For those of you who are about to read this article please be aware that it contains information about sexual assault and sexual offenders, and may be triggering to some people.
Bob Kraft, owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots was charged by Florida’s with soliciting prostitution on February 25th 2019. Having no history of being involved in illicit activities outside of being punished by the NFL for the Patriots scandals of ‘spygate’ and ‘deflategate’, Kraft’s being charged in this scandal is the first time he has been charged with breaking any laws.
Humanrights.org writes that “Under U.S. law, trafficking in persons is defined as “sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age;” or “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.”’
According to humanrightsfirst.org, Human trafficking earns profits of roughly $150 billion a year for traffickers, according to the ILO report from 2014. Sexual exploitation accounts for 79 percent of human trafficking, according to the United Nations. An article from Interaction.org, states ‘In the United States, Enrile says, major events like the Super Bowl can draw three times the normal volume of sex trafficking.
Similar spikes show occur around big trade shows and other venues, “particularly if that conference or convention is very male oriented.”’ when discussing how major events have a high volume of sex trafficking, and especially when the event has a high number of males in attendance.
On a positive note, professional athletes and those in influential roles in the industry are working to overcome Sex trafficking and help survivors. According to ESPN The State of Human Trafficing and Sports, “Efe Obada of the Carolina Panthers, a survivor of human trafficking, made the final 53-man roster as the first player from the NFL International Pathway Program to do so.”
Sources: CNBC, Interaction