The 1970s Sports: Overview

Two words described sports in the 1970s: big business. Owners and athletes in major professional team sports knew there was entertainment money to be made in their games, and they went after it. Owners and league officials sought additional revenue through mergers and expansions of their respective leagues. They also signed lucrative television contracts worth millions of dollars to bring their games into the homes of millions of Americans.

The sports entertainment business was highly competitive and only the strong survived—athletes as well as teams. Knowing this, athletes sought higher salaries. By the end of the decade, top athletes demanded, and were paid, over one million dollars a year to compete. Ironically, the athlete who started the fight for recognition and higher salaries—baseball player Curt Flood—not only never benefited, he eventually lost his career as a result of his actions.

Athletes in individual sports, such as golf and tennis, also saw their earnings rise in the 1970s. Yet again, for some, that money did not come without a fight. Neglected by the major team sports, women had to realize their athletic dreams in individual pursuits. But they were paid far less than their fellow male athletes, so they fought for equality. Leading the charge on the tennis courts was Billie Jean King. Her victory over Bobby Riggs paved the way not only for future female tennis players, but also for female athletes in other sports.

African American athletes were responsible for some of the decade's highest athletic achievements. Early in 1974, Hank Aaron surpassed Babe Ruth's career home run record, which had stood for thirty-nine years. Despite earning spectacular salaries, though, African American and other minority athletes lacked a voice in management. In 1974, Frank Robinson became baseball's first African American manager, but he was an exception. Few minorities held front office positions and none owned a team. Racial equality in positions of power in sports was still decades away.

Many believed sports should exist as a showcase of pure athletic competition, free of the affairs of politics and the outside world. The Olympic Games were founded on such an ideal. Yet the greed of team owners and professional athletes, and the tragic events in Munich on a September morning in 1972, proved that ideal was just an illusion—changing sports forever.