General

The LPGA No Habla Intelligente

Aug 26, 2008, 9:20 PM UTC

Let’s excuse one argument right off the tee regarding the LPGA’s new “English Only” policy: It’s not racist or insensitive in principle for the LPGA to require its players to speak English fluently. They are a private American enterprise that may conduct its business as they like within the acceptable rules of commerce, and therefore are well within the clear regarding the basic elements of the case.â†µâ†µWith that said, let’s broadcast this signal as for how it looks: Whiskey -- Tango -- Foxtrot. Insisting that foreign players learn English and backing it up with a suspension in a sport where team interaction is rarely necessary reeks not of xenophobia, but of a heavy-handed and nannying approach to player management that makes the NFL seem laissez-faire in comparison.â†µ

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â†µThe LPGA may have a language problem, but it certainly does not affect the actual product on the links. What the move is likely propelled by is the influx of foreign players -- some hundred or so of them at this point -- and the possibility that one of them might not speak English, thus leaving the LPGA without an English-speaking spokesperson. Missing from this is any consideration of how players without English have performed as American fan favorites in other sports: Ichiro Suzuki, Yao Ming (until relatively recently,) or Rafael Nadal, who from time to time has brilliantly turned his lack of English skills into a running joke. They're all successful despite not having English, and in much more popular sports than women's golf.â†µ

â†µâ†µA larger oversight is this: By considering themselves an exclusively American market and adopting what will appear to foreigners as a pigheaded policy, they instantly diminish their stock in emerging markets like China and South Korea, places where women’s golf really could grow and thrive thanks to few existing athletic opportunities for young women. Imagining the situation in reverse would have taken three seconds, and illustrated the obvious blind spots in instituting an English-only policy. (Really: What smart player won’t learn it on their own to further their career and expand their sponsorship opportunities?)â†µ

â†µâ†µInstead of portraying themselves as a global game as the NBA and MLB have done, they’ve gone the shortsighted route and cut themselves off at the American border. It’s probably an offensive policy; it’s decidedly bad business, and a lazy chip shot when a firm drive was required by the LPGA’s leadership. Thomas Friedman is twitching his mustache disapprovingly in your direction.â†µâ†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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