Given that 77 per cent of people in Canada and 57 per cent of people in the United Kingdom watch a sports team regularly — compared to the 60 per cent of people who turn out to vote in Canada and the U.K. — it’s clear sports has an important and persistent influence on people’s lives.
Sports can serve as a beacon to provide societal leadership or reflect changes in wider society in significant ways. A historic example would be how the integration of sports leagues in North America paralleled the Civil Rights Movement.
