Conspirituality in Sport: How QAnon, White Supremacist Ideology, and Other Nonscientific-Based Ideas Came to Infiltrate the Sports World

This paper examines the infiltration of conspiracy theories—particularly QAnon—into professional sports. Using a netnographic approach, I trace how QAnon gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic by exploiting authoritarian and gendered structures embedded in commercialized sports. Building on the historical association of sports with superstition and pseudoscientific beliefs, this study highlights how celebrity athletes have served as key vectors in spreading harmful ideologies, including anti-vaccine rhetoric and antisemitic conspiracies. I also identify the preexisting cultural conditions that make the sports world especially vulnerable to co-optation by conspiracy movements, ultimately transforming it into a site of ideological struggle. Drawing on the work of Theodor Adorno and the Frankfurt School, I demonstrate how QAnon harnesses authoritarian tendencies within sport to deepen social divisions and legitimize reactionary politics. The paper concludes with recommendations for counteracting these narratives and restoring the unifying, democratic potential of sport.