ABSTRACT
“The Level Playing Field? Sports TV and Cultural Debate” analyzes perhaps sports TV’s most significant paradox: It is simultaneously considered an “apolitical” sphere and is the most visible, daily site of politically-charged cultural debate. In what moments, this chapter asks, is sports cast as political speech? By and for whom? The chapter examines conflicts of policy, textuality, and context to consider the “limits” of genre expression, the intersection of sports and celebrity culture, and to query the broader socio-cultural and political questions and debates—particularly as regards race and struggles over identity “ideals”—that sports TV inspires.
