Throughout the month of October, players on NFL and college football teams have been wearing pink cleats, socks, towels and, in the case of the University of Oregon, pink helmets to raise awareness for breast cancer.
But what is the point of all of these “Think Pink” initiatives in college athletics? Some would say it’s to raise awareness. If this is the case, the pink socks and towels succeeded because they remind viewers of the wide spread problem of breast cancer.
But then what? There I am sitting on my couch or watching the game from the stands and seeing all these athletes run around in pink cleats, but that’s the end of it. There is no call to action after the awareness.
Athletic departments spend thousands of dollars on pink apparel for their sports teams, but these products do not actually accomplish anything to benefit breast cancer patients. 
As fans, we are left wondering how to support breast cancer prevention research. For those watching from home, no graphic pops up on the TV providing concrete ways to support breast cancer. For fans at games, no announcement is made and nothing appears on the video board giving more information on breast cancer awareness.
The pink attire stems from good intentions, but seeing pink merchandise and apparel over and over again without any way to actually do something about breast cancer makes me wonder if teams wear pink just for the looks. The pink apparel seems more like a marketing ploy than a sincere effort to help breast cancer research.
Concerning the NFL, a report titled “Less than 10 percent of NFL pink merchandise sales go toward cancer research” by Marc Weinreich, said about eight percent of sales from pink NFL merchandise goes toward cancer research.
“The breakdown of how the money from sales of the apparel gets distributed is as follows: 50 percent to the retailer; 37.5 percent to the manufacturer; 8.1 percent to the American Cancer Society for research; 3.24 percent to the administration at the Society and 1.25 percent to the NFL,” the report stated.
Shouldn’t more than eight percent of the money go toward the actual cause of the apparel?
What if the NFL and college teams took the money spent on buying pink apparel and instead donated it to the American Cancer Society or gave it to families lacking the money to pay for breast cancer treatment? Sports could directly support breast cancer awareness by spending money in support of research rather than purchasing millions of pink towels, socks and cleats.
An article on espn.com by Darren Rovell said 25 of Oregon’s pink helmets would be auctioned to raise money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. Rovell said, “This is the first time the school (Oregon), known for its variety of uniform combinations, will wear pink helmets.”
The article did not mention the amount of money being raised compared to the amount of money spent, but I can imagine it was about as disproportionate as the money from the NFL.
Rovell also made it seem as if Oregon’s helmets did more to maintain the Ducks’ reputation of having cool uniforms than they did to support breast cancer.
Additionally, this makes me wonder if the athletes do anything besides wear the pink attire. I envision marketing departments throwing pink clothes to a sports team, and the players wearing the apparel and that being the end of it.
The month of October highlights breast cancer awareness and rightly so, but it rubs me the wrong way when sports team wear pink apparel to raise awareness but do not provide a call to action to follow the awareness.