I do believe, for example, the NFL is pretty much the only major sports franchise aside from NASCAR that is right leaning in its contributions to politicians and causes.
Personally, I think this indoctrination idea is exaggerated. Students are far more influenced by modern culture and TV and movies pushing the cultural envelope than they are by their professors.
Seriously? Have you looked at what is going on at our college/university campuses? College athletics is probably one of the few decent things, with some notable exceptions, happening at most of our larger universities. Which would you trust more politically? A football player who's been busting his hump to make it and is surrounded by a sometimes very conservative atmosphere stressing individual effort? Or your average liberal arts major who is steeped in leftist thought and how awful Western civilization supposedly is? Notice how many football coaches people like Hannity have on as guests for example. Notice how many are pretty conservative?
College athletics are NOT the primary problem with our universities. These institutions are turning out kids who have no understanding of what makes America actually work - in fact they turn out kids who are taught to hate the very country they are benefiting from.
With Mr. Politically Correct, Roger Goodell, as its commissioner, I'd hardly consider the NFL a conservative-leaning institution.
Having been around college football players for decades, I agree that they are more disciplined than most college students but their personal ideologies are as diverse as the rest of the student body.
Seriously? Have you looked at what is going on at our college/university campuses?
I've worked in academe for 25+ years so I'm probably more aware of what is transpiring on college campuses than you are. I've worked at a WAC, 2 Pac-12, and a Big XII university, all state schools. The typical student is not run through the horror cases often cited. When my son enters the university in a couple of years, there are a couple of classes and a couple of professors which I will have him avoid. These are a small, small minority on campus. I'm in the College of Business and the majority of my colleagues are moderate to conservative and the same is true in the College of Engineering. Even in the ghettos of the university, liberal arts and education, I know several unabashed Christians and conservatives. While my school has a reputation of being more liberal than the state, it is not liberalism run amok. Conservatives and Christians are not belittled and ridiculed.
College athletics are NOT the primary problem with our universities.
I didn't say it was the primary problem. I said there were lots of problems (as there are with all institutions) of which college athletics is one. College athletics doesn't generally relate directly to the primary mission of the university. The monies that it sucks out of the university are counter-productive. I enjoy college athletics but do I believe that most universities would be better places if sports were de-emphasized. Absolutely. Universities shouldn't be farm teams for the NFL and NBA.
“In general, football players tend to be more conservative than most other establishments on university campuses.”
College football players are overwhelmingly Black.
Young, college educated Blacks vote 90%-95% for the Democratic Party.
Off hand, I can’t think of a single Black football player who has publicly endorsed a Republican presidential nominee.
I can instantly think of a dozen white coaches and white players who have made that public endorsement.
Check the details.
Almost all the contributions came from white owners, white management, and white coaches.
In comparison, NFL players, both white and black, made very few political contributions and for much smaller amounts of money.