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Here is a ranking of major sports leagues by level of woke starting with the most:
1st. WNBA: The WNBA is the most woke major sports league. The league has been very vocal in its support of social justice causes, such as Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ+ rights. The league has also donated millions of dollars to support these causes. The WNBA has also been praised for its support of players' rights, and it has been a leader in the fight for equal pay for women athletes.
2nd. NWSL: The NWSL is the second most woke major sports league. The league has been very vocal in its support of social justice causes, such as Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ+ rights. The league has also donated millions of dollars to support these causes. The NWSL has also been praised for its support of players' rights, and it has been a leader in the fight for equal pay for women athletes.
3rd. NBA: The NBA is the third most woke major sports league. The league has been very vocal in its support of social justice causes, such as Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ+ rights. The league has also donated millions of dollars to support these causes. However, the NBA has been criticized by some players and fans for its lack of progress on some issues, such as racial equity in coaching and front-office positions.
4th. MLB: MLB is the fourth most woke major sports league. The league has been slower to embrace social justice causes than the WNBA, NWSL, and NBA, but it has made some progress in recent years. The league has donated millions of dollars to support social justice causes, and it has allowed players to wear protest T-shirts. However, MLB has been criticized by some players and fans for its lack of progress on some issues, such as racial equity in coaching and front-office positions.
MLB has pumped in lots of resources to increase participation and appeal with broader audiences, and what may be shocking is that although the NFL appears to be more diverse in makeup, the MLB has embraced it more at least superficially. They've struggled massively in getting adoption of non-white US players although there's something about baseball culture that hasn't been very inviting and inclusive for black players especially so they have much less pressure and scrutiny on them as the NFL which needed to instill the Rooney Rule to attempt to force team owners to hire black coaches with no success.
5th. NFL: The NFL is the fifth most woke major sports league. The league has been more cautious in its support of social justice causes than the WNBA, NWSL, NBA, and MLB, but it has still made some progress. The league has donated millions of dollars to support social justice causes, and it has allowed players to protest during the national anthem. However, the NFL has been criticized by some players and fans for its lack of progress on some issues, such as racial equity in coaching and front-office positions.
The NFL, with its guaranteed contracts and players who don't enjoy the luxury of long careers or job security also have the least amount of bargaining power. NFL players are mostly faceless due to helmets and quarterbacks and maybe one other elite player per team taking a lions share of the spotlight. The NFL and ownership, whose athletic body substantially differs culturally from team ownership has a tight grip on power and a much easier time resisting change than leagues like the NBA where players are highly influential and have guaranteed contracts, with the ability to greater withstand a lockout while placing greater public pressure on the billionaire team owners.
Last. NHL: The NHL is the least woke major sports league. The league has been the slowest to embrace social justice causes, and it has been criticized by some players and fans for its lack of progress. The league has donated some money to support social justice causes, but it has not allowed players to protest during the national anthem or wear protest T-shirts.
What does woke mean?
The word "woke" is a term originated in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) see: The Cultural Significance of Aave in Sports to mean "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination." Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities, such as sexism, and has also been used as shorthand for some ideas attributed to the American Left involving identity politics and social justice, such as white privilege and slavery reparations for African Americans.
In the early 2000s, the word "woke" was used by African Americans to describe a state of being aware of and actively attentive to the issues surrounding race. The term was popularized by the Black Power movement in the 1960s, and it has continued to be used by Black Americans to describe their awareness of racial injustice and the true non-whitewashed history of America.
In recent years, the word "woke" has become more mainstream (hijacked), and it is now used by people from all backgrounds to describe their awareness of social issues, such as racism, sexism, and homophobia. The term has also been used to describe people who are politically progressive, and it has been used as a pejorative term by some conservatives.
The term has definitely been hijacked from its original use and gentrified in the process see: The Gentrification of Sneaker Culture into what is now a politically charged term with woke vs anti-woke also being a social badge and a label that has created a powder keg where supporters of one issue have now been lumped in as supporters for all, when it's much more complex than this.
Supporting a cause doesn't all of a sudden make a league woke, just as donating to charity doesn't all of a sudden forgive your sins. see: Blood Money Is Better Than No Money Especially If Some Of It Goes To Charity
It is important to note that this ranking is subjective, and there is no one definitive way to measure how woke a sports league is. The ranking is based on a number of factors, including the league's public statements on social justice, its donations to social justice causes, and its policies on player protests not a politicized definition of the word.
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