The legendary NFL quarterback Brett Favre believes there's too much politics in sports.
Speaking on "The Andrew Klavan Show" on The Daily Wire, Favre said numerous people had told him they didn't watch sports anymore because it's too political, and he agreed.
"I can't tell you how many people — including yourself — tell me: 'I don't watch anymore. It's not about the game anymore.' And I tend to agree," Favre said.
He added: "I know when I turn on a game, I want to watch a game. I want to watch players play and teams win, lose, come from behind. I want to watch all the important parts of the game, not what's going on outside of the game, and I think the general fan feels the same way."
Favre told Klavan that politics were rarely discussed when he was playing. He said he's unsure whether they played a role in today's locker rooms but added that he thought players' protests during the national anthem had "caused more turmoil than good" within the national conversation around sports.
"I guess the jury is out on whether it'll be a good thing or not. I think it's created more turmoil than good," he said, adding: "Something has to unify us. I felt like the flag, standing patriotically — because Blacks and whites and Hispanics have fought for this country and died for this country. It's too bad."
Favre's comments come as players and coaches through American sports addressed the police shooting of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
Klavan also discussed MLB moving its All-Star Game out of Atlanta in response to Georgia's new voting restrictions.
Favre himself has not necessarily kept the two subjects separate, however. In late October, Favre tweeted that he planned to vote for Donald Trump in the 2020 US presidential election. Trump lashed out early in his presidency at NFL players who knelt during the national anthem to protest racism and police brutality.
Favre addressed his tweet on the show.
"I knew it was going to create a firestorm," Favre said.
"I, first of all, played golf with the president, which I thought was an honor, regardless of who that president is. And by tweeting my support for then-President Trump, I knew that would create more issues.
"But again, I go back to the people who know me know me, and would speak on my behalf in a positive light, and I really don't worry about it a whole lot. It's a shame. It's really a shame that we've come to this."
He added: "Whatever happened to your ideas, your thoughts, your beliefs being yours and not wrong? That seems a distant past."
The notion that fewer people are watching sports now is not necessarily true. While most American men's leagues saw TV ratings drop in 2020, the NWSL's TV ratings grew, as did the WNBA's, even amid political displays from players.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal's Jason Gay noted that TV networks paid $110 billion in the NFL media-rights deal, a historic sum for what are routinely the biggest TV events each year.
CNBC's Jabari Young recently reported that the next TV deal for the NBA — which is one of the more overtly political leagues — was expected to come in at about $75 billion, a large increase from the previous deal.