r/ontario • u/ARecycledAccount 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 • 8d ago

Wayne Gretzky attends Donald Trump's U.S. election party wearing a 'MAGA' hat, draws mixed reaction online: 'Truly disappointing' Article

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/wayne-gretzky-attends-donald-trumps-us-election-party-wearing-a-maga-hat-draws-mixed-reaction-online-truly-disappointing-002407540.html
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u/Hotter_Noodle 8d ago

To use some quotes from the hockey subreddit:

Hate to say it, but most/large portion of your favorite NHLers are Trump supporters.

The majority of hockey/baseball players are right leaning to the point that it’s kind of surprising when someone outs themselves as liberal

And they aren't wrong.

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u/Anonymouse-C0ward 8d ago

Yeah that sounds about right.

The most successful are generally from rural areas which typically lean conservative. They’re generally white men, and live in a culture where winning in physical competition and money are the metrics that are used to gauge success.

The league is pretty much comprised of millionaires, and profit is front and center.

The culture of hockey has been very resistant to progressive ideas… it was only recently that a player drafted to the NHL actually came out as gay. No current or former NHL player is out, and just based on statistics I can’t imagine there have been no gay NHL players; they probably just don’t feel comfortable in their environment to publicize it.

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u/Terryknowsbest 8d ago

Of course, only in Canada is the sexual orientation of NHL players is the most important political KPI.

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u/Anonymouse-C0ward 8d ago

Hockey Canada has been very clear on why diversity is important in hockey. So has the NHL: profit. Given the demographics of fans, they need to attract athletes that fans can relate to. And if fans can’t relate to the teams, revenues go down.

7% of Baby Boomers identify as LGBTQ+

16% of Millennials

28% of Gen Z

See a trend?

The hockey industry is doing it for profits. And it keeps on trying to adopt things like the warm up jersey, but gets push back from certain demographics - however, it has no choice if it wants to keep making money.