This report was just published by a Danish research firm, noting that English-speaking soccer commentators tend to praise intelligence and work ethic more in white players and physical attributes more like power and speed in non-white players:
https://runrepeat.com/racial-bias-study-soccerArticle about the report in The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jun/29/groundbreaking-report-reveals-racial-bias-in-english-football-commentaryI have to think that a similar study will be commissioned at some point to study commentary on American sports, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see similar findings reported. This seems like quite a big deal, and I wonder how the sports television industry may change as a result. It certainly doesn't bode well for my own career prospects as a white male commentator! (The latter is definitely not my first takeaway from this report, FWIW, but it has been quite clear to me for some time that if I were non-white - or female - my chances of rising through the commentary ranks in either the UK or the US would be much, much higher, and the obvious remedial action for broadcasters here will be to increase the proportion of non-white commentators they hire. That may well be the correct action to take, too.)
https://runrepeat.com/racial-bias-study-soccerArticle about the report in The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jun/29/groundbreaking-report-reveals-racial-bias-in-english-football-commentaryI have to think that a similar study will be commissioned at some point to study commentary on American sports, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see similar findings reported. This seems like quite a big deal, and I wonder how the sports television industry may change as a result. It certainly doesn't bode well for my own career prospects as a white male commentator! (The latter is definitely not my first takeaway from this report, FWIW, but it has been quite clear to me for some time that if I were non-white - or female - my chances of rising through the commentary ranks in either the UK or the US would be much, much higher, and the obvious remedial action for broadcasters here will be to increase the proportion of non-white commentators they hire. That may well be the correct action to take, too.)