Fans don’t want politics with sports
No more themed jerseys after enough NHL players, teams rejected Pride nights
This collision has been brewing for some time for one of the professional sports leagues, and in this instance the NHL blinked.
In deciding that there would be no warm-up jerseys with themes beginning in the 2023-24 season, the NHL made multiple people unhappy. Many NHL players didn’t mind being pawns in the LGBTQ culture war. After all, NHL rosters are filled with Canadians, Swedes, Finns, Germans, and more than enough Americans who seek an “inclusive” NHL–whatever that means. However, enough players refusing to go along caused the NHL to quit the business of themed jerseys during warmups.
The NHL learned the hard way that sports and politics are a toxic combination. It remains to be seen when the sports world will abide by a simple rule: fans don’t want politics with their sports.
“That’s just become more of a distraction from really the essence of what the purpose of these nights are,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in an interview to Sportsnet, as reported by the Associated Press. “We’re keeping the focus on the game. And on these specialty nights, we’re going to be focused on the cause.”
Teams will still celebrate Pride and other theme nights, including military appreciation and Hockey Fights Cancer. The NHL will do other things, such as produce jerseys to be autographed and sold to raise money. However, players won’t wear those during warmups.
“Today’s decision means that the over 95% of players who chose to wear a Pride jersey to support the community will now not get an opportunity to do so,” the NHL said in a statement on June 22. “The work to make locker rooms, board rooms and arenas safer, more diverse, and more inclusive needs to be ongoing and purposeful, and we will continue to work with our partners at the NHL, including individual teams, players, agents and the NHLPA to ensure this critical work continues.”
During the 2022-23 season, the NHL experienced several bumps on designated Pride nights. Players who spurned the wearing of Pride-themed warm-up jerseys included Canadiens right wing Denis Gurianov, Canucks forward Andrei Kuzmenko, Sabres defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin, as well as -Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov, Sharks goalie James Reimer, Panthers center Eric Staal and Florida defenseman Marc Staal.
Provrov started the acts of conscience when he declined to wear the Pride warm-up jersey because he’s Russian Orthodox. Did Bettman and the owners not consider that this kind of thing could happen?
When Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers won the Hart Trophy, the NHL MVP award, last week, he voiced support for Pride warm-up jerseys.
“It’s disappointing to see,” McDavid said. “It’s not my call, but obviously it’s disappointing. … I certainly can’t speak for every organization. “I know in Edmonton, we were one of the first teams to use the Pride tape. We strongly feel hockey is for everybody, and that includes the Pride nights.”
Reimer, 35, did not play in the March 18 game against the New York Islanders after the team released a statement on his behalf. He said that while he has "no hate in my heart for anyone," he would not "endorse something that is counter to my personal convictions, which are based on the Bible, the highest authority in my life."
Reimer explained: "For all 13 years of my NHL career, I have been a Christian, not just in title but in how I choose to live my life daily. I have a personal faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for my sins and, in response, asks me to love everyone and follow Him."
Besides players taking a stance based on their faith, some of the Russian players cited a Kremlin law that forbids promotion of LGBT, The Christian Post story on this issue reported. That led the Chicago Blackhawks to not don their Pride-themed warmup sweaters, reportedly due to security concerns over the Russian law. The Minnesota Wild and the New York Rangers also retracted their Pride nights.
MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers took a PR beating with their Pride Night that involved the dubious Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The group was disinvited by the Dodgers, and then public pressure compelled them to reinvite the group that dresses as nuns who engage in sexually-suggestive acts. What the LGBTQ group calls satire Christians call blasphemy.
A couple of Dodgers players took very public stands against the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. If someone read or heard media reports on the event, that version of events will be different from videos that fans shot with noticeable “boos” from the crowd.
The Texas Rangers are the only MLB team not doing Pride Night. In the 2022 season, the Tampa Bay Rays had five players who refused to wear rainbow-colored logos on their uniforms as part of the team’s Pride Night.
Politics in sports has been increasing in intensity.
NFL fans will remember Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the national anthem in a protest of black oppression. President Donald Trump rebuked players who did this, creating a brouhaha with the NFL. Kneeling during the national anthem became the cause du jour in various settings, including high school players in at least one instance.
Then George Floyd died in May 2020 in Minneapolis at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. That spawned player protests in the NBA and elsewhere to show solidarity for the political group Black Lives Matter. The protests even included the U.S. Women’s National Team in soccer.
The average sports fan understands that with 3,500 to 4,000 players in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL that players will obviously bring certain beliefs with them. Sports fans would also allow professional athletes to have opinions on various topics.
However, sports fans don’t want politics mixed with sports. ESPN, which has lost viewers over its on-air personalities discussing political issues, conducted a poll in June 2019, which showed 74 percent of fans don’t want politics in their sports. The poll showed the following:
Per ESPN, a poll taken in June found that 74% of fans prefer not to hear about politics on any of its platforms. That preference had bi-partisan support -- 69% of Democrats and 84% of Republicans said they do not want to hear politics on ESPN. Perhaps more importantly, 85% of what ESPN calls ‘avid fans’ said they don’t want politics on ESPN.
Sports are a distraction from the challenges of life, perhaps work, family, or a variety of other issues that emerge. Additionally, sports create moments for people to rally around a team and a city. It’s the come-from-behind victories that bring energy and may even create legends. In some cases, the anxiety that arises with a team may also identify a team’s fans. People watch sports for the diversion, not to have politics stuffed down their throats, especially if it’s an opinion with which they disagree.
The commissioners, owners, and athletes would be wise to accept this fact. The moment you bring politics onto the field or diamond or into the court or rink, you run the risk of upsetting fans and having them vote with their wallets, perhaps forever.