Why so few Asians in American professional sports?

Why cultural differences and a lack of role models lead to Asian under representation in sports. And why this may soon change.

Jeremy Lin playing for Taiwan's Kaohsiung Steelers (Credit: Central News Agency)

Asian Americans are notoriously underrepresented in American professional sports. The reasons for this are not purely physical or racial, but have more to do with certain cultural differences and lack of role models. 

The figure above shows the representation of Asian Americans across different job types in 2021. The group was highly overrepresented in the computer, math, science and engineering fields. These jobs are often high-paying with some level of stability. 

The figure also shows the underrepresentation of Asians in sports.

Even in MLB, where there have been many notable Asian players, less than 4% of players have Asian ancestry today. In the NFL and NBA, Asians make up less than 1% of each league. It’s also more difficult to name great players from the past.

Some have speculated that Asian underrepresentation in sports may be related to Confucianism and Asian parents’ higher control over their children. This theory is outdated and simplistic. What it really comes down to is a cultural difference in the priority of education.

Asian parents, especially immigrant parents, want their children to be in stable, high-paying jobs. These often cannot be found in the sporting and entertainment industries. 

A career in professional sports is notoriously cut-throat. Less than 2% of college athletes go pro in the first place. Even if they do, their careers can end at any time. For some professional athletes, finding another job can be difficult as many don’t obtain an undergraduate degree.

A college degree has been traditionally associated with stability and higher-paying jobs. According to the Pew Research Center, 70% of Asian parents surveyed wanted their children to earn a college degree. Only 29% of White parents and 51% of Black parents said the same thing. 

Based on these results, Asian parents value a college education more than others. This can partially explain why there are so few professional Asian athletes. As a result, there are few Asian athlete role models.

MLB has a long history of successful Asian, especially Japanese players. Just to name a few: Hideo Nomo, Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki and Yu Darvish. Oh yeah, and Shohei Ohtani. It is no wonder why baseball has attracted so many Asian players. The American pastime has become an international game. 

The few Asian players in the NHL is not surprising. Asian players do exist, and these include Kailer Yamamoto, Matt Dumba and Jason Robertson. However, the league is primarily white, and there are few people of color of any variety. In this environment, it isn’t difficult to understand why so few Asians pursue hockey.

There are always a few Asians in the NBA but not many. One can’t tell the story about Asians in basketball without mentioning Hall-of-Famer Yao Ming. Yao was great, but his career was cut short due to injury. 

There’s also Jeremy Lin, a player who had arguably the most entertaining two weeks in the history of basketball. His time in the NBA was short and he currently plays in the Taiwanese league, away from the public eye. Some critics attribute this to discrimination against Asians in the NBA.

Yuta Watanabe and Rui Hachimura are notable players today. Hachimura especially looks promising and is popular in Japan. However, his recent success makes it difficult to measure his impact on young, Asian athletes.

Similarly, the NFL has very few Asian players. Perhaps the greatest of all time is Hines Ward. Ward is a two-time Super Bowl Champion and Super Bowl MVP with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Like Ward, Kyler Murray is half-Korean. The Cardinals’ quarterback has made two Pro Bowl appearances, but is recently under fire. With talented quarterbacks, like Caleb Williams, in the upcoming draft, some wonder if Murray is the long-term solution.

Both Ward and Murray are half-Asian and half-Black. The only purely Asian player is Younghoe Koo, a Korean kicker for the Atlanta Falcons. He is the highest-paid kicker in the league, but plays in a non-glamorous position. 

Very few of these players are the type to inspire a generation. It doesn’t help that there are so few of them in the first place.

This could soon change. Shohei Ohtani is the ultimate role model who transcends his sport. 

Shohei Ohtani playing for the Los Angels Angels (Credit: ESPN)

Ichiro is considered to be one of the greatest hitters in the history of baseball, but his game wasn’t sexy. In an era when players like Alex Rodriguez were consistently hitting more than 40 home runs, Ichiro can get overlooked.

Not Ohtani. He is a once-in-a-lifetime talent who is one of the best hitters and pitchers in the league. He hits home runs on a regular basis. Ohtani is a unicorn. He can be the ultimate role model that inspires Asian youth to pursue sports as a profession.