At this very moment — October 1, 2024 — between the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLS and MLB, there are 4,592 active players across the rosters of the 153 major US men’s pro sports teams in the Big Five men’s pro sports leagues in America.
Zero are publicly out as gay or bi.
What are the chances that there are zero gay or bi men across the 4,592 active players in the major U.S. men’s sports on any given weekend?
I’m not sure how to convey “less than zero,” but the chances there are no gay or bi players in these five leagues is literally impossible.
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Less than zero.
Let’s suppose an extremely conservative 2% of men in the major pro sports leagues are gay or bi. This is well below every single study.
That translates into 92 athletes being gay or bi, just amongst the current active-roster players. That doesn’t include all of the minor league players across the leagues. And 2% is just about as conservative an estimate as you could get.
In the history of major U.S. men’s pro sports, there have been only a handful of publicly out gay and bi players who have played in a regular-season game.
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Robbie Rogers was the first in the Big Five, playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2013. He went on to win the MLS Cup with the Galaxy in 2014.
Jason Collins came out shortly after Rogers in 2013, and he ultimately played in regular-season and playoff games for the Brooklyn Nets the following season.
Michael Sam was out as an NFL preseason player and Dallas Cowboys practice squad member, but he never played in an NFL regular-season game. He did play in one game for the Montreal Alouettes in the CFL.
After Sam came Carl Nassib in the NFL and Collin Martin in MLS.
Then… crickets.
The most likely next player up? Luke Prokop in the NHL, who is signed to the Nashville Predators.
Still, rght now, there are zero publicly out gay or bi men playing in the major US pro sports. There are some in other countries, like Isaac Humphries and Josh Cavallo in Australia.
Yet American sports are, for the most part, another level. The media exposure and public scrutiny eclipses certainly pro sports in Australia.
It begs the question, “why?” Over and over, we at Outsports have been asked this question, “Why are there so few publicly out gay men in major pro sports?”
My best answer has pointed to the agents and managers whose livelihoods depend on athletes maximizing their earning potential in just a few years. I know for a fact that agents have told gay athletes to stay in the closet.
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