“That’s it. i’m done with this team!”: public reactions to NFL teams’ racial activism as a function of social identity management

ABSTRACT

This study utilizes social identity theory to explore fan responses to the NFL teams’ racial advocacy on Twitter at the start of the 2020 football season. A content analysis of 2,868 direct replies and their corresponding user profiles was conducted. Findings supported SIT’s propositions about in-group bias, with commenters being more supportive and less critical of the activist messaging from the official accounts of teams for whom they express fandom. In contrast to expectations, out-group fans were also more supportive, while non-expressive users were the most active and critical of activist messaging. A post-hoc analysis, subsequently, revealed support for the hierarchy of social identity postulate, with in-group fans with conservative political orientation being most likely to renounce their fandom for NFL teams. Collectively, this study speaks to the resistance toward racial advocacy in sport but also frames fan expression and identity as a means of understanding patterns within these conversations.

KEYWORDS:

• Activism
• race
• social identity theory
• social media
• sport

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Will Seaton

Will Seaton is a graduate student in the Clemson University Department of Communication and a Research Assistant for the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute. His research interests encompass popular culture narratives and how people engage with popular culture.

Gregory A Cranmer

Dr. GregoryA. Cranmer is an Associate Professor of Sports Communication at Clemson University, a Research Fellow of the US Center for Mental Health & Sport, and a Fellow of the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute. His research focuses on optimizing sporting experiences by making teams function more efficiently, protecting athletes from health risks, and assisting sports organizations in their interactions with the public.

Carla White

Carla White is a former graduate student in the Department of Communication at Clemson University.

Joseph Bober

Joseph Bober is a former graduate student in the Department of Communication at Clemson University.

Kaley Humphrey

Kaley Humphrey is a former graduate student in the Department of Communication at Clemson University.

Andrew Obeng

Andrew Obeng is a former graduate student in the Department of Communication at Clemson University.