Should athletes publicly discuss politics? Should sports leagues take public stances on social issues? Are athletes here just for our entertainment, or do they have a bigger responsibility or role to play, given the large platforms they possess?
These are seemingly evergreen questions, but always newly energized whenever some sort of major social or political event arises in the public’s eye. And given recent events, like the murder of George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, and Ahmad Aubrey among others, and the subsequent protests sweeping the nation about racial injustice… this questions is yet again a hot topic of debate.
Just earlier this week, US Senator, Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) who is also partial owner of the WNBA team, the Atlanta Dream, asserted that politics had no place in sport: “What I see is politics coming into sports. No one asked politics to come into sports. Sports are about unifying people.”
While I don’t disagree with her that sports do serve bring people together in ways that little else can — I don’t share Loeffler’s implication that sports should be kept clean and pure of any sort of social or political commentary. Here’s why…
Sport holds a prominent place in the cultural fabric of our society. People play sport in every country on the planet — we’ve been obsessed with games since we invented them thousands of years ago. In America, most athletes are paid more and have greater social media following than movie stars or politicians. Even if you’re not a massive sports fan, I’d venture to guess that more people know who Lebron James or Serena Williams are, than names of the congressmen and women that represent them in Washington. And with that kind of reach and influence, sport has become a tremendously powerful lever for shaping public opinion, and furthermore, social change.
Roughly 16 million people watch any given NFL game on a Sunday afternoon. About 170 million people consider themselves to be baseball fans. Basketball star, Lebron James, has over 136 million followers between his Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. A recent Monmouth University poll suggested that roughly 56% of Americans consider themselves professional sports fans. I could go on. These numbers are staggering — shocking even. With that many fans, with that many eyeballs, with that many people watching, waiting, listening, it’s easy to deduce that sport occupies a massive space in our collective consciousness, especially in America.
Sport’s massive popularity leads to their huge platform, which in turn begets huge potential for influence.
popularity —> platform —> potential for influence
The question is: what are athletes and sports organizations saying saying? What are they doing? And does it even matter?
If you take a quick glance the social channels of athletes, the teams they play, on or the leagues they play in, you’ll see that the majority of their content focuses on sport itself. Action shots from the big game, videos of trick shots in practice, sweaty workouts, and the occasional glamour selfie with a motivational quote. But every once in awhile, something big happens in society at large and everyone starts weighing in, including athletes, teams, and organizations in the sports world. This happens en masse in large part because this thing — let’s for the sake of example, call it racism in America — affects LOTS of people.
Here’s a BRIEF highlight reel of just some of the athletes and organizations who have felt compelled in recent days and weeks to speak to current events and systemic racial injustice in America:
The NFL issued a statement saying that they were wrong for condemning and punishing player’s peaceful protests, like when Colin Kaepernick, former star quarterback for the San Fransisco 49ers, (and others) knelt respectfully during the National Anthem (2016) in an attempt to raise awareness about police brutality in America.
US Soccer, in turn, also issued a public statement announcing it was repealing a 2017 policy that mandated it’s players “stand respectfully” during the National Anthem. Megan Rapinoe, international soccer star and voted Best Fifa Women’s Player in 2019, chose to kneel in solidarity with Kaepernick, later saying: “Being a gay American, I know what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties. It was something small that I could do and something that I plan to keep doing in the future and hopefully spark some meaningful conversation around it.”
Lebron James, NBA superstar, has been especially vocal about issues of racial injustice in recent weeks on social media, reaching hundreds of millions of people worldwide. James has long said that he believes his greatest legacy will come from his off-the-court achievements. Given recent events, has started a nonprofit called More Than a Vote, aimed at inspiring African-Americans to register and to cast a ballot in the 2020 election.
Athletes in the NBA and the WNBA plan to display social justice messages on their jerseys for their upcoming, albeit shortened, seasons. Jerseys could show messages like “I can’t breathe”, “Black Lives Matter”, or even the actual names of people killed by racial violence. Several high profile players on the men’s and women’s side (i.e. Kyrie Irving, Maya Moore, Natasha Cloud, among others) are choosing to sit out of the upcoming season, opting to instead dedicate themselves fully to the cause off the court.
Naomi Osaka, tennis star and the highest paid female athlete in the world, has been using her social media to advocate for and support the Black Lives Matter movement. She has an acute awareness and has explicitly noted that the voices of prominent athletes can be more influential than those of politicians, and she intends for her voice to be heard. She has marched for the cause in Minneapolis and in Los Angeles, and says she’s proud to see Black Lives Matter protests happening all the way in Japan, the country she represents on the international stage. “So I’m hopeful for change, I’ll keep campaigning for change, and I demand a better future for the next generation.”
NASCAR recently banned the presence of the Confederate flag from all of their future events, a move that was met with much pushback from core segments of its fan base who see the flag as a symbol of their Southern Heritage. “To you, it might seem like heritage, but others see hate,” said Bubba Watson, the sole African-American driver in the top racing series. A few days after the ban, other NASCAR drivers pushed and walked alongside Watson’s car as a sign of support and solidarity at iconic race track, Talledega Superspeedway.
Nike made public comments about their commitment to diversify hiring practices and address systemic racism within their organization, and also announced they would make Juneteenth, a day celebrating the end of slavery in the US, a corporate holiday. Other major brands and organizations have followed suit.
This is just a small handful of the examples I could cite; there are many, many more.
Every one of the aforementioned athletes, leagues, companies, received backlash and heat for their public stances, told to “stay in their lane” or “shut up and dribble.” But when society is wrestling with massive social issues, it’s nearly impossible to draw nice clean lines around it, and only discuss in “designated” or “worthy” spaces and places. And even if that were possible, I don’t think that’d be a good thing. Are issues of political importance only to be discussed by formal politicians? Does their title make them the only people “qualified” to hold an informed opinion on topics of social and political life in America?
Of course not.
I think EVERYONE should be at least a little bit informed or invested in what’s happening in the world around them. Meaningful discussion and Informed public discourse is critical to a healthy democracy. Athletes have the right to express an opinion, just as much as the next person. And if they want to share that opinion via their social media channels that just HAPPEN to have millions of followers, so be it. That’s their right.
If sport brings more people into the fold who would normally be uninformed about issues of importance or what’s happening in society— I think that’s a really good thing.
Sports are so much more than just entertainment. And athletes? They’re people with thoughts, ideas, values, and a voice, just like you and me… they just happen to have massive platforms to speak from. And if Karen from work and racist Uncle Bob are entitled to their own opinion about what’s going down, Lebron and Serena should be entitled to their opinion too.
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