The Cincinnati Bengals, who played in the AFC Championship for the first time since 1988, had the most supportive fans in the online LGBTQ community, according to a study that looked at 2,930 posts on Reddit NFL forums in 2021.
On the Bengals subreddit, 60% of comments on posts from September 2020 to September 2021 were positive towards the LGBTQ community. Other online communities that posted more than 50% positive comments were the Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers, and Las Vegas Raiders. According to ticket site Tickpick.
The five with the lowest online fan base support were the Los Angeles Rams and Carolina Panthers at 29.4%, followed by the Atlanta Falcons, New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys.
The Reddit forum is just one of countless online gathering places for NFL fans, but an analysis of its 2,900 comments provides a glimpse into how many fans feel. The study used an analysis tool called VADER to analyze each Reddit post. According to the research note, “VADER recognizes words and phrases and associates them with emotional polarity (positive/negative) and intensity (intensity) to create several different emotional scores: positive, neutral, negative, and a composite score. will be returned.”
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The only openly gay NFL player is Carl Nassib of the Raiders, who came out in June. Reddit’s analysis sampled posts and comments from September 9, 2020 to September 9, 2021, so it included almost three months worth of comments since Nassib came out.
A separate TickPick survey of 1,000 sports fans (including 19% who identify as LGBTQ) found that the New England Patriots (69%), Carolina Panthers (64%), Kansas City Chiefs (64%) %) of fans said it was very good. Alternatively, if the player is gay or bisexual, they are very supportive.
Another interesting finding from the fan survey was the perception of how each of the major U.S. men’s professional leagues (NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS) supports LGBTQ people. did.
People think they support MLS the most (56% of respondents agreed), while the NHL was at 43%, the NBA at 41%, and the NFL and MLB at 37% each.
The survey also found that 61% of respondents said the NFL needs to be more inclusive, and 55% want teams to be more openly supportive of LGBTQ+ people. “Most of these respondents also support many specific initiatives in other survey datasets,” the survey found. “For example, 66% of respondents supported adding repercussions for homophobic and transphobic behavior to the NFL player code of conduct.”
In summary, the study authors concluded: “Generally speaking, LGBTQ+ support does exist and appears to be increasing across the NFL and its associated fan base, but questions remain about the pace at which it will occur. …If there’s anything to take away from this article, it’s that a majority of NFL fans believe the league needs to be more inclusive and supportive of LGBTQ+ people in 2019. It’s also worth bearing in mind that the number of pro-LGBTQ+ tweets has increased significantly since 2017.
While this survey is not necessarily scientifically valid, it is a solid attempt to gauge what fans are saying about sports and LGBTQ issues in sports. report It’s fun to read. Even a few years ago.
A version of this post originally appeared on Outsports in 2021.
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Source: Outsports – www.outsports.com
