On Tuesday, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that it would be spending a staggering $150 million on efforts to artificially increase black participation in the sport, as reported by The Hill.
The announcement was made at a press conference prior to Tuesday’s All-Star Game, with Commissioner Rob Manfred explaining the new initiative. The MLB will be partnering with a nonprofit called Players Alliance in order to achieve the stated goal of forcing such arbitrary diversity onto the league.
“From our perspective,” Manfred explained, “having players alongside and involved makes everything we do better and more effective. In terms of the attention it draws to the game and to the issues, it’s really important to us. We see this as a supplement to what we’re doing already, and a way to amplify what we’re doing, not a substitute for it.”
Among other plans, the $150 million will go towards funding leagues, equipment, and tournaments specifically for young black players, as well as hiring more black employees and contractors. The MLB will also be establishing new mentorship programs, “black cultural awareness camps,” and various grants and scholarship opportunities specifically for black people.
The MLB’s current number of black players is only around 8 percent, when the previous record was about 19 percent back in the 1980s.