ABSTRACT
The second half of the twentieth century saw a further expansion in the cultural significance of American sports, sparked by technological advancement, political activism, and demographic change. The Cold War helped make competitive sports a key component of a powerful ideology known as “the American way of life.” The rise of suburbs and the growth of cities in the South and West created new draws for major league teams–exemplified when baseball’s Dodgers left Brooklyn for Los Angeles. The spread of television made sports bigger business than before, and the advent of cable and the Internet created niches where once-minor sports could thrive. The social movements of the 1960s and 1970s opened new opportunities, especially for women, Latinos, and African Americans. By the twenty-first century, American sports fans could easily follow a far broader range of sports than ever before, and cheer for both male and female athletes from almost any racial, ethnic, or economic background. Still, even as the popularity of sports expanded, athletes, coaches, and communities continued to wrestle with old problems such as the dilemma of balancing athletic and academic priorities, and new ones such as the intensification of sports gambling and the proliferation of performance-enhancing drugs.
