Evaluation of racial concordance of NBA and MLB upper managerial staff members, professional athletes, and team physicians

Racial discordance between patient and physician may lead to decreased patient satisfaction and worse clinical outcomes. Racial diversity is uniquely elevated in professional athletics, and previous work demonstrates racial discordance between professional athletes and their team physicians. A bias in team physician appointment by upper managerial staff members may contribute to this discordance. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the racial concordance between the NBA and MLB upper managerial staff, their appointed team physicians, and the professional athletes. Publicly available data were collected in June to July of 2024 to identify upper managerial staff members. The race and gender of these individuals was determined by 2 independent members of the research team who reviewed demographic information and photographs, and a third member resolved any disagreements. In the NBA and the MLB, there was not a significant difference in the racial composition between the upper managerial staff and their appointed team physicians, despite a difference in the racial composition between the upper managerial staff and the professional athletes. The racial biases of upper managerial staff members of professional athletic organizations may influence the appointment of racially diverse team physicians, which may impact the quality of care received by professional athletes.