Sport Communication and Social Justice

Communication & Sport

2020, Vol. 8(4-5) 473-488
Rhetoric, Materiality, ª The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/2167479519900161
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Meaning: The Stadium
as a Place of Protest

Anthony C. Cavaiani1

Abstract
Recently, athlete protests about social injustice have garnered much attention from
fans and the media. An element frequently overlooked is the role of place in sports
protests. Stadiums are iconic markers of identity for communities and play a sig-
nificant role in the media’s representation of sports games. Informed by Endres and
Senda-Cook’s research about place-in-protest, I argue how the Botham Jean and
O’Shae Terry protests outside AT&T Stadium in Dallas functioned as place-as-
rhetoric to build on the intended purpose of the stadium while temporarily
reconstructing its meaning. This material enactment is achieved by the stadium
serving as a performative space that authorizes new meaning onto the stadium and
surrounding space while heralding it as a champion marker of social justice. I position
my analysis within a framework that understands how sports stadiums deploy
material rhetoric in ways that produce embodied rhetoric and ephemeral rhetoric
that legitimize the Jean and Terry protests as social justice protests. I argue that the
stadium functions as place-in-rhetoric to capitalize on its mobilization of fandom in
order to amplify social justice messages to a wider audience.

Keywords
place-as-rhetoric, stadium, protest, sport, social justice

1
William Woods University, Fulton, MO, USA

Corresponding Author:
Anthony C. Cavaiani, William Woods University, One University Ave., Fulton, MO 65251, USA.
Email: acavaiani10@gmail.com
474 Communication & Sport 8(4-5)

On Sunday, September 16, 2018, around 100 citizens of the Dallas–Fort Worth area
marched around AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, to protest the shooting deaths of
Botham Jean and O’Shae Terry, two Black men who were shot and killed by local
police officers within 5 days of each other earlier that month. Jean and Terry family
attorney Lee Merritt stated that the protesters had four demands—first, that officer
Amber Guyger, who shot Jean, be fired; second, that the charge against Guyger be
murder instead of manslaughter; third, that the Dallas Police Department identify the
officers responsible for leaking information about Jean’s death to the media and that
those officers be punished; and fourth, that the media who put out information about
what was found in Jean’s home on the day of his funeral formally apologize to the
family. There was a media report on the day of Jean’s funeral stating that marijuana
was found in his apartment after his death, but that officials were uncertain about to
whom it belonged. Nonetheless, protesters marched in support of both men, their
families, and in support of the national anthem protests initiated by then-San Fran-
cisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick regarding police brutality against Black
men and racial injustice nationwide. Less than a week after Jean’s death, community
members rallied outside Dallas police headquarters and took part in a sit-in (Vaughn,
2018). Social media were flooded with messages supporting Jean and demanding
Guyger be convicted of murder (Vaughn, 2018). In October 2019, Guyger was found
guilty of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison. This case has been followed by
not only the greater Dallas community but people throughout the United States while
garnering significant media attention.
Following from Endres and Senda-Cook’s (2011) understanding of place as
central to protest, I argue how the Botham Jean and O’Shae Terry protests outside
AT&T Stadium in Dallas functioned as place-as-protest and place-as-rhetoric to
amplify the demonstrators’ social justice messages. This material enactment is
achieved by the stadium serving as a performative space that authorizes new mean-
ing onto the stadium and surrounding space while heralding it as a champion marker
of social justice. This analysis is positioned within a framework that understands
how the sports stadium deploys material rhetoric in ways that produce embodied
rhetoric and ephemeral rhetoric, which in turn legitimize the Jean and Terry protests.
The stadium as place-in-rhetoric attempts to capitalize on its mobilization of fandom
to enlarge its public audience to cultivate support for social justice discourse. How-
ever, the protest ultimately accomplishes two major feats: it opens up a performative
space to amplify social justice messaging and the protest demonstrates the chal-
lenges in articulating place-as-protest while inviting critical reflection as to how the
space of stadiums function rhetorically to facilitate change. A thorough understand-
ing of this process and dynamic necessitates reviewing research about communica-
tion and sports stadiums; second, explication of Endres and Senda-Cook’s method of
place-as-rhetoric; third, a close analysis of the Jean and Terry protests outside AT&T
Stadium as a material enactment of place-as-rhetoric; fourth, drawing critical impli-
cations about the significance of sports stadiums as places of protest; finally, spec-
ulating about opportunities for future research.
Cavaiani 475

Communication and Sports Stadiums as Places of Meaning

Scholarly study of sports venues has garnered more attention in recent years. Sports
stadiums have been researched from myriad perspectives. Research has documented
how sports stadiums function as sites of public memory (Burroughs et al., 2019;
Butterworth, 2014) and influence the live mediated experience of sport (Gasoi,
2017). In addition, Butterworth (2011) examined how Major League Baseball
(MLB) teams commodify Christianity in attempts to persuade fans to attend a game.
Many messages circulate inside a stadium, and fans are forced to interact with them.
This section will review relevant research about communication and sports stadiums
to better position the analysis of the AT&T Stadium protests as place-as-protest and
place-as-rhetoric. Specifically, this section examines how scholars have theorized
stadiums as places of public memory, places of restorative hope, as ideological
symbols, and as solutions to societal problems. This literature provides a scholarly
platform to better understand this article’s position that stadiums are used as spaces
to help negotiate community trauma and conflict.

Stadiums as Places of Public Memory

Stadiums play a significant role in the construction of public memory. Butterworth
(2014) argued how mediated sport communicated public memorializing of the 10th
anniversary of 9/11 through the terministic screens of never forget, support the
troops, and unity. He argues that these screens created an illusion of democracy
because of their over-reliance on creating a large-scale spectacle with respect to the
remembrance of 9/11. Specifically, Butterworth contends that as long as mediated
sport depends upon massive, militaristic tributes to events such as 9/11, it will
inevitably lack an invitation to audiences to engage in a more humane, reflective
approach to building and sustaining public memory that is devoid of neoliberal
commercialization. The stadium has served as a marker of celebration and remem-
brance for many years, and 9/11 served to remind American audiences about the role
sports plays in response to national tragedies. The significance of stadiums as places
of rhetoric is clearly visible within these celebrations.
Similarly, sports stadiums serve as sites of public memory in response to com-
munity identity in crisis. Stadiums are important in the branding and commodifica-
tion of public memory. Burroughs et al. (2019) asserted that the hashtag
#VegasStrong was used by the Las Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey
League as a rhetorical public memorialization strategy in response to the Las Vegas
shooting. T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas functioned as a space of memorialization,
which is radically different when understood within the larger context of the com-
mercialized and sanitized Las Vegas strip. The hashtag was used by the Golden
Knights organization to effectively brand the team during their inaugural season
while communicating locality to the Vegas community. This exemplifies the role of
sports stadiums in responding to crisis.
476 Communication & Sport 8(4-5)

Sports stadiums also serve to recreate a notion of liveness that is then disseminated
to mass audiences. Gasoi (2017) argued how the reconceptualization of epideictic
rhetoric functioned through the Kaepernick protests and prompts us to “analy[ze] the
epideictic, and the response thereto, with an eye towards our constantly morphing
relationship to liveness, we can better inform our understanding of the performative
rhetorical discourses of neo-liberalism and protest” (p. 46). The mediated arena is a
venue ripe with performances, and the “individualized, bodily discipline” that has
come to characterize the singing of the national anthem before a game has ritualized
the performance to prepare those very bodies to fight against each other in the field of
competition, or battle (Gasoi, 2017, p. 42). As such, the stadium serves as a pivotal
rhetorical force to amplify the messages of social justice discourse, to build consensus
for a political movement, and to prompt discussion among sports fans who may not
typically realize they are interacting with political messaging while attending a game.

Stadiums as Places of Restorative Hope

Additionally, sports stadiums also serve as symbolic places of restorative hope for
communities. Grano and Zagacki (2011) argued how the reopening of the Super-
dome in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, home of the National Football League
(NFL)’s Saints, had “implications of absolving racial guilt through visual and spatial
purification rituals” (p. 202). Specifically, they state how the broadcasting of the
2006 Monday Night Football game between the Atlanta Falcons–New Orleans
Saints attempted to heal the United States through a purging of post-Katrina cata-
strophe. However, as Grano and Zagacki (2011) remind us, Kenneth Burke’s
“paradox of purity” informs us that as a speaker

tries to purge dirt, the more dirt has to be introduced as a dramatic antithesis in the
ritual. Purification was circularly justified, then, in terms of filth . . . the Superdome
reopening illustrates how purification rituals may lead to a visual forgetting or erasure
of the very subjects the rituals seek to memorialize, effectively re-marking these
subjects as invisible in the name of national healing. (Grano & Zagacki, 2011, p. 202)

The media coverage of that notable game reaffirmed the horrible tragedies in and
around the Superdome after Katrina, while also recounting the media’s negative and
hostile depictions of African Americans after Katrina. Thus, stadiums serve a rheto-
rical function for reclaiming virtues that were once perceived to be lost or forgotten.

Stadiums as Ideological Symbols

Similarly, the media communicated various tropes, narratives, and liberal and con-
servative ideologies that characterized the coverage of the Superdome in New
Orleans during the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (Pfau, 2017). Sets
of ideological meanings regarding racism and looting, racial hyperbole, and the
Cavaiani 477

Bush government response characterized liberal critiques of Katrina’s aftermath

(Pfau, 2017). Conservative critiques included themes such as governmental failure,
libertarianism and the Second Amendment, and racism (Pfau, 2017). These themes
crafted distinct narratives about the Superdome that positioned the stadium as a
scene of deranged deviant behavior, such as dead bodies located in the Dome’s
basement, drug dealers living on the stadium’s fourth floor, and African Americans
being met with violent resistance from police and citizens when fleeing the dire
scene of the Superdome for refuge in surrounding areas. Pfau concludes by remind-
ing us that the public memory of the Superdome was anchored in social disorder and
conflict during Katrina. As seen in the Superdome during Katrina, the stadium can
function as a scene of social struggle and racial injustice. Conversely, the semiotics
of a stadium, like the Superdome, can become radically altered to communicate a
sense of redemption and a recovery of the American spirit. This paradoxical mean-
ing reinforces the material significance of the stadium in social justice discourse.

Stadiums as Solutions to Societal Problems

New sports stadiums are also championed as solutions to political and social ills pla-
guing urban areas. Eckstein and Delaney (2002) argued local businesses do not directly
benefit from the construction of stadiums, as this is more of a spontaneous correlation
than causation. Sports also do not help poorer areas, and if they do, it is superficial in
nature (Eckstein & Delaney, 2002). Arguments about the quantitative impact of sports
stadiums on urban areas are misleading at best; instead, many advocates for new
stadiums claim that new venues offer cities intangible social benefits, such as enhancing
community self-esteem while “projecting the right image to audiences” (Eckstein &
Delaney, 2002, p. 241), letting “outsiders know [we] are an important city,” and culti-
vating a shared identity among local citizens (Eckstein & Delaney, 2002, p. 242). The
need for new sports stadiums is also framed in distinct ways to justify their construction.
The Minnesota Vikings media campaign rallied support amongst fans and legislators
for construction of a new stadium. Four qualitative benefits were significant among
press releases disseminated to the public—increased community visibility, enhanced
community image, stimulation of other development, and psychic income (Huberty
et al., 2016). The media, in this case, play a pivotal role in mobilizing relevant stake-
holders to build consensus for construction of new stadiums while helping to provide
justification for such efforts. The public framing of these factors is crucial to the
perception of sports in U.S. cities and their relationship to political, social, cultural,
and economic issues impacting communities.

Place-as-Protest
Understanding Place-as-Protest
Stadiums are significant places of meaning-making. One of the primary ways a
protest is made meaningful is through the place in which it occurs. In their essay
478 Communication & Sport 8(4-5)

detailing a fresh approach to understanding rhetoric, space, and place, Endres and
Senda-Cook (2011) argued that the rhetorical function of place in protest is fre-
quently overlooked by communication and rhetorical scholars. Place-in-protest is a
relevant concept for rhetorical scholars interested in examining how speakers in
social demonstrations express themselves and create meaning for audiences.
Endres and Senda-Cook (2011) identified how place-in-protest is significant
to rhetorical theory and criticism by situating the concept of place-in-protest as
rhetorical artifact, material rhetoric, embodied rhetoric, ephemeral rhetoric, and
experiential rhetoric. They contend that these notions help scholars understand
how place-in-protest functions rhetorically and provide a theoretical framework
to investigate the rhetorical significance of place-in-protest. Specifically, they
identified that place-in-protest is a rhetorical artifact “both in its materiality and
symbolicity” (Endres & Senda-Cook, 2011, p. 261).
Second, the authors explained that place-in-protest as material rhetoric is under-
stood through the study of symbols that exist within material structures. They stated
that “protest events encompass this fluidity between the material and discursive
because they are held in places with symbolic meaning or are meant to alter or
challenge the dominant meaning of a place” (Endres & Senda-Cook, 2011, p.
262). As they do, I turn to Blair’s (1999) understanding of materiality of physical
structures as something that gains rhetorical force from its ability to move from
symbolicity to creating material consequences. Thus, a protest has rhetorical fea-
tures because it prompts people to express themselves in certain ways. When pro-
tests are held in front of physical structures, those structures communicate through
symbols to prompt people to communicate rhetorically.
The authors then turned their attention to an explanation about the distinct char-
acteristics of place-as-protest. First, place-as-embodied rhetoric provides critics with
an awareness as to how bodies are constantly rooted, or located, in place (Endres &
Senda-Cook, 2011). The symbiotic relationship between bodies and places is critical
to the rhetorical meaning that is created as a result of the protest. When people gather
in a place to protest, meaning occurs. The signs, symbols, chants, and movement of
bodies in a place facilitates, invents, and legitimizes meaning. For instance, in
Dallas, 90,000 fans attended the Giants-Cowboys game the night of the protest. The
protest capitalized on fandom to amplify a message to an audience that may not have
otherwise interacted with it. Thus, a symbiotic relationship existed that night
between the protesters and the fans.
Second, place-as-ephemeral rhetoric is unique to protests. Unlike traditional
speeches, the events and speech occurring at a protest is not always archived and
recorded; in other words, it is short lived. The rhetoric of place in protest also
functions as ephemeral “because places themselves are ephemeral. Places, although
seemingly permanent because of their physical structures like buildings, streets, and
the like, are actually quite fluid because they are constantly being reiterated, rein-
forced, or reinterpreted” (Endres & Senda-Cook, 2011, p. 263). The ephemerality of
the protest outside of AT&T Stadium illustrates the stadium’s fluidity through its
Cavaiani 479

hosting of different events and the different people who may occupy it. Stadiums are
not typically thought of as fluid places. However, the meaning of a stadium becomes
altered depending on the signs and symbols attributed to it. In other words, a football
game emphasizes the stadium one way, a concert emphasizes something else, and a
political convention communicates a different meaning. The naming of the stadium
also enables its fluidity. Similarly, an empty stadium not being used communicates a
radically different meaning than a stadium full of people. The fluidity of a stadium
should not be overlooked.
Understanding the features of Endres and Senda-Cook’s place-as-protest prepares
us to analyze how the Jean and Terry protests use AT&T Stadium to aid their
message. First, the materiality of AT&T Stadium functions rhetorically through its
ability to facilitate the enactment of the protest message. This material enactment is
achieved by the stadium serving as a performative space that authorizes new mean-
ing onto the stadium and surrounding space while heralding it as a champion marker
of social justice. Understanding the protests as a performative display of social
justice discourse acting on the fans attending the game emphasizes the rhetorical
significance of the stadium. As Zagacki and Gallagher (2009) remind us, “[t]he
move from symbolicity to materiality involves a shift from examining representa-
tions . . . to examining enactments” (p. 172). Thus, the material existence of the
stadium works with and against sports to amplify discourse about Jean and Terry’s
deaths in order to achieve legal and social justice while inviting onlookers to con-
sider the effects police brutality and racial injustice have on their community. The
protesters’ marching, their chants, prayers, behaviors, dress, and signs are all sym-
bols that engage the fans’ senses and serve to connect the physical context of the
stadium to the unconventionality of having a protest around a sports venue, albeit
outside of “Jerry’s World.” As will be discussed, weighing the effectiveness between
a stadium as a place of protest and the extent to which that message resonates with
public audiences matters. There are challenges with articulating place-as-protest,
and those challenges are addressed below.

The Sports Stadium as Place-as-Rhetoric

Pre-Existing Meanings
Endres and Senda-Cook (2011) explained two elements to understanding place-as-
rhetoric. First, place-as-rhetoric assumes that place is rhetorical by building on the
pre-existing meaning of the place and second, through the temporary reconstruction
of the place. Endres and Senda-Cook claimed that places which have hosted protests
in the past are better suited to aid in associating the meanings of social movements
with that particular place. The authors state how the National Mall in Washington,
DC, “is not only physically located near Congress (the intended audience of many
social movements), it is also symbolic of the nation’s values and ideals” (Endres &
Senda-Cook, 2011, p. 266). This makes the National Mall a suitable place for
480 Communication & Sport 8(4-5)

protests because of the history of protests in that place and the social and political
significance of Washington, DC. AT&T Stadium does not frequently host protests.
However, understanding the stadium within the larger context of Dallas, the state of
Texas, and the Cowboys as a team provides important contextual information about
the prior meaning of AT&T Stadium.
The city of Dallas has a rich and complicated history of race relations and is also
uniquely focused on sports. The Cowboys are the world’s most valuable sports
franchise, worth $5 billion (Badenhousen, 2019, para. 3). The Cowboys have been
hailed as “America’s Team” since the late 1970s, when the team’s 1978 season
highlight film introduced them as “America’s Team.” The team’s dominance during
the 1960s, 1970s, and 1990s propelled the love many Americans have for the Cow-
boys. Their games are nationally televised more than any other NFL team, and major
sports publications such as ESPN and Sports Illustrated routinely classify them as
“America’s Team” in their media coverage. The Cowboys hold the NFL record for
most consecutive home and away sellout games, at 160, which lasted over nine
straight NFL seasons. They are extremely popular and well known. Their fan base
spreads across the country and world. Their legendary coaches have experienced
enormous success—Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson, and Barry Switzer, to name a
few—and are prominent names within the NFL. They have had some of the most
successful players in NFL history—Roger Staubauch, Mike Ditka, Ed Jones, Don
Meredith, Tony Dorsett, Troy Aikman, Charles Haley, Emmitt Smith, Deion San-
ders, Michael Irving, Tony Romo, and current players Jason Witten, Dak Prescott,
and Ezekiel Elliott—and many of these players are in the NFL Hall of Fame or have
made numerous All-Pro Teams. The franchise has also played in eight total Super
Bowls, winning five of them. The Cowboys are embedded within the American
consciousness and serve as a core civic institution.
In addition to hosting Cowboys’ games, AT&T Stadium has hosted Super Bowl
XLV, the Big 12 Championship Football Game, College Football Playoff, Cotton
Bowl Classic, the National Collegiate Athletic Association Men’s Basketball Four,
CONCACAF Gold Cup, WrestleMania, and the NFL Draft, in addition to numerous
concerts and other events. It is also home to one of the world’s largest high definition
video screens, extending from 20 to 20 yard line (160 ft  72 ft). Additionally, the
stadium sells more alcohol than any other venue in Texas (Tinsley, 2017, para 8).
Tailgating is extremely popular outside the stadium and occurs in the expansive
parking lots in the surrounding area. Lots open 5 hours before kickoff and are
populated by fans dressed in their Cowboy game day gear. AT&T Stadium does
not prompt visitors to experience nostalgia similar to Fenway Park, Wrigley Field,
Madison Square Garden, or even the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.
Instead, the social meaning of AT&T Stadium represents the excesses that permeate
American culture while also showcasing the Texas motto that “bigger is better.”
AT&T Stadium is also known by its nickname, “Jerry’s World,” in reference to
notorious Cowboys owner, president, and general manager Jerry Jones. Jones is
perceived around the league as a controlling owner and is heavily involved in all
Cavaiani 481

aspects of his team’s administration. Most importantly, Jones frequently thrusts

himself into the national spotlight about NFL-related issues, social concerns, and
player contracts. Jones is one of the most visible nonathletes in the NFL.
In fact, Jones and the Cowboys were one of the most outspoken teams regarding
the national anthem protests. In 2017, Jones knelt with his players before the national
anthem during a nationally televised Monday Night Football game. Then, they went
to the sideline, stood, and locked arms during the playing of the anthem while the
American flag stretched out over the field at University of Phoenix Stadium in
Glendale, AZ, before the Cowboys played the Cardinals. In the days after the game,
Jones and President Donald Trump spoke over the phone, with Trump tweeting out a
message saying how much he respected Jones and that “players will stand for
Country!” (Trump, 2017). Jones then commented after that game by stating, “But
if there is anything disrespectful to the flag then we will not play. You understand? If
we are disrespecting the flag then we won’t play. Period” (George, 2017, para. 4). A
season later, after the NFL owners backstepped on a policy mandating all players
stand for the anthem, Jones again expressed his concerns when he stated the Cow-
boys players must stand “with toes on the line” (Jones, 2018, para 2). Similarly,
quarterback Dak Prescott has also been outspoken about athletes kneeling during the
anthem. On more than one occasion he has stated,

I’d never protest [during] the anthem, and I don’t think that’s the time or the venue to
do so. The game of football has always brought me such a peace, and I think it does the
same for a lot people—a lot of people playing the game, a lot of people watching the
game . . . so when you bring such a controversy to the stadium, to the field, to the game,
it takes away. It takes away from that. It takes away from the joy and the love that
football brings a lot of people. (Jones, 2018, para 8)

This contradicts the intended meaning of the protest. As a result of the position
the Cowboys occupy in the American psyche and the veracity of AT&T Stadium,
this place is a significant physical and material structure with resounding symbolic
meaning. Another element Endres and Senda-Cook (2011) asserted about place-as-
rhetoric is that “[t]he rhetoric and meaning of place can also forge an association
between non-social movement actors and social movements” (p. 267). Fans at the
Giants-Cowboys game were confronted with the protest as they entered the stadium.
The protest included over 100 demonstrators, many of whom were carrying signs,
yelling chants, and carrying two empty caskets. Some fans were supportive of the
protest, others were confused, and some fans were critical of it. As Channel 5 NBC
Dallas–Fort Worth reported, “At least one fan could be heard saying, ‘No politics’ as
the group went by” (Zoga, 2018, para. 12). This statement represents a shared feeling
by many sports fans that politics do not belong in sports. Regardless, many fans who
are not typical social movement actors became associated with the meaning of a
protest by simply seeing it. For some social movements, this forged association is a
productive way for their message to be heard by audiences who typically do not
482 Communication & Sport 8(4-5)

interact with overt displays of social justice and protest. For instance, Pastor Freder-
ick D. Haynes repeatedly said throughout the demonstration, “We are Americans as
well” (“Dallas Demonstrators Protest Outside Cowboys Stadium,” 2018), implying
that African Americans deserve fairness and equality and the right to live without
fear of being shot and killed. This statement serves to unite the protesters with the
fans who witness the demonstrations as they enter the stadium.

Temporary Reconstruction of Place

The second element of place-as-rhetoric is the temporary reconstruction of the place,
which the protest attempted at A&T Stadium. As Merritt stated, “We are symboli-
cally bringing them [Jean and Terry] to this game to disrupt this occasion”
(“Protesters Demand Justice for Botham Jean,” 2018). While the protest may not
have disrupted the game to the extent Merritt claims, the demonstrators did carry two
caskets over their heads to symbolically “bring” Jean and Terry to the game, as
Merritt said. Many of the participants wore typical black funeral dress and silently
marched. “Black Lives Matter” signs were held by some protesters. The protesters
reconstructed the space of the stadium into a site of memorialization for the two men
while amplifying a larger public remembrance of both men that was on full display
throughout the march. As Pastor Haynes proclaimed during the march, “In honoring
his [Jean] legacy, we stand against any attempt to assassinate his [Jean’s] character”
(“Protesters Demand Justice for Botham Jean,” 2018). The stadium-as-remembrance
is something ordinarily reserved for inside the stadium, when the public address
announcer narrates the return of a U.S. military member who has come home while
the crowd stands and cheers. In this case, Pastor Haynes narrates the scene while
protesters carry caskets representing Jean and Terry to the public.
The protest outside the stadium is also an enactment of the position Black Amer-
icans occupy in society—they are historically located on the periphery. As Kaeper-
nick’s protests illustrate, any attempt to speak out on issues impacting Black people
inside the public sphere, or stadium, may be removed because it is perceived as a
threat to the social order. However, permission is granted to occupy a physical space
outside of the stadium so long as it does not interrupt the ritualized practices of
fandom inside the walls of the stadium. After all, “Jerry’s World” has rules and
order, and any resistance to that will be dealt with accordingly. The built environ-
ment of the stadium did not prohibit the protests and the attention that came from it,
but it did prevent the protesters from establishing a foothold that would have caused
a larger disruption to the game.
As the protesters marched around the space of AT&T Stadium, they convened
around the statue of legendary Cowboy coach Tom Landry. The demonstrators took
a knee around the statue for the purpose of, as WFAA Channel 8’s Matt Howerton
stated, “denouncing how NFL owners outlawed protests during the national anthem
about police brutality” (“Protesters Demand Justice for Botham Jean,” 2018). The
act of kneeling served as a strategy of solidification amongst the group while
Cavaiani 483

marking the space of the Landry statue with bodies performing a symbolic speech act
to signify their display of social justice. Marking the space of AT&T Stadium in this
way established a visual connection with onlookers, and those who were informed
about the protest through news and social media. Viewers were forced to observe the
protesters and contemplate the actions of other NFL players who knelt during the
playing of the anthem. This act temporarily reconstructed the space, or as Endres and
Senda-Cook (2011) explained, “the place itself is temporarily reconstructed to chal-
lenge dominant (and oppressive) meanings and replace them with places of safety and
empowerment” (p. 268). The demonstrators kneeling challenge the “no politics in
sport” assumption by replacing it with a non-violent but empowering meaning.
Furthermore, the stadium is a place of disciplined bodies, and as Gasoi (2017)
argued, a site of idealized performance where bodies clash with one another. How-
ever, this clash does not occur until the tribute to the nation is complete through the
playing of the national anthem. The kneeling by the demonstrators disrupts the
intended meaning and purpose of the stadium—which is to provide a place for
disciplined performances of athletes adhering to strict rules which govern the game.
Kneeling, especially by protesters outside the stadium, resists this intended purpose
to communicate a distinct message rooted in the pursuit for social justice.
As Pastor Haynes spoke, he invited the protesters to take a knee, and as Howarton
stated in his local news coverage of the demonstrations, “[a]fter tonight’s game, the
score won’t matter for those here” (“Protesters Demand Justice for Botham Jean,”
2018), alluding to the idea that the protestors quest for racial justice does not end
with the close of the game; rather, their pursuit is ongoing and continues regardless
as to who wins the game. While the demonstrators stood and knelt around the Landry
statute, Pastor Haynes invited Cowboys owner Jerry Jones join them, as he stated,
“And so we’re saying Mr. Jones, use your platform, since you told your players they
cannot protest, use your platform now . . . to speak out against the vile and vicious
murder that took place” (“Dallas Demonstrators, Protest Outside Cowboys’
Stadium,” 2018). Additionally, calls to both Jones and Prescott and the Cowboy’s
organization were invoked by demonstrators “to join in fight for justice to make sure
these tragedies do not continue to befall our community” (“Protesters Holding
Caskets March Near AT&T Stadium For Police Shooting Victims,” 2018). Haynes
is clearly contesting the meaning of the space while rejecting the ostensible purpose
of the spectacle taking place inside the stadium and supporting Endres and Senda-
Cook’s (2011) previous point about place-in-rhetoric challenging dominant and
oppressive meanings (p. 268).
Specifically, Haynes has asked Jones to take action about social justice issues
affecting the Black community before. Only a little over a month prior to the
protests, and before Jean and Terry were killed, Haynes spoke at his church in a
speech titled, “An Open Letter to Jerry Jones,” in which he called on Jones to take
action to prevent the horrible injustices plaguing the Black community in Dallas
(Rock Newman Show, 2018). The appeal to Jones and evocation to the stadium is a
direct contradiction to and repurposing of, notably, an edifice which had only a few
484 Communication & Sport 8(4-5)

years earlier elicited largely negative connotations to the reference of “Jerry’s

World,” the elaborate, incredibly expensive stadium associated with ostentatious
displays of established NFL money and power.
Haynes’ call to Jones and Prescott also allows for a reimagining of the local
community that can help solve for the tragedies that are impacting it. By enlarging
the scope of community, the demonstrations invited Jones and Prescott to get
involved and play a central role in offsetting these life and death issues plaguing
the Dallas–Fort Worth communities. The protestors’ attempt to forge a new path
allows for a connectedness between the stadium, the team, the city, and the role
sports rhetorically play in helping solve issues of racial and social injustice. The
protests are an example that local sports celebrities are agents who can heal the
social and cultural struggle experienced by many minority groups, especially within
their own communities.
However, Merritt and Haynes’ messages, while important, were also disparate.
Where Merritt calls for inclusion, Haynes asks the Cowboys organization to act as a
core civic institution to enact change. This lack of consistency within the protest
message itself is emblematic of the larger protest. The protest’s use of the stadium
represents the challenges with place-in-protest. Specifically, the material signifi-
cance of a sports stadium does not guarantee public acceptance or endorsement of
the message.
The stadium and its surrounding space help facilitate the amplification of a
protest message, but the degree to which that amplification is impactful is uncertain.
Place-in-protest is meaningful because it gives force to protest messages and
attempts to resonate that message with various audiences. The extent to which the
Jean and Terry protests outside AT&T Stadium were purposeful is unclear. The
protest was intended to cause disruption. Instead it authorized new meaning onto the
stadium, but may have fallen short of articulating a clear reverberation throughout
Dallas and the country. It is obvious that articulating social justice messages within
and through sport reach different audiences. Perhaps the critical question is to
consider how place and sport can work together to create purposeful messages that
are sustained over time. As Endres and Senda-Cook (2011) argued,

repeated temporary constructions of place may result in long-lasting additions to the

meaning of a place . . . . The presence and memory of bodies at the National Mall has,
over time, associated that place with protests and marches. (p. 270)

If stadiums continue to be sites of protest, perhaps repeated constructions will

forge more than ephemeral meaning into our associations of them.

Conclusion
Protests at sports games are no longer unexpected. As Bond (2017) wrote about
shortly after the Kaepernick protests began to occupy a prominent place in American
Cavaiani 485

discourse, “In 56 BCE, Marcus Tullius Cicero commented on the places where
people might communicate with their politicians: ‘In truth, there are three places
in which opinion and inclination of the Roman people may be ascertained in the
greatest degree; at speeches, the assemblies and at the games and exhibitions of
gladiators’” (para. 2). Similar to other protests, the Jean and Terry demonstrations
were short lived and no future protests outside AT&T Stadium occurred. There are
still vital implications the protests have for the study of communication and sport.
Stadiums are a powerful rhetorical springboard for protests not related to sports.
Football games contain many signifiers that serve as a catalyst for confronting racial
issues and unfettered capitalism. Stadiums represent an American obsession with
material excess; instead of erasing racial injustice, stadiums are places that excite
social justice.
In addition to representations of American culture existing during games, the
materiality of AT&T Stadium was significant in its ability to act on fans to illumi-
nate the issue of racial injustice. The carrying of empty caskets by protesters sym-
bolizing Jean and Terry’s bodies were salient factors in the demonstrators’ attempt
to disrupt the occasion of the game. Mourning the deaths of Jean and Terry marks the
space with both men’s bodies to frame their deaths in a visible way. Stadiums are
places where bodies exist in close proximity to each other, and marking the space of
AT&T Stadium with a funeral-like procession reinforces the notion that sports, race,
and politics are commonalities that we all share with each other, and we all live
through in vastly different ways.
Finally, the protests outside AT&T Stadium do not guarantee policy decisions
will be enacted to solve for the shooting deaths of Jean, Terry, and all African
American men who are shot and killed by police officers. This is a point Zagacki
and Gallagher (2009) reminded us about (p. 174); that the materiality of rhetoric is
not an end in itself which creates an argumentative space for policy decisions to be
enacted. Instead, the materiality of rhetoric opens a performative space that elicits an
experience from the people who inhabit that space. Pastor Haynes echoed Martin
Luther King, Jr. in exalting his hope that the protests may “make a legacy live until
justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream”
(“Protesters Demand Justice for Botham Jean,” 2018). The Jean and Terry protests
do not guarantee corrective action but may help increase the likelihood of it
occurring.
Future research could investigate other ways sports and social justice are made
salient to audiences through player speeches and branding. Furthermore, stadiums as
places-of-rhetoric could examine protests at other stadiums such as the Golden 1
Center, home of the National Basketball Association’s Sacramento Kings, and the
protest that occurred in response to the shooting death of Stephon Clark. Studies
could also qualitatively research how protests at stadiums are perceived by commu-
nities and fans at games. Scholars could also investigate the extent to which teams
and players become actively involved or respond to protests occurring at stadiums,
and how the creation of those messages are communicated to stakeholders.
486 Communication & Sport 8(4-5)

The relationship between social justice and sports is complicated, and as the
AT&T Stadium protests remind us, the awareness of political issues at live sports
events is by no means welcomed with open arms. Sports’ ability to affect social
change is well-documented, and the presence of sports in American culture is sig-
nificant. The political climate of America can be divisive, but the nexus of sports,
politics, and social justice is continuing to develop. Perhaps a more critical engage-
ment with these issues will open a reflective space for audiences to learn and to
prevent social injustice from occupying a blank space in our culture.
For many people, interacting with the political nature of sports is perceived as
divisive. As communication and sport scholars, perhaps it is our job not to convince
people to become politically involved when they attend a game; rather, we may want
to critically reflect about the relationship between the overt political acts we expe-
rience at a game compared to the covert political gestures, while acknowledging how
race, class, sexual orientation, gender, nationality, and other identities impact peo-
ple’s experiences of protest messages. Allowing people to make their own judg-
ments about these acts can enable everyone to assess how the movement’s rhetoric
has meaningful effects. We should be attentive to how this rhetoric acts on us and
influences our understanding of these events and messages.

Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my wife, Megan A. Klukowski, for listening to my ideas and providing
valuable feedback and also Drs. Kyle Kellam, Greg Smith, Kelly Young, and Prof. Scott
Jensen for their helpful insight.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, author-
ship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.

ORCID iD
Anthony C. Cavaiani https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3149-8265

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