Sustainability of Sports Viewership Interruptions and Political Activism Within Sports

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the sustainability of sports viewership interruption, while specifically studying Covid-19 and the increase in political demonstrations in sports. The objective of the study was to gain an understanding of individuals sports viewership before, during, and after the pandemic. To see if Covid-19 has had a true impact on viewership, and if it has, will that impact continue into the future. The research was conducted in two parts. Part 1 was done by interviewing males with ages ranging from 21-80. There were multiple key findings that came out of this study. First was that Covid-19 has played an instrumental role in viewership habits. Because sports viewership was taken away, interviewees were forced to come up with alternatives to watching sports so they could pass the time. There was also a majority of interviewees that were upset about the political landscape of sports and mentioned that this is playing a role in their reluctance to return to sports. The NBA and NFL were specifically mentioned in this section. Based upon these results it is safe to conclude that for the time being, viewership will continue to be affected. It has bounced back in the past, but there is a real possibility that it does not bounce back the same this time around. Part two of the research was conducted through a survey that was intended to see if the results from the first study were still holding true as the sports world has started to return to "normal". While the majority of respondents said they will return to their normal viewership, there are still a significant portion of people who say their sports viewership will continue to be affected moving forward.