“Speak Up!” Investigating U.S. professional sports teams' #BlackLivesMatter statements
George Floyd's death caused by police brutality fueled a wave of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement both nationally and globally. Almost every professional sports team in the United States released a statement pertaining to racial inequality and social injustice. The current study investigat...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Sports and Active Living |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2023.1192784/full |
| _version_ | 1827940896870498304 |
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| author | Dae Hee Kwak Sean Pradhan Zhjing Chen |
| author_facet | Dae Hee Kwak Sean Pradhan Zhjing Chen |
| author_sort | Dae Hee Kwak |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | George Floyd's death caused by police brutality fueled a wave of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement both nationally and globally. Almost every professional sports team in the United States released a statement pertaining to racial inequality and social injustice. The current study investigated the content and word counts of the BLM statements posted on Twitter by all teams across the four major men's professional sports leagues: Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and National Hockey League (NHL). Based on a series of text analyses, we found differences in both the content and word counts of statements put forth by each league. Notably, compared to teams in other leagues, NFL teams avoided negative sentiment words (e.g., by not using words like “racism”) and utilized more action-oriented terms like “support”, “listen”, and “conversation” in their statements. Practical implications and future directions for research are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T09:28:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4cd4d0e3ca6945ca81351e6f28b39c89 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2624-9367 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T09:28:05Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Sports and Active Living |
| spelling | doaj.art-4cd4d0e3ca6945ca81351e6f28b39c892023-05-26T04:53:23ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Sports and Active Living2624-93672023-05-01510.3389/fspor.2023.11927841192784“Speak Up!” Investigating U.S. professional sports teams' #BlackLivesMatter statementsDae Hee Kwak0Sean Pradhan1Zhjing Chen2Department of Sport Management, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesDepartment of Management, Menlo College, Atherton, CA, United StatesDepartment of Sport Management, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesGeorge Floyd's death caused by police brutality fueled a wave of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement both nationally and globally. Almost every professional sports team in the United States released a statement pertaining to racial inequality and social injustice. The current study investigated the content and word counts of the BLM statements posted on Twitter by all teams across the four major men's professional sports leagues: Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and National Hockey League (NHL). Based on a series of text analyses, we found differences in both the content and word counts of statements put forth by each league. Notably, compared to teams in other leagues, NFL teams avoided negative sentiment words (e.g., by not using words like “racism”) and utilized more action-oriented terms like “support”, “listen”, and “conversation” in their statements. Practical implications and future directions for research are discussed.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2023.1192784/fulltext analysissentiment analaysissocial activismpublic relationsprofessional sports |
| spellingShingle | Dae Hee Kwak Sean Pradhan Zhjing Chen “Speak Up!” Investigating U.S. professional sports teams' #BlackLivesMatter statements Frontiers in Sports and Active Living text analysis sentiment analaysis social activism public relations professional sports |
| title | “Speak Up!” Investigating U.S. professional sports teams' #BlackLivesMatter statements |
| title_full | “Speak Up!” Investigating U.S. professional sports teams' #BlackLivesMatter statements |
| title_fullStr | “Speak Up!” Investigating U.S. professional sports teams' #BlackLivesMatter statements |
| title_full_unstemmed | “Speak Up!” Investigating U.S. professional sports teams' #BlackLivesMatter statements |
| title_short | “Speak Up!” Investigating U.S. professional sports teams' #BlackLivesMatter statements |
| title_sort | speak up investigating u s professional sports teams blacklivesmatter statements |
| topic | text analysis sentiment analaysis social activism public relations professional sports |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2023.1192784/full |
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