Cheerleading, monopolies, and predators
September 30, 2020 7:07 AM Subscribe
(CW for sexual abuse). The story of monopolization in cheer is a great example of the problem of concentrated corporate power, because it reveals so much about how our economy actually works. As a quick recap, the company involved is called Varsity Brands, which has monopolized the sport of cheerleading by buying up most major competitions. Varsity is owned by private equity giant Bain Capital. What makes this story so useful is that there are no fancy high tech gadgets in cheer, no possible excuses from economists; it’s just the use of raw power to extract money from teenagers and their families through a business conspiracy.
... Last week, Marisa Kwiatkowski and Tricia L. Nadolny at USA Today detailed a massive scandal of rampant sexual abuse in cheerleading. ... This kind of abusive behavior happens in every sphere of human activity, so one might think that abuse is not intrinsic to any particular business model. Further, these offenders by and large did not work at Varsity, but at independent gyms and associated companies doing business in the cheerleading ecosystem, so it’s even easier to see this as an isolated scandal. And yet, while it may not at first seem like it, this scandal about predators is part of the same monopoly story that I happened to hit on in January. This is a story of a theme I’ve hit on in other industries, or what is known as absentee ownership.
...here’s the connection to monopoly. As any economist who studies monopolies can tell you, unchecked market power gives a producer the ability to raise prices, which Varsity did, as well as to reduce the quality of the end product. Often quality reductions happen in a number of ways, like through less innovation, or smaller packaging sizes, or worse quality ingredients. But it can also happen by eroding safety standards, which in this case, is what Varsity was doing.
... Last week, Marisa Kwiatkowski and Tricia L. Nadolny at USA Today detailed a massive scandal of rampant sexual abuse in cheerleading. ... This kind of abusive behavior happens in every sphere of human activity, so one might think that abuse is not intrinsic to any particular business model. Further, these offenders by and large did not work at Varsity, but at independent gyms and associated companies doing business in the cheerleading ecosystem, so it’s even easier to see this as an isolated scandal. And yet, while it may not at first seem like it, this scandal about predators is part of the same monopoly story that I happened to hit on in January. This is a story of a theme I’ve hit on in other industries, or what is known as absentee ownership.
...here’s the connection to monopoly. As any economist who studies monopolies can tell you, unchecked market power gives a producer the ability to raise prices, which Varsity did, as well as to reduce the quality of the end product. Often quality reductions happen in a number of ways, like through less innovation, or smaller packaging sizes, or worse quality ingredients. But it can also happen by eroding safety standards, which in this case, is what Varsity was doing.
The USA today article does a good job of laying it all out, but it also felt very deja-vu-y, like they could have taken an article about the gymnastics scandal and cut-and-pasted the new names in. It's so depressingly familiar.
posted by Orlop at 8:48 AM on September 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Orlop at 8:48 AM on September 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
this guy just writes the same articles over and over again.
I’ll get mad about that once the problem he’s writing about is fixed.
posted by zamboni at 8:53 AM on September 30, 2020 [62 favorites]
I’ll get mad about that once the problem he’s writing about is fixed.
posted by zamboni at 8:53 AM on September 30, 2020 [62 favorites]
I missed that FPP but since zamboni isn't mad yet, guess I won't apologize. The writer, Matt Stoller, writes a newsletter about monopolies so sure, he covers the topic regularly and revisits companies and issues. "Monopolists in every area of our economy structure markets in ways that foster and encourage destructive behavior, while making it hard for those affected to raise legitimate problems to prevent their recurrence or to seek redress. And that is why anti-monopoly rules and liberty have always been tightly linked in America, and why the erosion of one means the erosion of the other."
posted by Bella Donna at 8:56 AM on September 30, 2020 [12 favorites]
posted by Bella Donna at 8:56 AM on September 30, 2020 [12 favorites]
"Varsity's monopoly allows unrestrained sexual abuse of minors" is not actually the same story as "Varsity's monopoly allows unrestrained financial abuse of minors" in a very significant way.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:00 AM on September 30, 2020 [38 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 9:00 AM on September 30, 2020 [38 favorites]
so it’s even easier to see this as an isolated scandal.
Swimming, gymnastics, soccer, hockey, badminton, skating, skiing, tennis, cheerleading: isolated how now?
Curling and lacrosse are the only two sports I put in to "women's ____ sex abuse scandal" searches that seemed clean. Bonus round: when "women's" is replaced with "men's" the results are not better.
That's what "even easier to see this as" something looks like.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 9:40 AM on September 30, 2020 [9 favorites]
Swimming, gymnastics, soccer, hockey, badminton, skating, skiing, tennis, cheerleading: isolated how now?
Curling and lacrosse are the only two sports I put in to "women's ____ sex abuse scandal" searches that seemed clean. Bonus round: when "women's" is replaced with "men's" the results are not better.
That's what "even easier to see this as" something looks like.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 9:40 AM on September 30, 2020 [9 favorites]
If you have kids, start taking notes of all the things they've had to forego this spring and summer.
Notice all the things that they had to forego but really don't seem to complain about.
A lot of those things are going to die out quietly the way the Civil War killed cricket as a sport in the United States. This is a chance to take the current incarnation of the youth sports industrial complex and drown it in a bathtub, and good fucking riddance. A whole cohort of kids is too busy playing sandlot sports right now to even notice. Strike while the iron is hot, parents. You have nothing to lose.
posted by ocschwar at 10:57 AM on September 30, 2020 [38 favorites]
Notice all the things that they had to forego but really don't seem to complain about.
A lot of those things are going to die out quietly the way the Civil War killed cricket as a sport in the United States. This is a chance to take the current incarnation of the youth sports industrial complex and drown it in a bathtub, and good fucking riddance. A whole cohort of kids is too busy playing sandlot sports right now to even notice. Strike while the iron is hot, parents. You have nothing to lose.
posted by ocschwar at 10:57 AM on September 30, 2020 [38 favorites]
Unless you need a big swimming pool or diving board or the like because school and those youth sports are the only way those options are even accessible.
posted by zengargoyle at 1:05 PM on September 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by zengargoyle at 1:05 PM on September 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
A whole cohort of kids is too busy playing sandlot sports right now to even notice. Strike while the iron is hot, parents.
Unfortunately I think you are out of luck. The parents are basically complicit. I mean, to even get on the rung requires a major personal financial outlay, at least at the beginning, and I think way too many parents get too pot-committed to bail out at the objections of their kids so any objections are ignored.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:32 PM on September 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
Unfortunately I think you are out of luck. The parents are basically complicit. I mean, to even get on the rung requires a major personal financial outlay, at least at the beginning, and I think way too many parents get too pot-committed to bail out at the objections of their kids so any objections are ignored.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:32 PM on September 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
Further, these offenders by and large did not work at Varsity, but at independent gyms and associated companies doing business in the cheerleading ecosystem, so it’s even easier to see this as an isolated scandal.
The point isn’t that sexual abuse of young women and young men is an isolated scandal. The point is that the owners of Varsity and their underlings did everything possible to encourage outsiders to see it as an isolated scandal rather than the natural result of a market monopoly that meant the owners did not have to give a shit about the welfare of their ultimate customers. Plus, you know, misogyny and the patriarchy.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:47 PM on September 30, 2020 [10 favorites]
The point isn’t that sexual abuse of young women and young men is an isolated scandal. The point is that the owners of Varsity and their underlings did everything possible to encourage outsiders to see it as an isolated scandal rather than the natural result of a market monopoly that meant the owners did not have to give a shit about the welfare of their ultimate customers. Plus, you know, misogyny and the patriarchy.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:47 PM on September 30, 2020 [10 favorites]
Wasn’t this a Leverage episode?
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 5:03 PM on September 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 5:03 PM on September 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
and I think way too many parents get too pot-committed to bail out at the objections of their kids so any objections are ignored.
I had a twinge of this when my son quit cheerleading after only a few months. I paid $300 for a rhinestone-spangled competition shirt he would never wear! Fortunately, I knew that staying in would be throwing good money after bad. But there was that moment...
posted by Orlop at 6:17 PM on September 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
I had a twinge of this when my son quit cheerleading after only a few months. I paid $300 for a rhinestone-spangled competition shirt he would never wear! Fortunately, I knew that staying in would be throwing good money after bad. But there was that moment...
posted by Orlop at 6:17 PM on September 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
Swimming, gymnastics, soccer, hockey, badminton, skating, skiing, tennis, cheerleading: isolated how now?
Exactly. When we put a kid with an authority figure, no matter the situation, and that authority figure uses their power to abuse and silence the kid because the kid honestly doesn't know any better, how can anything but a Larry Nassar weasel his way into the power structure and abuse with impunity? We're sending our kids into a possible sexual warzone equipped with a water pistol and an easily manipulated sense of shame.
I believe this is one of the reasons why we need to have comprehensive and early sex education for kids. We can give them the tools so that they can be able to put what they're being asked to do in context and be able to come to the conclusion that what is being done to them is wrong. If a kid knows that they have the power to stand up to an authority, that authority using their power for their own sexual gratification is wrong, and that the important people in their lives are going to backstop them when they report said abusive authority, we can stop the culture of silence and shame and start weeding out these pedos from children's sports.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 7:07 PM on September 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
Exactly. When we put a kid with an authority figure, no matter the situation, and that authority figure uses their power to abuse and silence the kid because the kid honestly doesn't know any better, how can anything but a Larry Nassar weasel his way into the power structure and abuse with impunity? We're sending our kids into a possible sexual warzone equipped with a water pistol and an easily manipulated sense of shame.
I believe this is one of the reasons why we need to have comprehensive and early sex education for kids. We can give them the tools so that they can be able to put what they're being asked to do in context and be able to come to the conclusion that what is being done to them is wrong. If a kid knows that they have the power to stand up to an authority, that authority using their power for their own sexual gratification is wrong, and that the important people in their lives are going to backstop them when they report said abusive authority, we can stop the culture of silence and shame and start weeding out these pedos from children's sports.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 7:07 PM on September 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
Also I'd love for children's sports to have basically a "ripcord rule" where at any point, anybody in or around the child, or the child themselves, can pull a metaphorical ripcord. All contact immediately stops, any and all dubious actions alleged by all authority figures are scrutinized, and everything is investigated publicly. If the child feels uncomfortable, pull the ripcord. No judgement on anyone for pulling it or being the subject of it, and if there's no harm if there's no foul.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 7:17 PM on September 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 7:17 PM on September 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
My father warned me about the wrestling coaches. For good reason, it turned out. Also did cheerleading, but that was college and the power difference was not the same as high school. None of this is surprising, but my kids won't need to deal with it, hopefully. People are calling this out now, which is good. It used to be a weird secret that I never understood.
posted by ryoshu at 7:26 PM on September 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ryoshu at 7:26 PM on September 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
Ryoshu, sadly these types of things never end. It just goes on list of activities that responsible humans have to actively keep an eye out for all the time. Though it may seem trite the price of freedom is vigilance. Freedom for children means everyone keeping their eyes open and always analysing risks. There may be times when these problems seem to fade but that will never be a time to relax.
There will always be individuals and groups that will do their best to take what they want. We need to make it easier to keep opportunities for abuse few to none and develop the systems and practices that catch what is not prevented early.
Humans are wired for easy trust, this is a problem. We need to trust people for society to work. We need to recognize that there are times that that expectation is wrong.
Also, no monopolies. No monopsonies. Competition and oversight, please and thank you.
posted by Ignorantsavage at 2:06 AM on October 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
There will always be individuals and groups that will do their best to take what they want. We need to make it easier to keep opportunities for abuse few to none and develop the systems and practices that catch what is not prevented early.
Humans are wired for easy trust, this is a problem. We need to trust people for society to work. We need to recognize that there are times that that expectation is wrong.
Also, no monopolies. No monopsonies. Competition and oversight, please and thank you.
posted by Ignorantsavage at 2:06 AM on October 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Unless you need a big swimming pool or diving board or the like because school and those youth sports are the only way those options are even accessible.
My son's diving team has been doing "dryland" practices all summer, on the grass behind an empty school. Their coach hauled in and set up a couple of springboards that land them on cushy mats, and one trampoline with a spotting rig (a belt they wear attached to ropes). They always have some dryland practices, because pool time is expensive and dryland is useful in other ways, but month after month of it.... They can't wait to have a chance to dive into actual water again someday.
posted by Orlop at 4:09 PM on October 4, 2020
My son's diving team has been doing "dryland" practices all summer, on the grass behind an empty school. Their coach hauled in and set up a couple of springboards that land them on cushy mats, and one trampoline with a spotting rig (a belt they wear attached to ropes). They always have some dryland practices, because pool time is expensive and dryland is useful in other ways, but month after month of it.... They can't wait to have a chance to dive into actual water again someday.
posted by Orlop at 4:09 PM on October 4, 2020
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Anyway, go read the May post here on The Blue since it's probably going to have all the same comments in it.
posted by sideshow at 8:43 AM on September 30, 2020 [1 favorite]