Sports Solidarity

Sports is a trillion-dollar industry.But sports aren’t just games – they’re workplaces.Sports Solidarity with Harry Marino goes behind the scenes of one of the world’s most visible industries to explore the growing power of labor in pro sports.Harry is an attorney and former professional baseball player who led the unionization of Minor League Baseball and has since led landmark collective bargaining negotiations across the sports industry.From locker rooms to bargaining tables, this podcast tells the real story of how athletes, organizers, and unions are reshaping the future of sports.

Sports Solidarity is a sports podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 8 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Sports Solidarity, a sports show with 8 episodes published.

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  Episode #8

  Organizing the Most Thankless Job in Sports

  Sep 9, 20261h 7mS1

  Referees and officials have one of the toughest jobs in sports. Perfection is the expectation, and the blame comes the moment something goes wrong. Over the last decade, they've unionized rapidly. Lucas Middlebrook has been at the center of that shift. He's counsel to the National Basketball Referees Association and the Professional Soccer Referees Association, work that started with NBA referees some 15 years ago. Since then, he's helped officials across the WNBA, G League, Major League Soccer, National Women's Soccer League, and United Soccer League organize and win contracts. Host Harry Marino sits down with Middlebrook to discuss what it takes to organize an entire occupation, why the best negotiators lean on relationships instead of pounding the table, and why the hardest organizing fights, like combat sports, are still ahead. Chapters 0:00 Introduction 2:21 From Airline Law to Sports Labor 4:43 Building a Union From Scratch 8:19 A Landslide at the Ballot Box 10:15 One Union, Three Leagues 14:56 The NBA Says Yes Without a Fight 25:43 30 Days Locked Out 28:06 The FIFA Loophole 35:28 What Makes a Great Negotiator 41:13 Advocacy Meets Pragmatism 44:15 Why Combat Sports Are Harder to Organize 51:02 Two Roads to a UFC Union 54:20 The Jake Paul Factor 1:03:09 The Antitrust Irony Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: MBKH61INVJU2VYUJ

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  Episode #8

  Combat Athletes Assistance Network (C.A.A.N): The Dawn of an Organizing Drive

  Aug 20, 202643 minS1

  Professional boxing is one of the oldest sports in human history. It's also one where the athletes are the least protected. Fighters are treated as independent contractors, which strips them of basic employee rights and the ability to unionize. Their share of the sport's revenue sits around 10 percent. In baseball, football, and basketball, where athletes have unions, that number is closer to 50. Ernie DiStefano and Peter Olney are working to change that. They aren't chasing a headline or a big-bang announcement. They're getting into the gyms and meeting fighters where they are. C.A.A.N builds a base one athlete at a time, offering vocational placement, contract review, financial literacy, and treatment referrals. The goal is to give fighters options and leverage they've never had. Host Harry Marino goes behind the scenes with DiStefano and Olney to talk about what it takes to start something in one of the toughest spaces in all of sports, when victory is anything but assured. Resources mentioned in this episode: www.caangroup.org H.R.4624 - Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act of 2026 To donate: caangroup.org/donate Chapters 00:00:00 - Introduction 01:37 - The CAAN Origin Story 06:13 - Nobody Speaks for Boxers 10:51 - The Independent Contractor Lie 12:50 - Build the Base First 14:09 - What CAAN Actually Does 16:39 - Peter's 50 Years on the Line 22:28 - The Hard Part of Organizing 24:04 - Who the Ali Act Really Helps 28:28 - What It Takes to Win 34:37 - Why Ernie Fights: A Ripple of Hope 37:13 - Why Peter Fights 39:27 - The George Foreman Gala 40:40 - Closing

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  Episode #5

  SoFi Stadium Workers: A Case Study in Identifying Member Priorities and Maximizing Leverage

  Jul 13, 202629 minS1

  A week before the World Cup arrived at SoFi Stadium, roughly 2,000 bartenders, servers, cooks, and dishwashers represented by UNITE HERE Local 11 voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. Days later, they won a new contract: raises of up to 30 percent, stronger workplace protections, and a unique provision giving workers the right to strike if ICE or Border Patrol activity at the stadium poses a threat to their safety. And perhaps most importantly, the contract will expire on April 30, 2028, aligning with over 100 other stadium, hotel, and airport concessions contracts that expire before the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Host Harry Marino talks with Local 11 Co-President Kurt Petersen about how the union identified the World Cup as a moment of maximum leverage and secured top priorities for membership. Get a behind-the-scenes look into a masterclass in labor negotiating. Chapters: 00:06 - Introduction 02:45 - Local 11’s decision to focus on ICE 09:08 - Mega-event leverage strategy 12:16 - 2028 Olympic strategy 18:59 - Cross-union coordination 21:54 - Sports worker solidarity 26:26 - The button 28:11 - Conclusion

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  Episode #4

  A rare inside look at how U.S. soccer players organized for better pay

  Jun 23, 20261h 36mS1

  It's hard to envision a time before soccer was big business in the United States. But until a few decades ago, U.S. national team players weren't even paid and had little say over their travel or working conditions. That's where Mark Levinstein comes in. Mark is a legendary sports lawyer who has represented USMNT players as head of the U.S. National Soccer Team Players Association since it formed in the mid-1990s. Today, players receive 80% of the World Cup prize money. Mark has been at the table every step of the way. In this episode, Mark joins Harry for a rare public conversation to share the inside story of this union, from its fledgling days in the '90s to the bright lights of the World Cup today. He also gives a behind-the-scenes peek at how the USMNT players helped the women's team secure equal pay and offers some thoughts on a range of other issues, including the possibility of collective bargaining at the college level and his charity Athletes for Hope. Resources USSoccerPlayers.com AthletesForHope.org HBO’s US Against the World Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:30 - World Cup Revenue Sharing 08:12 - Origins of USNSTPA 16:45 - First Collective Bargaining Agreement 21:21 - Equal Pay Negotiations 30:02 - How the Men's Team Backed the Women's Equal Pay Fight 36:48 - Revenue Sharing Breakthrough 46:42 - Future of Equal Pay 49:41 - The Principles That Built a Union 56:25 - How the USNSTPA Actually Works 01:00:00 - Evolution of the Sports Industry 01:11:52 - College Sports at a Crossroads 01:22:02 - Athletes for Hope 01:30:47 - Closing Remarks

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  Episode #3

  How UFL Players Won Better Pay, Health Care, and a Voice at Work

  Jun 9, 202643 minS1

  <p>In this episode, Harry sits down with UFL player-leaders Kenneth Farrow II, Jack Kramer, and Kedrick Whitehead Jr. to discuss how players came together to build the United Football Players Association and negotiate a historic collective bargaining agreement.</p><p>Before organizing, players faced inadequate health coverage and little say in the conditions affecting their careers. Instead of accepting the status quo, they built a union.</p><p>What started as isolated conversations in the locker room grew into a league-wide effort — and the first CBA in UFL history. How did they do it? </p><p>In this episode, the...

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