‘Stick to sports’ rings hollow as athlete labor flexes muscles against racism

They’re not sticking to sports. They’re not shutting up and dribbling.

Not on the court, not on the field, not on the ice, not in the bubble or the Wubble, and not online.

Players. Coaches. Leagues. Governing bodies. Fans. Some team owners. At a time when sports have finally returned from hiatus amid an unprecedented pandemic and wave of national protest, athletes have found an opportunity to speak and act in solidarity to raise awareness and demand action to combat racism and inequality – and they’re getting some results.

That enrages some fans, pundits and even a U.S. president – check out the comment sections and Twitter and Facebook for “social justice warrior” used as a slur along with less polite language – but those who play, manage and own sports teams and leagues have begun to more fully embrace social justice messaging and action.

Black lives matter, and athletes want to enforce that.

The last full week of August saw teams – led by the players rather than their clubs or unions or leagues – opting not to practice or play in bids to draw attention to police brutality, killings, inequality, and other causes for which they have sought specific measures to fix.

There are hundreds of billions of dollars flowing through American sports, and the wildcat strikes have jarred leagues, corporate advertisers and broadcast partners into a semblance of an alliance with the players and their causes. New diversity, inclusion and anti-racism initiatives and spending are being announced almost daily.

And to the dismay of angry critics who demand sports be nothing more than their personal escape from life’s woes, the broad flex of athletic labor muscle seems unlikely to recede. The old status quo is dead, according to observers whose job it is to write and educate about race and sports.

While “stick to sports” and “shut up and dribble” may still be the fallback for critics, such demands are increasingly falling on deaf ears, said Louis Moore, a professor at Grand Valley State University in Michigan who specializes in African American, civil rights and sports history. He’s written books about the history of Black athletes and their fights for equality.

Moore pointed to a quote from Muhammad Ali about why the iconic boxer and civil rights activist wouldn’t stay quiet: “I’ve heard over and over, how come I couldn’t be like Joe Louis and Sugar Ray. Well, they’re gone now, and the Black man’s condition is just the same. Ain’t it? We’re still catching hell.”

Here’s is Moore’s explanation for why that quote resonates today: “In many ways, I see this as a counter to that old ‘shut up and play’ idea. Joe, although he talked about beating Jim Crow, was quiet, a symbol of American democracy, that rarely rocked the boat. And it was precisely because ‘shut up and play’ didn’t change the status of Black Americans that the Black athlete got involved in the movement. So, today, athletes could remain quiet like the right-wing media suggests, but Black folks will still be catching hell.”

And there’s where the protests of today come in. They’re pressure campaigns aimed at establishment power and its money.

“(The athletes) understand that those with the power to change the things are billionaire owners that they can lean on to make change,” Moore said. “Leagues can put pressure on cities, owners can put pressure on cities. This is where their power lays, putting pressure on people above them.”

The owners, mostly white and mostly billionaires, are almost all deeply connected to the halls of political and economic power that can directly influence efforts to reduce systemic racism and inequality at the local, state and national level.

“What these men and women have done largely is open the door for conversation with these billionaires that do have access to power,” said Kenneth Shropshire, CEO of the Global Sport Institute at Arizona State and a professor at the school. He’s also a professor emeritus at the Wharton School and has authored a book about the experience of Black athletes in America.

The handful of NFL, MLB and NBA team owners contacted by The Athletic mostly declined comment.

“I’m not going to comment at all until the players get to speak out about what’s important to them. This is their moment to make their points,” Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said via email.

One who did speak is New York Giants co-owner and CEO John Mara. In a brief phone conversation, Mara said he and the coaching staff have talked to the players about their concerns and causes, and that the team opted not to skip practice (but did briefly delay one) as the Detroit Lions and other clubs have done.

“We’re very supportive of players using their voices and platforms,” Mara said, adding that the Giants have organized nine groups to work with specific social justice causes.

“Our players have been great at lending their time and doing things, more than making statements,” he said. “We continue to communicate with players, to understand where they’re coming from. What we do in the community is the most important thing.”

As for chatter that NFL players may opt to sit out games, Mara declined to address it directly.

“I don’t want to predict what will happen in the future,” Mara said. “Hopefully we’re not in a situation in which guys boycott. We’ll deal with that situation if it arises.”

The leagues are business entities that are ultimately operated at the behest of owners, and the NFL and NHL both announced new anti-racism, diversity, inclusion, and get-out-the-vote efforts last week. Other leagues have done so this summer, and in the past, and more efforts are likely coming.

Teams and leagues are adding leadership positions to address some of the issues raised by athletes and others. For example, the Jacksonville Jaguars in August announced that chief marketing officer Julian Duncan would add the duties of senior vice president of social responsibility and impact to his portfolio. He works alongside former longtime NFL tight end Marcus Pollard, the team’s director of player engagement, a role that includes social justice efforts.

The Jags PR staff said on Friday that Duncan and Pollard, who are both Black, are unavailable for comment while the team continues to build out its social impact department and initiatives.

Jacksonville is the only NFL franchise that’s solely minority-owned, by Pakistani-born American billionaire auto supplier Shahid Khan. He is one of just a small group of non-White male owners among the 150 teams in the U.S. major leagues, and the lone Black controlling owner is Michael Jordan of the Charlotte Hornets.

Across sports, there has been a spate of promotion and hiring of diversity and inclusion executives this year.

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The history of American sports has notable examples of individuals and teams who have stood up for causes, but they’ve tended to be singular acts, such as Ali refusing to be inducted into the military in 1967 and Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists on the medal stand in 1968. A handful of Black football players at Syracuse University opted not to play in 1970 because of racism and inequality in the program. In the early 1990s, activist Chicago Bulls guard Craig Hodges couldn’t find an NBA job after he was cut – despite having won three straight 3-point shooting contests at the All-Star Game.

Resistance and activism were often costly as the athletes, at least for a time, became pariahs.

Moore noted that there are a few past examples of players refusing to play in protest over racism, including the 1965 AFL All-Star Game in New Orleans. Various accounts show that Black players were refused service by cabs, clubs and restaurants in the city, so they refused to play – and the league moved the game to Houston. Both New Orleans and Houston had to desegregate in the 1960s to land the Saints and Astros as expansion teams, Moore said.

In recent years, the avatar for athlete activism has been ex-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, whose decision to quietly kneel during the national anthem in 2016 in protest of police brutality and racial inequality cost him his career. His kneeling led to then-candidate and later President Donald Trump’s criticism of Kaepernick and anyone else kneeling and roiled the NFL internally.

Those actions over the decades laid the groundwork. The pandemic, while a global tragedy, became an opportunity for current athletes to act in solidarity with messaging, demands and in some cases, the decision not to play – something that clearly rattled the sports establishment.

“The pandemic overlay accelerates things,” Shropshire said. “Unlike labor unrest or a strike or walkout, (not playing is) something that can happen at any moment, not subject to being in the midst of a labor agreement.”

The combination of the pandemic putting millions of people at home instead of at work, sports being idled then slowly restarting, and an especially divisive presidential election season was the firewood. The spark was a fresh wave of Black citizens being killed or wounded by police — George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake most notably – this an example of what the athletes say is the deadly systemic racism they’re trying to fix.

An added layer of effectiveness for the athlete and general protests is that it hasn’t just been Black college and professional athletes – they have allies.

“There’s not much new about George Floyd. We have been here before. We’ve been saying Black Lives Matter. We’ve even had video evidence of a Black man saying, ‘I can’t breathe.’ What is new, is the allies, mainly white people, who gave a damn,” said Amira Davis, an assistant professor of history and African American studies at Penn State. She’s writing a book about the history of Black women’s athletic labor and symbolic representation and co-hosts the feminist sports podcast Burn It All Down.

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Criticism of the athletes, leagues and media also has been loud and often toxic, but audience metrics show they’re distinctly in the minority of fans (even if the most vocal of them are able to gum up any given comment section with ad hominem attacks, sophistry, and nonsequiturs).

Recent polling suggests fans are largely behind what athletes are doing. A June survey of 1,000 American fans that forms the basis of the “Promoting Racial Equality in Sports” study by Nielsen revealed that nearly 70 percent of sports fans support Black Lives Matter. Here is the breakdown by league:

• NBA 76 percent
• MLS 75 percent
• NFL 72 percent
• MLB 69 percent
• NASCAR 67 percent
• NHL 66 percent

The margin of error is roughly 4 percentage points, per Nielsen.

Networks that spend billions of dollars to air live sports are increasingly on board with the protests because they understand that the coveted younger viewers are supportive of the causes espoused by the athletes, said veteran broadcast industry analyst and consultant Lee Berke.

The broadcasters and leagues have seen the data, he said.

“Fans are, in vast majority, looking for their sports to be socially relevant, to pick up causes of social justice and protest against racial inequality,” Berke said. “That’s where the next generation of fans want their sports to be. The reality is there is a new generation of fans saying, ‘This is what I want to see.’”

As Baby Boomers and Gen Xers get older, leagues and broadcasters want to appeal to younger fans.

“If you’re any sport, you’re looking to attract the next generation of fans. That’s why you make the rules to make the game faster. That’s why you move games from broadcast to satellite and streaming,” Berke said. “You want to remain culturally and socially relevant. A lot has changed, and sports need to reflect that change.”

And in the vanguard of that change is pro basketball, he said, and other leagues are following.

“The NBA is tremendously culturally relevant right now and that’s where you want to be,” Berke said. “That’s why you’re seeing the NFL say, ‘We’re going to support Black Lives Matter’ and support social justice messages on helmets and shoes. That’s a change from even a year ago. It’s echoing through every sport and every league. We’re well beyond Kaepernick.”

In a remarkable shift, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell this summer said he and the league should have listened to Kaepernick in 2016 about why he was kneeling and said that players who kneel to protest racism and inequality are not unpatriotic or disloyal. The conversation occurred in a conversation with former Browns and Eagles linebacker Emmanuel Acho and his “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man” video series.

“What they were trying to do is exercise their right to bring attention to something that needs to get fixed. And that misrepresentation of who they were and what they were doing was the thing that really gnawed at me,” Goodell said during the interview.

The commissioner is showing public contrition, but Kaepernick, who declined comment through one of his close advisers, remains out of the NFL.

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It’s not just the pandemic that makes the summer of athlete activism unprecedented – and it truly is just that, experts say. Labor is finding power in the moment and using traditional and social media to demand change.

“They have everybody’s attention,” Moore said. “If they want to talk about policing, you have to listen. It’s a powerful moment to spark conversation and make change.”

What’s making it especially potent is solidarity. There have been work stoppages across several leagues and sports, and athletes have taken to displays of protest and activism on social media, with shirts and other displays, along with specific demands for action.

“You can’t punish a whole league. These players have power when they unite,” Moore said. “The risks are limited. Everybody is kneeling now; you’re not that isolated figure. You see Giannis (Antetokounmpo) protesting and that’s huge. He’s just part of the crowd. This is a mass movement. He’s not out there alone.”

Shropshire noted the timing of the current protests is especially important because basketball and hockey are in their critical playoff portion of the season.

“It’s surprising every time I think about it. Most surprising is how widely it spread and how quickly across sports, and the unity that occurred,” Shropshire said. “It was pretty dramatic.”

Still, there’s no guarantee activism won’t jeopardize an athlete’s career. Most are not stars with gargantuan contracts.

“The risks are still real in the sense that Kaepernick never got his job back,” Moore said.

Loss of endorsement deals, which can earn an athlete far more than their game checks, has long been a threat for any athlete that runs afoul of the establishment. That said, Black athletes until the 1970s didn’t traditionally land many lucrative endorsements, but today they command millions. And brands such as Nike have shown they’re willing to work alongside athletes, or even on their own, on social justice efforts, Moore said.

“Now, we’re at a point they realize they can make that company do things in their community,” he said.

Corporate buy-in is a sea change, Davis said.

“Suddenly, corporations are saying Black Lives Matter, leagues are saying they need to engage. That’s where the tide had turned,” she said.

There always is fear that the corporate messaging and measures are insincere, and the movement is at risk of being commodified, Davis said, but the broad scope of the current activism wave helps mitigate that.

“The corporate response in June was ‘Black Lives Matter’ and it’s harder now to publicly stand against your Black players,” Davis said. “It’s harder to publicly admonish or contain outspokenness about Black Lives Matter because you tweeted it from your corporate account. It definitely has changed things in that it puts corporations and advertising partners in a little bit of a corner.”

The risks are worth it not just because of the nobility of the cause of equality and literally saving lives, but because athletes find themselves cast aside from their careers for purely ice-cold business reasons. And then they can find themselves as a face in the crowd without a platform. Athletes still on a roster, and Black team executives, also have been subject to racism and mistreatment at the hands of authorities.

“The fame and fortune don’t insulate them from these things. They’re a broken leg away from being disposable,” Davis said.

Another risk amid the wave of athlete activism is that some voices can get lost. The WNBA, while it doesn’t have the audience or stature of the legacy major leagues, has been a leader in social justice causes and activism for years, Davis said.

“Women across sports that have been speaking up and taking action, and I think they are less listened to, not quite afforded the same platform,” she said. “Especially when the WNBA has been leading with the most decisive action and doing it as a league, each team engaging in it. Some really amazing Black women college athletes have been completely written out of the narrative of college organizing. It’s wild to watch, in real-time, erasure.”

While pro athletes have been in the spotlight recently, Davis said college athletes have made important contributions to anti-racism and anti-brutality efforts.

“Historically, you’ve seen individual actions and fleeting moments – the Clippers refusing to play to get Donald Sterling out,” Davis said. “At the college level, there has been more refusals to play, more strikes.”

She pointed to University of Missouri football players threatening to not play in 2015 – not long after the Ferguson, Mo., civil unrest after a police killing of a Black man named Michael Brown – because of racism on campus, an action that forced the school president to resign after his bungled responses to students.

The threat of no football shook things up.

“Nothing was moving the needle, but then the Black football players worked with the Black student union, said they’re not going to play, and within 48 hours the president resigned,” Davis said. “The money tied up in sports has increased the platform.”

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Will the activism produce long-term tangible results that stick, and profoundly move the needle toward a more equitable society while reducing state violence against minorities?

“That’s the toughest question because we’re dealing with police brutality. It’s not like Jim Crow that was on the books, or to get a stadium integrated,” Moore said.

There’s no easy answer, Shropshire said.

“It really is a unique moment in time,” he said. “We all want to see some actual positive impact come out of this. None of us know what the right answer is in terms of what that is. We need to let things play out and think through about what steps are needed.”

It’s not easy to caution patience as people are dying and demonstrators are clashing with police in the streets. But defeating systemic racism and changing attitudes takes time.

“It’s not going to change in three months. You chip away and smash those forms of racism out there that do deeply impact Black communities,” said Richard Lapchick, a longtime human rights activist and head of the University of Central Florida’s The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport that grades leagues on racial and gender diversity.

Lapchick, who is White and has spent his life trying to end racism in sports, said this summer is the most important era of sports protest he’s witnessed in 50 years, and is optimistic that over time, diversity will win out in sports.

“(Protest opponents) are going to try to continue to protect their white privilege. It’s not going to work anymore because of the shift in fan attitudes,” he said.

It’s critical to monitor not just the demands from athletes and other activists, but the actual roll-out of initiatives, their funding, and who gets the money, Davis said.

“The question now is, what will those initiatives look like and are they sufficient? How will they be funded and who will manage them? How will leadership respond to more athlete actions like refusal to play?” she said.

To combat worry that fan, media, and public attention will fade, and attention will return to action on the court and field, athletes have to rely on the threat of future work stoppages as a tool, Moore said.

“They’ve done it once, they have the ability to do it again,” he said. “Their moment right now is in the bubble to apply pressure.”

(Top photo of Damian Lillard: Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images)