The 2020 U.S. election will be historic for many reasons, including the unprecedented civic engagement by teams, leagues, and coaches—spearheaded by sportswomen and men of all ages.   

And I believe that their calls urging community members and fans to educate themselves about the issues and to cast their ballots will play a role in voter turnout.

Some 90% of eligible NBA players registered to vote this year, in contrast to a mere 20% in 2016. And at least 39 sports arenas and stadiums are serving double-duty as polling stations, encouraging fans across the political spectrum to show up, interact with their hometown teams, and especially with athletes who are volunteering their time. And as NYU Tisch Institute of Global Sport’s Dr Daniel G. Kelly argued in Sports Business Daily, the personal touch that many WNBA and NBA teams and players are lending can make the difference.

Basketball players are not the only ones engaged in getting people out to vote. Even though LeBron James founded More Than A Vote, athletes across the sports landscape are involved and have successfully recruited more than 40,000 poll workers, organized transportation to poll stations for voters, created public service announcements (PSAs) and more.   

Yet, basketball players from the WNBA and NBA, as well as NCAA hoops programs, have been at the forefront of this year’s political engagement. Just as important, they are strongly backed by a coalition of coaches—see the good work of Coaches4Change—as well as the leagues and teams themselves. There’s a vast difference between what (and how) my Boston Celtics and New York Liberty are communicating on social media over the past month than my Boston Bruins.

As I mentioned in my recent interview with Basket Le Mag’s Yann Casseville, there’s much to be said about the evolution of LeBron James as political activist. And what we are witnessing in 2020 is the evolution of this generation of athletes (and their coaches) from educating themselves about the issues at hand – systemic racism and social injustice, excessive police brutality, failed COVID-19 pandemic response – into taking action.

The best leaders lead by example, and there are new sports role models leading the way.

All of this matters in myriad ways, not just in who is voted into office and the policies they will work towards. There’s also an element of sports diplomacy in play as U.S. players communicate, represent, and negotiate this political activist culture with their foreign counterparts, who in turn may take up or re-engage in their own brand of civic engagement.

Take my recent Global Sport Conversations episode with retired French international Katia Foucade-Hoard as one quick illustration of how this phenomenon works.

The former three-time captain of the University of Washington Huskies crafted a transatlantic career that’s spanned from player to sports communications and public relations. With a son in the NBA (Portland’s Jaylen Hoard) and children playing NCAA D1 hoops, Foucade-Hoard remains steeped in basketball-related issues in France and the United States—including the renewed fight for greater social justice, civil rights, and more.

Speaking of the basketball players who spoke out this summer, in the United States, Belarus, and elsewhere, Foucade-Hoard pointed to their courage.  “To me, they are superheroes,” she said.  

“Athletes have a voice in communication a voice to educate the youth, a voice to encourage people to be courageous to voice their opinion when something is not right…. They really made a difference in my life because they made me want to do the same thing.”

That’s in part why so many in the global sports world are tuning into today’s election, seeking to better understand the issues at hand. They’re also trying to gain greater insight and nuance into the U.S. sports system and how it bred generations of athlete activists, as I unpacked on this week’s special HYPE SPORT podcast on the U.S. election.

Not just because the outcome will impact the U.S. sports scene and its various stakeholders around the world, from sponsors to international athletes and the media outlets who cover them. But because it may also point the way to a new sort of global athlete engagement.

Everything has a history, including athlete activism. Don’t expect players, coaches, teams, and leagues to stop after the votes are counted. This could be just the beginning of a renewed era of civic engagement last seen during the Civil Rights Movement.