The new politics of sport

Abstract

Since 2020, the politics of sport have been transformed: traditional assumptions about the role of sport in exercising its power and exerting its influence in areas once regarded as taboo have changed. This commentary paper is based on qualitative responses drawn from an online sample of 1067 participants, who were invited to share their perspectives on a variety of issues regarding the politics of sport. It documents the end of the separation of sport and politics and explores how fans respond to sport’s new involvement in social and moral affairs, such as racism and other forms of inequality. The majority of fans understand that sport offers an effective platform and think it should use its capacity to influence change. However, a minority maintain that sport’s independence from political and social spheres should remain.

Keywords:

• Athlete activism
• sports fans
• social media
• Black Lives Matter
• politics

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.