Sports Celebrities Don’t Speak Out

Further to the compelling and civil (thanks for both of those) discussion we’re having on the politics of celebrity and the celebrity of politics, I was thinking about sports celebrities. With rare exceptions, they don’t get political.

Isn’t that a bit odd? Obviously Michael Jordon or Wayne Gretzky have as much (or more) public profile as, say, Tim Robbins or Charlton Heston. Yet, they seem to practice restraint on political issues. In my experience, when sports figures do ‘give’, they do so in the local community, often in ways associated with their sport. For example, Canucks superstar (heck, he’s got his own Nike commercial) Markus Naslund rents a luxury box at GM Place and brings in special needs and underprivileged kids to watch the games. I suppose it’s good PR, but I think they’re motivations are relatively pure.

I suppose nobody asks David Beckham what he thinks about immigration law (I’m not sure Beckham can spell ‘immigration law’), but that’s not really an excuse. Plenty of other celebrities speak out without being asked (see also the Dixie Chicks)? So why are sports figures above (beside? beyond?) politics?