By 61-14% Americans say that professional football promotes values that make the United States a better country, according to a new poll released today by the Siena College Research Institute (SCRI) and St. Bonaventure University’s Jandoli School of Communication.

A large majority (57-14%) say that professional football does more to overcome racial discrimination in America than it does to perpetuate it and by 61-24% they support athletes having slogans such as “End Racism” on their helmets. By 54-15% they think the Rooney Rule requiring teams to conduct interviews with minority candidates for vacant coaching jobs is good for sports.

“As the politics of DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion – are being heatedly debated, this survey finds respondents think football promotes core American values and the sport works to overcome not perpetuate discrimination,” said Aaron Chimbel, dean of St. Bonaventure University’s Jandoli School of Communication, “A decided majority support a policy that some might consider DEI that promotes minority coaches getting an opportunity to be hired for the top jobs and an overwhelming majority supports players or teams displaying slogans including ‘End racism’ on the back of their helmet or on the field.”

Respondents did identify several issues on which the NFL still needs to improve.

Significant pluralities say that the NFL is not penalizing athletes enough where there is evidence of them committing domestic violence (39%) or sexual assault (40%). Only 26% of Americans say that the NFL is doing an excellent job protecting athletes from concussions and related brain injuries and there is overwhelming support (79-8%) for rule changes aimed at lessening the possibility that players in the NFL suffer from neurological injuries. By 74-8%, respondents are in favor of requiring the NFL to have independent doctors decide whether an injured player can continue to play.

College Sports: NIL and the Transfer Portal

When asked to consider current issues in college athletics, Americans think that college athletes being allowed to sell the rights to their names, images and likenesses (NIL) is good, rather than bad, for sports (44-33%).

However, support flips, with only 31% thinking athletes appearing in endorsements and other publicity materials by licensing the usage of their likenesses to generative AI is good for sports. Americans overall are split on the NCAA’s transfer portal with 35% saying it is good for sports and 37% saying it is bad. Interestingly, among the most “avid” sports fans, support for the transfer portal is strong (58-32%). (Avid fans watch sports, sports news, talk about sports, or play fantasy sports almost every single day.)

“Change has certainly come to college sports,” said Don Levy, SCRI’s director. “A plurality thinks it’s good for sports that college athletes are compensated through NIL including two-thirds of hardcore fans.  On the transfer portal, the jury is out but again, ‘avid’ fans strongly support it while pluralities of casual or non-fans do not.  A big winner is the expansion of the college football playoffs with 65-7% saying it is good for sports.”

Streaming Services

As nearly 60% of Americans are watching live sports on television or on another platform daily or at least several times a week, we find 55% are subscribing to streaming services like Hulu or Peacock in order to watch, and 19% are subscribing to league-specific streaming services such as NFL+ or The Red Zone. By 56-21% they say streaming services are good for sports.

Sports Fanship

Fifty-eight percent of Americans say they watch live sports on the television or another platform at least “once or twice a week,” and a similar amount (54%) say they watch or listen to sports news on the television, radio, or another platform just as regularly. Involvement extends even further with one-in-four Americans saying they check the scores of live sporting events using a mobile device (24%) or check social media for news or updates on athletes, teams, and other sports figures (23%) “every day or almost every day.”

“The data clearly shows sports is central to American life,” Chimbel said. “Sixty-eight percent of Americans say they are sports fans but based on what they do – watching, checking scores, playing fantasy, betting and talking with friends about the games – we find that 76% are actually fans. Twenty percent are avid fans – all sports all the time; 32% are involved fans – they watch, talk and check scores but not every day; and 24% are casual fans – they watch the games but don’t live and die with the sports clock.  Only 24% of Americans, 33% of women and 15% of men, are truly non-fans neither watching or in reality caring very much about sports.”

Transgender Athletes

A majority (58%) has given some or a lot of thought to the issue of whether transgender people should be allowed to participate in organized sports with others who share their gender identity. Americans express opposition towards the participation of transgender athletes with others who share their gender identity 65-35%, both when asked to consider high school sports as well as college or professional levels of competition.

“As with many social issues, acceptance often changes over time and there is an indication that this could be the case for transgender athletes, as well,” Chimbel said. “Younger respondents are significantly more likely to support transgender athletes participating with others who share their gender identity. Forty-seven percent of 18-34-year-olds support transgender athletes participating in high school sports based on their gender identity compared to 27% of those 50 and older.”

Odds & Ends

• Americans are split on how well professional sports is addressing the gender pay gap between male and female athletes. While 39% say that professional sports is doing an “excellent job” (16%) or “just enough” (23%), nearly the same amount (37%) say it is not doing enough. Twenty-three percent say they didn’t know.
• Caitlin Clark has star power with an overwhelming 58% of Americans saying her fame is good for sports to just 9% who say it’s bad.
• There is some support and some uncertainty for the NFL’s new “Dynamic Kickoff” rules for the 2024 NFL Season, which states that no one except the kicker and returner(s) may move until the kickoff has been fielded: 48% say it’s good for sports, 21% say it’s bad, and 31% aren’t sure.
• Looking towards Major League Baseball, the proposed “Golden-at-bat” rule, which states that once a game, the manager can pinch-hit with any player, is supported by 37-27% of Americans; nearly as many (36%) say “don’t know” when asked to consider the rule.

In-depth details on the survey can be found here.

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The American Sports Fanship Survey was conducted January 6-11, 2025, among 3047 responses drawn from a proprietary online panel (Lucid) of United States Residents. Data was statistically adjusted by age, region, race/ethnicity, education, and gender to ensure representativeness. It has an overall margin of error of +/- 1.9 percentage points including the design effects resulting from weighting. The Siena College Research Institute, directed by Donald Levy, Ph.D., conducts political, economic, social, and cultural research primarily in NYS. SCRI, an independent, non-partisan research institute, subscribes to the American Association of Public Opinion Research Code of Professional Ethics and Practices. For more information or comments, please call Dr. Don Levy at 518-783-2901. St. Bonaventure University’s Jandoli School of Communication offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in sports media, journalism, communication and related fields. For more information or comments, please contact Dean Aaron Chimbel at 716-375-2040.