Tenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

The reoccurring national anthem protest of black NFL players has caused a significant backlash against this practice from the President of the United States, as well as from the US society at large. Theoretically situated in the symbolic politics literature, this paper shows that notions of patriotism and nationalism, which are often evoked in the opposition to these protests, are predispositions that are triggered by events such as the anthem protests. Given this framework, the paper employs data from the 2016 Washington State Survey to analyze opposition to the NFL anthem protest as a predictor of other race-related policy preferences, thereby challenging the narrative that opposition to the NFL anthem protest is truly rooted in patriotism.