Pro sports (especially football) are a replacement for actual combat and violence in the form of entertainment. A catharsis if you will. It is a form of pretend tribalism that is actually supposed to bring us more together as a united country ie not be preachy or political but rather a pure competition among the best of the best. Fans are simply buying into that experience (for whatever person reason) as a way to share in the experience.

That is the messed up part of the social justice shoehorning in sports. It's like they are all saying "fuck the middle class audience, we get paid by the elites and big multinational corporations not average American fans." Almost like they are showing what a big scam the whole thing is and how little it has to do with competition and real sport.