U.S. sports fans support dropping the ‘Indians’ name, split on chop: poll
No matter how the ongoing MLB lockout is resolved, the 2022 season is guaranteed to look a little different in at least one way. The team in Cleveland will start the season with their first game under the Guardians name. The franchise operated as the Indians from 1915-2021. But the shifting sensibility of modern society, increased pressure on the team to ditch their racial logos and nicknames and frankly, common sense, created the new name.
A recent nationwide study by Seton Hall University revealed, unsurprisingly, a country that’s divided on this topic. The Seton Hall Sports Poll asked 1,570 adults if they were an avid sports fan, a sports fan or not a sports fan. Those 1,570 people were then asked if they support Cleveland’s decision to drop “Indians.” Thirty-eight percent of them said yes, with 44% of the self-identified sports fans and 50% of the avid fans voting yes.
The voting was very close, though. Thirty-seven percent of the population said they did not support the organization’s decision. Of the sports fans, 36% said they did not support the decision and 33% of the avid fans agreed. Twenty-five percent of the group said they had no opinion or didn’t know how they felt.
“The statistics speak to the deep divide in our attitudes on race and culture,” said Charles Grantham, director of Seton Hall’s Center for Sport Management. “The playing fields are not immune to the culture wars, and sports often play the role of battlefield as this country sorts out its differences.”
One thing that seemed to unify people was their distaste or indifference for the name Guardians specifically. The poll showed that 45% of people chose “No” when asked “Do you like this new team name?” A larger percentage of the respondents (28%) said they didn’t know or had no opinion than those who definitively like the name (26%).
The poll also asked about the Atlanta Braves, whose name — and particularly its ubiquitous Tomahawk Chop — have been criticized for being racist to Native Americans. Only 23% of the people polled said the Braves should change their name. Forty-nine percent of the voting body said no, and the sports fans agreed. A slight majority (51%) of the people who identify as sports fans said the Braves should not change their name. Avid fans were split 50-50.
Responses were also fairly even on the Tomahawk Chop. Thirty-eight percent of the voters said that the Braves should stop encouraging fans’ participation in the Chop, which they normally do by lowering the lights in the stadium and playing music that echoes the Chop’s lazy rhythm. Those people were outweighed by the 41% who said the Braves should not stop encouraging it. There were also the 21% of people who said they didn’t know or care about what the Braves did about it. Sports fans narrowly voted “No” on the issue of the Braves stopping the Chop. Forty-two percent of them think the Atlanta organization should not stop its role in keeping the celebration alive, while 41% said they should.
On the two big, hot-button issues (Cleveland getting rid of the name Indians and the Braves enabling the Chop during home games), avid fans sided for the more culturally sensitive option. Half of the self-described avid sports fans voted in favor of Cleveland finally going in a different direction and 47% said that Atlanta needs to stop encouraging the Chop, as opposed to the 41% who said they shouldn’t and the 12% who had no strong feelings either way.
“Encouraging what many deem a culturally insensitive activity such as the Tomahawk Chop could be alienating for many,” said Seton Hall marketing professor Daniel Ladik. “The numbers seem to show that to be the case among self-described avid fans — who have shown greater disfavor toward team encouragement of the Tomahawk Chop, greater favor for changing the name of the Cleveland Indians and even, although smaller, for changing the name of the Atlanta Braves. There seems to be a disconnect here among the most enthusiastic customer base that marketing professionals — and the league — should take heed of.”
The Seton Hall Sports Poll has been conducted regularly since 2006, with its findings published by The New York Times, Washington Post and ESPN. The poll is conducted by the Sharkey Institute at the Stillman School of Business. This particular version of the poll used a national representative sample weighted according to gender, age, ethnicity, education, income and geography based on figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.