Media and Communication Ph.D. Dissertations

The MLS and the New Iron Front: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Major League Soccer's Response to Opposing Social Movements Through Social Media

Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

Media and Communication

First Advisor

Ellen Gorsevski (Committee Chair)

Second Advisor

Kefa Otiso (Other)

Third Advisor

Lara Lengel (Committee Member)

Fourth Advisor

Terry Rentner (Committee Member)

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to understand how sports fans organize, mobilize, and interact through social media to discuss protests against sports league policies that fans believe to be unjust. In our case, Major League Soccer (MLS) instituted a new league policy in 2019 that in general, banned political speech within MLS stadiums. After reports of hateful chants and instigations of violence in MLS stadiums from far-right hate groups, MLS fans began rallying around the anti- fascist symbol of the Iron Front in hopes to deter the hate groups from entering the stadiums. Major League Soccer perceived the Iron Front imagery to fall under their prohibition of political speech and began to ban fans that displayed the symbol of the Iron Front at MLS matches. Utilizing the theoretical lenses of Critical Race Theory (CRT), Political Process Theory (PPT), Image Restoration, and Dialogic Communication, this study examines how fan-driven social movement form, how they achieve their goals, and how sports leagues respond with particular reference to MLS. Through the implementation of Critical Discourse Analysis, posts and comments relating to the Iron Front protests from MLS subreddit, r/MLS, as well as related Twitter posts were examined to monitor fan reactions. Additionally, Tweets from multiple official MLS accounts were investigated to gauge any public acknowledgement of the protests. Overall, the Iron Front protests, which I have called the New Iron Front due to their co-opting of the anti-fascist symbol, formed an anti- racist and anti-fascist social movement which incorporated several key aspects of CRT. Other findings indicated that the New Iron Front both created and took advantage of political opportunities that became available as they engaged in protests against league policy. From a public relations perspective, Major League Soccer severely underestimated the strength and longevity of the New Iron Front movement. As a result, MLS was forced into multiple strategies to repair their image with fans by finally engaging in dialogic communication with the movement and reaching an agreement to end the ban on the Iron Front image. This study suggests that well-organized and structured fan-led social movements can create political change within sports leagues.

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