Reactions to athlete activism among the German sports audience: assessing the nature and potential of polarization

Recent research has shown that there are increasing attempts to politicize sport. A highly visible form of politicization is athlete activism, i.e. political actions and claims put forward by athletes. We argue that these forms of politicization have the potential to create or foster polarization among the sports audience. Using two scenarios of athlete activism and recent German survey data, we illustrate the extent to which political actions of athletes can polarize sports audiences into supporting and opposing groups (opinion polarization). Moreover, we assess whether support and opposition align with political ideologies of recipients (ideological polarization). Finally, we demonstrate that a significant proportion of the audience would like to reduce contact with people who do not share their political views (social polarization). Controversial forms of athlete activism could thus lead to a disintegration or fragmentation of sports audiences, reducing the inclusive potential of sporting events.