Sports Fandom, Media History, and the Shifting Cultural Understanding of "The Eyes of Texas"

abstract: In 2020, a group of University of Texas at Austin athletes called to replace the school song, "The Eyes of Texas," with a song "without racist undertones." This article examines how different constituencies have negotiated their relationship to the song as a media and fan object since 2020 and the specific cultural and institutional contexts that led to shifts over time. Drawing on three years of quantitative and qualitative research, we advocate for moving beyond easy narratives of intergenerational conflict to consider the more granular ways participation is negotiated, stressing the significance of sustained media literacy.