Johnson, who entered one year later, cannot be understood without the myth which surrounded the two teams, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. Both teams, sometimes also referred to as franchises, are rich in tradition and look back on multiple world championships. In the late 1970s however, the predominantly White Celtics were underperforming before Larry Bird turned them into a winning franchise. The mostly Black Lakers instead, had reached the semifinals the year before Johnson was drafted, had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on their roster, and belonged to one of the most vibrant and interesting franchises at the time (cf. Smith 2011: 3). With the addition of Johnson, the Lakers built a dynasty which should later be known as the Showtime Lakers. The show time character of the Lakers and Johnson in particular already tell a lot about the perception of Black players in the early 1980s. Black success is often linked to genetic disposition and neglects the hard work, dedication, and required abilities (cf. Carrington 2007: 4689). The idea of Showtime implies that the performed actions are effortless. Further, “Black athletic success was not ascribed to strategy but to attributes like height and strength” (Williams 2006: 62). This was definitely also the case with Erving Johnson who played point guard at the size of 6 foot 9 inches and the Lakers who were known for high-pace fast-break basketball without countless systems, plays, and half-court offenses.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter contextualizes the NBA as a profit-driven business and establishes the theoretical framework regarding ideology and media representation to investigate racialized images in professional basketball.
2. Basketball from 1891 to 1980: This section provides a historical overview of the sport’s development, noting its transition from a segregated activity to a professionalized, albeit racially contested, entertainment product.
3. The David Stern Era: This chapter analyzes how Commissioner David Stern implemented strategic representation models—specifically the Bird/Johnson rivalry, the Jordan brand, and later "Ghetto Aesthetics"—to sustain league growth.
4. Summary: The summary synthesizes the findings, confirming that the NBA's marketing success relied on packaging Black athletes within a framework of American work ethic and neoliberal values.
5. Outlook and recent tendencies: This concluding section discusses how new media and changing social landscapes challenge the league’s traditional top-down control of player representation.
Keywords
NBA, David Stern, representation, Blackness, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, ideology, consumerism, Ghetto Aesthetics, Malice in the Palace, basketball, racial construction, media discourse, American Dream.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research paper?
The paper focuses on how the NBA, as a business entity, actively created and managed images of Black athletes between 1984 and 2005 to maximize profitability and appeal to mainstream audiences.
Which central themes are explored?
Key themes include the commodification of Black bodies, the use of sports as a platform for ideological messaging, and the tension between "authentic" urban culture and sanitized corporate branding.
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to contextualize the underlying ideologies behind the NBA’s representation of its players and to show how these images reflect broader societal attitudes toward race.
What methodology is applied?
The paper utilizes a qualitative analysis of historical developments, marketing strategies, league policies, and media discourse, heavily informed by cultural theories on ideology and representation.
What is covered in the main body?
The main body examines the historical evolution of basketball, the specific branding of superstars like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, and the league’s reaction to urban-coded controversies.
Which keywords best describe this study?
Significant keywords include NBA, representation, Blackness, ideology, David Stern, and the American Dream.
How does the "Showtime" Lakers era relate to perceptions of Black players in the 1980s?
The "Showtime" brand associated Black athletic success with effortless, genetically-based attributes like height and strength, rather than intellectual strategy or hard work.
Why was the "Malice in the Palace" incident so critical for the NBA?
It shattered the league's attempts to market an authentic urban aesthetic, forcing the NBA to revert to more restrictive, paternalistic disciplinary measures to protect its brand image.
What is the significance of the NBA dress code introduced in 2005?
The dress code was a regulatory tool used to monitor "racialized forms of expression" and force players to conform to a professional, "colorblind" White norm, essentially infantilizing players to restore a specific corporate image.
- Quote paper
- Till Neuhaus (Author), 2017, How to sell Black Athletes to a White Audience? The Representation of Blackness in the NBA from 1984 to 2005, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/366966
