A new Gallup poll shows that the sports industry has a negative view among Americans as a whole, with 30% viewing it positively and 40% negatively, for a -10 net-positive score. This contrasts with the +20 net positive image the industry scored in '19, when 45% viewed it positively and 25% negatively. In its latest poll, the biggest slide has been for the sports industry, with its positive score falling 15 points -- from 45% to 30%. Sports has lost more support from Republicans and independents than from Democrats. In fact, Democrats' view of the sports industry has not changed significantly in the past year, while Republicans' has slipped from a +11 net-positive score in '19 to a net -35 today, and independents' from +26 to -10. The sports industry's image also has deteriorated more among women than men, and among older adults than those younger than 35. Sports also has lost more support from non-White than White Americans (GALLUP.com, 9/8).
GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT? In Pittsburgh, John Steigerwald cited the Gallup poll and wrote, "Maybe mixing politics with sports wasn't such a good idea." When sports returned from an almost three-month absence, there was a "major emphasis on sending a message, almost to the point of making the games secondary." Many fans at Thursday's Texans-Chiefs game booed the pregame moment of unity, and that "raised the question among most of the media, 'Who boos unity?'" Steigerwald: "Maybe they weren't booing unity. Maybe they were saying, 'Just give me some football'" (TRIBLIVE.com, 9/13).
