American Football: The sport that brings America together?

The political power of US Soccer runs much deeper than Swellsea's election recommendation would suggest.

The Super Bowl may have been the one thing that brought Americans of all stripes together — cheerleader Taylor Swift was cheered and booed in the stadium — yet America's football, league and national sport became more political than ever after the showdown. Las Vegas. And it's not because of “Swelce,” the publicly publicized connection between today's biggest pop star and Kansas City Chiefs pro Travis Kelce.

Democrats still hope to recommend this duo for election. After all, Swift recently convinced 35,000 voters to register with just a short message on Instagram, and Kelsey has promoted coronavirus vaccination, among other things. Republicans are concerned about this, and have used the Super Bowl to launch ridiculous counterattacks. An evening that was indeed a disaster for the National Football League, which wants to ban politics from stadiums. Because scene makers can only lose if their arenas are divided into two camps.

But football has always been about politics: about patriotism, militarism, images of masculinity, gender roles, and racism. As the country's most popular sport, and above all, as its own, it is a stage for fundamentally American questions.