Professor of Religious Studies Joseph Price shared his expertise on the intersection between sports and religion in a recent New York Times feature story.
The article focused the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder's practice of having prayer before games. The Thunder are the only team on the NBA to regularly have a pre-game invocation.
According to Price a professional team’s reasoning for having a pregame prayer is twofold.
On the one hand, it came be a reflection of the religious conviction of the team's ownership. Secondly, "prayer can fit into a team’s marketing efforts, appealing to the values of a community and enhancing the perception that the organization shares in them."
Read more in the New York Times.
