Theses and Dissertations

The ongoing Global Coronavirus Pandemic has been upheving social norms for over a year at this point. For countless people, our lives look very different at this point in time than they did before the pandemic began. Quarantine, Shelter in Place, Work from Home, and Online classes have led global populations to become less active leading to an increase in sedentary lifestyles. The final impact of this consequence is unknown, but emerging studies have led to concrete evidence of decreased physical and mental wellbeing, particularly in children. VirusFreeSports was the brainchild of three ASU Honors students who sought to remedy these devastating consequences by creating environments where children can participate in sports and exercise safely, free of the threat COVID-19 or other transmissible illnesses. The ultimate goal for the project team was to build traction for their idea, which culminated in a video pitch sent to potential investors. Although largely created as an exercise and we did not create a full certification course, merely a prototype through a website with sample questions to gauge interest, the project was a success as a large target market for this product was identified that showed great promise. Our team believes that early entrance to the market, as well as the lack of any other competitors would give the team a tremendous advantage in creating an impactful and influential service.

Performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) have been consumed by athletes in organized sport for as long as the games have been around. Regulation of PEDs began at the turn of this century for many sports, but specific rules vary for each organized body. The inconsistency in regulations has resulted in different length suspensions, even for the same doping offense. What follows is an analysis of the current PED suspensions among the three major sports in the U.S., the MLB, NBA, and NFL, and all other amateur sports that fall under WADA. Various reasons for why the major U.S. sports are not signatories to the World Anti-Doping Code are discussed, along with an in-depth examination of each organization’s banned substances list. A survey collected further data to explain the effect PEDs have on sports fans and non-sports fans alike. A recommendation is made for harmonization of sanctions across global sport. Although it is very unlikely that U.S. sports will ever fall under the jurisdiction of WADA, an independent anti-doping agency for major American sports would be feasible, transparent, and effective at treating athletes more fairly. Furthermore, if this agency focused more on increasing monetary fines for doping violations, rather than increasing suspension lengths, they may be more successful than current policy at lessening PED prevalence.