The Influence and Interpretation of NFL Sports Activism

• In Event: More Than Leisure and Play: Race and Gender Politics in American Sport

Abstract

Recently sports elites and in particular National Football League (NFL) players have made political statements in favor or against several policy issues associated with race. Extant research reveals that political and sports elite rhetoric can have a robust impact on individuals’ policy stances, particularly when recipients of persuasive messages share an in-group identity with the messenger and when the information is somewhat surprising or counter-stereotypical. Still, our knowledge of the influence of sports elite policy statements, particularly on policies associated with race, is quite limited and the few extant studies on this topic (such as Wilkinson, Michelson and Webster 2021) have reached inconclusive results. This study builds on research conducted by Haynes et al. (2016) and Harrison and Michelson (2017) and tackles the limitations of extant scholarship with several research questions. To what extent do NFL players’ Twitter statements on topics associated with criminal justice reform and Black Lives Matter affect public attitudes and behavior? In particular, to what extent does exposure to an NFL players’ dissonant statement on police brutality, the oppression of Black bodies and bail bond reform shape an in- group members’ attitudes toward that topic? To what extent does an individual’s partisan identification, education level and race mediate the relationship between exposure to a sports player’s dissonant statement and in-group members’ attitudes toward criminal justice reform? Are sports elite dissonant statements on policies that are not divisive and partisan relative to those that are partisan more effective in shaping in-group members’ policy stances? Additionally, are sports elite dissonant statements on policies that are not salient relative to those that are salient more effective in shaping in-group members’ policy stances? What do individuals think about NFL players making public statements on a race topic? Do individuals differ in their favorability toward NFL player statements based on the race topic presented (e.g., immigration versus criminal justice reform versus Black Lives Matter)? What are individuals’ thought patterns when exposed to NFL players’ statements on race topics? We examine these questions by analyzing data from two national Internet-based survey experiments and focus group data of college students in a Southern city. Not only does this study expand the research on the influence of elite rhetoric in shaping public opinion and behavior but it also bridges three unlikely comparable fields of research: sports elite rhetoric, public opinion and criminal justice.

References:

Harrison, Brian F., and Melissa R. Michelson. (2017). Listen, We Need to Talk: How to Change Attitudes about LGBT Rights. New York: Oxford University Press.
Haynes, Chris, Jennifer Merolla, and S. Karthick Ramakrishnan. 2016. Framing Immigrants: News Coverage, Public Opinion and Policy. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Wilkinson, Betina Cutaia, Melissa Michelson and Lexi Webster. 2021. “NFL Elite Rhetoric, NFL Fan Identity and Immigration Policy Stances.” A working manuscript.

Authors

• Betina Cutaia Wilkinson, Wake Forest University

• Lisa Kiang