By Dr. Matthew Williams |
Society has long used sports as a communication outlet to bring attention to politics and wars. But now a different type of movement appears in the United States known as the Woke movement. This movement is more of an aggressive movement that covers social inequality, racism, gender, sexual orientation, and inclusiveness. The Woke movement is being inserted into Professional Sport Leagues and some Professional Teams at an alarming rate.
The Woke movement started with the NFL and the NBA when they addressed the death of George Floyd in which both professional leagues brought awareness of Social Injustice and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Just recently there were some NHL, players that refused to participate in the pregame warm-up-skate, wearing Jerseys in support of the LGBTQ+ community Pride Night. Siting their religious beliefs.
Now the Los Angeles Dodgers plan to have pride night where they have invited a controversial LGBTQ anti-Catholic group known as the Sisters of the Perpetual Indulgence to attend pride night. This invite by the Los Angeles Dodgers organization has offended some of its fan base. It has also forced some players in the organization to speak out against the group being invited to pride night. The players believe that you should not make a mockery of any religion.
Professional Sports leagues and professional teams should take an intense look at what has happened to Companies that have embraced the woke movement. A prime example is Bud Light a product of Anheuser-Busch-InBev that has recently been dealing with a woke backlash from its consumers because of the Dylan Mulvaney TikTok post celebrating her 365-day anniversary of being a transgender woman. Target has also faced a woke backlash from its consumers due to its selling LGBTQ kids’ clothing. Both of these companies have lost billions of Dollars from their decision to be involved in the woke movement.
Professional Sport Leagues and some professional teams need to be cautious with the woke movement. If not, they could witness a backlash from their sport fans who no longer want to support them because of their involvement with the woke movement. Resulting in lost revenue from ticket sales, souvenir sales, and television viewership.
Dr. Matthew Williams is an Associate Professor of Sport Management at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise and is an avid NASCAR fan.