I like to read the comments on my articles when they're shared on social media, though that's not to say that every piece of feedback that I read is particularly pleasant. That's okay — not everyone has to agree with everything that I say. Some comments are interesting for reasons that go beyond applauding — or criticizing — my work, though.
One comment pattern caught my eye this year that I hadn't seen with such a high frequency up to this point in time. Comments that said something along the lines of, "who cares... I don't watch the NBA any more," or, "not watching the NFL this season," or, "I stopped watching MLB this year," give or take a few select words.
A poll conducted by YouGov / Yahoo News may hold the answer as to why these types of messages popped up in the comments on certain stories. Apparently, these comments indicated the truth. People were, in fact, watching sports with less frequency in 2020.
Of the 1,601 adults that participated as respondents in the poll, 34.5 percent said that they are watching less sports on TV as a result of political and social messaging that became a prominent feature of broadcasts, stemming from social justice movements in the wake of racial violence and police brutality (via Jay Busbee of Yahoo! Sports). Alternatively, only 11 percent said that they watch more sports because of this messaging. The majority, at around 56.3 percent, said that their viewing habits did not change.
Busbee also noted that the poll results had significant disparities based on the political party affiliations of the participants. While 19 percent of Democrats said that they watched less sports because of the social justice movements, 53 percent of Republicans answered that way. On the other hand, only 8.6 percent of Republicans said that they watched more, while the figure for Democrats was 13.7 percent.
As is the case with most polls without a full sample size, there was a margin of error, which Busbee notes was plus/minus 2.7 percent.
It remains to be seen how certain sports' 2021 broadcast presentations will feature social justice and political messaging, though the NBA has looked different. The courts used in the NBA's Orlando bubble featured "Black Lives Matter" messages in prominent locations and players wore messages on the backs of their jerseys in 2020, and this has not been the case in the 2021 season. We'll see what the case is for other sports soon enough.
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