Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Fan behavior at college sporting events has long been a concern for administrators. Particularly, fan speech—including inappropriate signs, vulgar cheers, and rude images on clothing—has proven difficult for policymakers to address. Yet, as previous scholarship has demonstrated, speech policies at public university spaces intending to curtail such behavior frequently violate the First Amendment protections of students and spectators (see, e.g., Calvert & Richards, 2004; Ulian, 2016). Using a comparative analysis of speech policies published on the athletic department websites for every public university in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), we determined that 94 of the 102 evaluated institutions had speech codes for one or more of their sports facilities that could be used to violate the First Amendment rights of spectators. We discuss the implications of such policies for potential litigation against universities and offer recommendations for crafting better policies for fan behavior at university athletic events.
DOI: 10.18060/29179
Authors: Neal Ternes, Monyae Williamson-Gourley
Institutions: Northern Illinois University, University of Cincinnati
Language: English
Topic: Law, Rights, and Freedoms
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4413636766