Professional athletics has gotten involved in the Black Lives Matter protests and in various ways is rubbing fans’ noses in that involvement, with slogans on the field or court, on uniforms or helmets and with kneeling protests during the national anthem. Many have argued this is a financial, if not an ideological, mistake.
You are acquainted with the Venn diagram, overlapping circles representing various characteristics? How big do you imagine the overlap might be between the politics represented by those protests, and the politics of your typical NFL or NBA fan? My guess: darned small.
There are plenty of people who share the views of those players, but how many of them do you believe are pro football or basketball fans? Who will shell out the big bucks for a ticket? A lot less than half? Wouldn’t you guess the politics of fandom is mostly right wing? I would. Probably more so with the NFL than the NBA, although I can’t say exactly why I believe that.
Should there be a connection between politics and athletics? The ubiquity of patriotic displays at games suggests there is one. Perhaps it is the people attracted as fans.
I’ve got a way they can test my hypothesis, announce they’ll stop playing/singing the national anthem before games. See what the protests look like, if they dare try it. Maybe nobody cares, but that isn't they way I'd bet.
