Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Sports' grip on America sparks summer of political warfare

axios.com · 7d · first reportShare

The WNBA, Major League Baseball and even a golf startup spent the summer as unlikely proxies in some of the country's fiercest national conflicts. Why it matters: American culture has shattered into thousands of tiny shards of glass . But sports remains one of the few forces powerful enough to pull much of the country into the same moment — making it a prime target for political fights. That kind of shared attention has become a scarce and ultra-valuable resource for activists, politicians and companies. Zoom in: This summer's fights have blown up far beyond the fan bases involved. Caitlin Clark, the WNBA's biggest star, spent the season absorbing hard fouls. The fight over whether refs were protecting her quickly became a fight about race. Eleven House Republicans wrote to the league and the topic has become a staple on conservative media. Clark's Indiana Fever teammate Sophie Cunningham told ESPN in July that girls shouldn't have to compete against "biological men." Competing activis