亚当·明特（Adam Minter）指出：共和党政治家们多次试图与美国国家橄榄球联盟（NFL）发生冲突。仅在过去两年里，众议院议长迈克·约翰逊（Mike Johnson）等人就曾嘲笑巴德·班尼（Bad Bunny）被选为超级碗中场表演者的决定；参议员汤米·塔伯维尔（Tommy Tuberville）则攻击明尼苏达维京人队（Minnesota Vikings）的男性啦啦队，指责NFL试图“将性别因素引入体育运动”。当然，也不能忘记唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）曾要求华盛顿指挥官队（Washington Commanders）将队名改回一个带有种族歧视意味的名称。
By Adam Minter Republican politicians have repeatedly tried to pick fights with the National Football League. In just the past two years, Speaker Mike Johnson and others derided the choice of Bad Bunny as a Super Bowl halftime entertainer, while Senator Tommy Tuberville targeted the Minnesota Vikings’ male cheerleaders — accusing the league of wanting “to put gender in sports.” And who can forget President Donald Trump’s demand that the Washington Commanders change their name back to a racial slur?
然而，共和党似乎暂时搁置了他们与NFL之间的“文化战争”——至少在今年秋天是这样。相反，他们寄希望于橄榄球本身所拥有的文化影响力；正是这种影响力使得这项运动能够在共和党的政治攻击中依然保持其独立性。
But Republicans look to be suspending their culture wars with football … at least for this fall. Instead, they’re betting on the very cultural power that has made the sport resilient to the party’s political attacks in the first place.
据Axios报道，在9月中旬的一个周末，共和党在NFL及大学橄榄球赛事的播出期间投放了约5,500条广告，这一数量几乎是民主党的12倍。他们的策略显而易见：在特朗普的支持率在中期选举前逐渐下滑的情况下，共和党试图留住那些男性选民。橄榄球为他们提供了一个吸引这些选民的机会。
Over one mid-September weekend, Republicans ran about 5,500 ads during NFL and college football programming, according to Axios. It’s nearly 12 times the Democratic total. There’s no mystery about the strategy. Republicans are trying to hold onto male voters as Trump’s popularity among the demographic weakens ahead of the midterms. Football offers the party a chance to woo them back.
长期以来，包括共和党在内的各政党都曾在橄榄球赛事期间投放广告。但今年秋天的这次广告攻势，尤其是在此前发生公开冲突之后，再次提醒人们一个重要的事实：你无法击败橄榄球这项运动本身；你只能通过广告来在橄榄球赛事中占据一席之地。
Political campaigns, including Republican ones, have long advertised during football. But this fall’s push, following public clashes, underscores a valuable reminder: You don’t beat football; you buy a place in it.
九年前，正是共和党试图迫使NFL为允许球员在国歌演奏期间跪下抗议的行为支付费用。这些抗议活动始于2016年，当时旧金山49人队（San Francisco 49ers）的四分卫科林·卡佩尼克（Colin Kaepernick）选择跪下以表达对系统性种族主义和警察暴行的反对。到2017年9月，越来越多的球员纷纷效仿他的做法，但批评者认为这种行为具有冒犯性。特朗普抓住这一争议大做文章，他在演讲和推特上粗俗地建议球队老板解雇那些抗议的球员，甚至威胁球迷可能会抵制相关赛事。
Nine years ago, it was the GOP that was trying to make the NFL pay for allowing players to kneel in protest during the national anthem. The protests started in 2016 when then San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee against systemic racism and police brutality. By September 2017, other players followed suit, and critics found the gesture offensive. Trump seized on the growing controversy. In a speech and on Twitter, he crudely suggested team owners fire protesting players and even invoked the possibility of a fan boycott.
联盟有充分的理由感到担忧。2016年常规赛的收视率下降了8%，2017年又下降了9.7%。当然，国歌争议并非唯一的可能解释。分析人士还将原因归咎于“剪线族”（放弃有线电视的用户）、比赛对阵缺乏吸引力以及对球员健康（包括头部创伤）的担忧等其他问题。
The league had plenty of reasons to worry. Regular-season viewership declined 8% in 2016 and another 9.7% in 2017. Of course, the national anthem controversy wasn’t the only possible explanation. Analysts also blamed cord-cutting, poor matchups and concerns about player health, including head trauma, among other issues.
尽管如此，围绕国歌的冲突本身就具有政治色彩：民调显示，在特朗普发表评论后，该联盟在共和党人中的受欢迎程度大幅下降。NFL的赞助业务似乎也面临风险。《体育商业杂志》报道称，“几家主要赞助商”就国歌相关问题联系了联盟。披萨连锁店棒约翰（Papa John’s）更进一步。在表达了对抗议活动和收视率下滑的担忧后，该公司与NFL共同终止了作为联盟官方披萨赞助商的协议（尽管它仍与个别球队保持合作）。
Still, the clash over the anthem had a political life of its own: Polling showed a steep drop in the league’s popularity among Republicans after Trump’s comments. The NFL’s sponsorship business also appeared at risk. Sports Business Journal reported that “several major sponsors” contacted the league with anthem-related concerns. Pizza chain Papa John’s took it one step further. After expressing worries about the protests and falling ratings, the company and the NFL mutually ended a deal for it to be the league’s official pizza (though it continued working with individual teams).
随着反弹加剧，NFL试图做出调整。联盟所有者在2018年通过了一项旨在结束赛场国歌抗议活动的政策，但在球员协会提出反对后，该政策被搁置。在那一刻，如果联盟担心这种损害会持续到特朗普总统任期结束，也是情有可原的。
As the backlash intensified, the NFL tried to adjust. Owners adopted a policy in 2018 that aimed to end on-field anthem protests, though it was put on hold after the league’s Players Association objected to it. By that point, the league could’ve been excused for wondering if the damage would last through Trump’s presidency.
事实并非如此。在与棒约翰的合作关系结束后仅一天，必胜客就取代了它。与此同时，2018赛季的收视率上升了5%，2019年又上升了5%。去年，全美收视率最高的100个电视节目中，有83个是NFL比赛。
It didn’t. A day after the Papa John partnership ended, Pizza Hut replaced it. Meanwhile, viewership rose 5% during the 2018 season, and another 5% in 2019. And last year, 83 of the 100 most-watched telecasts were NFL games.
本月早些时候，共和党人做出了一个不明智的决定，将其中期选举大会的开幕之夜安排在与NFL赛季揭幕战同一时间，这一举动进一步凸显了NFL抵御政治压力的韧性。那场比赛吸引了2500万观众，而观看特朗普演讲的观众约为300万。尽管如此，在收视数据公布之前，特朗普总统还是宣称大会的“总体收视数字超过了NFL”。
The NFL’s resilience against political pressure was driven home earlier this month by Republicans’ ill-advised decision to schedule the opening night of their midterm convention against the league’s season opener. The game drew 25 million viewers; Trump’s speech was seen by around 3 million. The president nevertheless declared the convention’s “overall numbers beat the NFL” even before the viewership numbers were available.
共和党的竞选活动似乎更清楚，哪一个体系能够赢得更大的忠诚。盖洛普民意测验显示，自1972年以来，橄榄球一直是美国人最喜爱的观看型体育运动；去年，66%的美国男性自认为是职业橄榄球球迷。
Republican campaigns appear to have a better understanding of which institution commands the greater loyalty. Football has been America’s favorite sport to watch since 1972, according to Gallup polling, and last year, 66% of American men self-identified as professional football fans.
但橄榄球迷的力量不只体现在规模上，也体现在持久性上。正如我最近写过的，对一支球队的忠诚会成为个人身份的一部分，并加强家庭与社区之间的纽带。与其他在文化战引发的反弹中遭受冲击的品牌（如百威淡啤或塔吉特）不同，“我的球队”并没有真正的替代品。百威淡啤的消费者随时可以改喝其他啤酒，但堪萨斯城酋长队的球迷又能换成什么呢？
But football fandom’s power isn’t just scale. It’s also durability. As I wrote recently, loyalty to a team becomes part of a person’s identity and enhances family and community ties. Unlike other brands caught in a culture war-driven backlash (such as Bud Light or Target), there’s no real substitute for “my team.” A Bud Light drinker can always switch to another beer, but where’s a Kansas City Chiefs fan to go?
这种深厚的依附关系，是-limiting 国歌危机所致损害的一个关键因素。到2017年12月，也就是特朗普攻击抗议球员仅仅几个月后，盖洛普的民意测验发现，38%的保守派人士仍把橄榄球列为最喜爱的观看型运动，棒球则以12%远远位居其后。
That depth of attachment was one key to limiting the damage done by the anthem crisis. By December 2017 — just months after Trump had attacked protesting players — a Gallup poll found that 38% of self-identified conservatives still picked football as their favorite sport to watch, followed by baseball at a distant 12%.
这种忠诚让美国职业橄榄球联盟（NFL）有余地调整其公开信息传递方式——有时甚至显得相当卑劣——同时不必放弃其在社会正义方面更广泛的承诺。例如，在特朗普到场的2025年超级碗赛上，联盟将达阵区内“终结种族主义”的标语改成了“选择爱”。不过，NFL从未放弃其更广泛的多元、公平与包容努力，这一点值得肯定；联盟主席罗杰·古德尔还在2025年公开为这些努力辩护。联盟对多元化的持续承诺与共和党的论调和政策相抵触，但共和党除了接受这一点，并尝试以其他方式重新确立自己与橄榄球之间的联系，几乎别无选择。
That loyalty gives the NFL room to adjust its public messaging — sometimes cravenly — without abandoning its broader social justice commitments. For example, at the 2025 Super Bowl (attended by Trump), the league replaced its “End Racism” end-zone message with “Choose Love.” Yet, to the NFL’s credit, it’s never abandoned its broader DEI efforts, with Commissioner Roger Goodell publicly defending them in 2025. The league’s continued commitment to diversity is at odds with Republican talking points and policies, but the party has little choice but to accept it and try to renew its claim to football itself in other ways.
在密歇根州备受关注的参议员竞选中，迈克·罗杰斯已将橄榄球融入自己的竞选主张和身份认同。一则广告开篇讲述罗杰斯高中时期参加橄榄球运动的经历，随后攻击民主党对手阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德，称他将这项运动称为“种族主义、性别歧视且由有毒男子气概主导”。这种努力会奏效吗？大概率不会造成什么损失。但共和党今年在橄榄球广告中占据压倒性优势，暴露出他们与这项运动斗争时的局限。无论他们多么不满美国国家橄榄球联盟在文化方面所作的努力，其观众仍然太有价值，不能拱手让给民主党。
In Michigan’s closely watched Senate race, Mike Rogers has made the game part of his pitch and identity. One ad opens with Rogers recalling his high-school football days, then attacks his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, for calling the sport “racist, sexist and dominated by toxic masculinity.” Will the effort work? It probably can’t hurt. But Republicans’ overwhelming presence in football advertising this season reveals a limit to their fights with the sport. Whatever they dislike about the NFL’s cultural efforts, its audience remains too valuable to leave to Democrats.
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To contact the author of this story: at aminter@bloomberg.net