Keith Strudler: The Voice Of Sport

In the midst of all of this, sports may seem somewhat insignificant. And by all of this, of course, I mean the greatest pandemic in at least 100 years coupled now with America’s invigorated fight towards racial justice on top of a heightened speed towards perhaps the most consequential presidential election in the history of the Republic. So, all that said, there’s probably less riding on whether or not the US Open Tennis tournament can move ahead. Although as a tennis fan, I’ll go on record hoping it does.

That said, time is money, and right now both leagues and athletes within them are trying to navigate both the economics and politics of the moment. Which means that at the same sports are putting together a Covid testing strategy, they’re also deciding their place in the national dialogue around race, which to be clear is always part of the DNA of elite sport in the US. If you wanted to find a place where racial politics and economics collide, it would be hard to find anyplace more apparent than American sports.

With that, we’ve seen several prominent athletes and organizations speak about both protests and the killing of George Floyd. Some have these are notable simply because of their mere existence. For example, Michael Jordan, often assumed apolitical to a fault, released a statement calling for justice. So did Derek Jeter. And Tom Brady. For the most part, those aren’t exactly the three athletes we expect to enter the fray of political messaging. No one is going to confuse Jordan with Tommy Smith. And to be clear, none of those three were marching the streets of Minneapolis. Still, the sheer number and breadth of athletes releasing public statements is enough to take note.

We’ve seen similar posturing from leagues and teams and university programs. Ohio State Football released a video of athletes speaking with a Black Lives Matter hashtag. Major League Baseball stressed its intolerance of racial injustice, as did a whole lot of teams and owners. Some coaches made public statements, others – like Brad Stevens of the Celtics – sent a note to his players letting them know he’s with them. The New York Knicks were notable in not releasing a statement, and has taken criticism for that posture. But to be fair, it’s the Knicks. So it’s really hard to expect anything more than base incompetence.

For the most part, and without seeming overly cynical, it’s not only right for pro and elite sport to support racial justice. It’s also good business. Some sports leagues in particular – say the NBA – understand the benefits of being on the right side of history, something current commissioner Adam Silver has realized in supporting the increasingly political voice of the League’s predominantly African-American labor force. The NFL released a bit more cautious statement, one that took some heat from some players for its lack of teeth. And of course, this only further highlights the fumbled handling of Colin Kaepernick’s protest and subsequent banishment. And not for nothing, in light of America’s current condition, Kaepernick’s kneeling seems like a pretty innocuous mode of expression right about now.

But regardless of how much any one particular athlete or teams said, it’s clear that sport and its participants have a place at the table of this discussion. In this country, people do value the perspective of sport in the conversation about race. And athletes rightfully want their voice heard. Both of these ideas are inconsistent with the tired narrative that sports should stay clear of politics, as if that’s even possible.

Of course, right now, sport stands in something of a limbo. We’re not sure when it’s coming back and in what form. No one knows what college sports is going to look like a year from now, and we can’t possibly tell what amateurism might mean when the dust settles. Some sports may barely hang on – say, minor league baseball. And others may have to change entire business models. One way or another, when we move past Covid, sport, like everything, will be different.

Which is exactly why now, more than ever, is the right time for teams, athletes, leagues, to remember that at the heart of what they do isn’t just making money. It’s helping us to negotiate the larger social construct of life. Now that athletes are freed momentarily of the daily grind and even guarantee of a massive paycheck, they can perhaps focus on their power, their authority, their standing in the landscape of the great American experiment. They have significant voice, and, despite what it might seem, sport is most definitely not insignificant right now.

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