I’ve written about our vision in a previous blog entitled ‘Why Shnarped (the company)?‘. We are passionate about the hockey community and want to embolden it by bridging existing gaps between fans and players. We understand the player’s side of the equation and have a product they really like; now we’re shifting our focus to understanding what exactly it is that underlies the fans emotional attachment to their favorite sports team. Darren Hands, a Shnarped contributor from our earliest days, suggests fans have ‘an unquenchable desire for more; more stats, more data, more analysis, more behind the scenes footage and commentary… just MORE.’ But why is it never enough? What are the underlying motivations behind this unquenchable thirst?
Tapping into these emotions with both our product and our marketing campaigns will be imperative for our success. In this blog I will review some of the literature on sports fan psychology, and in my next post I’ll show some examples of how one can use online marketing techniques to tap into this emotion. Before reading this literature I had my own opinions on what created this emotional response, and I’ll review them at the conclusion of this piece.
It comes down to basics: Motivation Theory
In his 2011 article on what motivates fans, Max Wendkos cites the three main tenets of fundamental motivation theory – autonomy, competence, and relatedness – can be applied to understand fan motivation. His main point is that fans want to feel like they are cared for by the organization, and should have their ‘avid’ behaviors (buying tickets, painting faces, cheering loudly) rewarded as a means of positive feedback. Max raises some interesting examples of teams that have done a great job of engaging their fans, but I’m not convinced he’s gotten to the heart of why fans care so much.
Ok, but why are they so crazy?!?!
Thomas Van Schaik’s article The Psychology of Social Sports Fans: What Makes them so Crazy? tells us the origins of the word fan come from the modern fanaticus, or ‘insanely but divinely inspired’. He tells us that fans love the ability to escape their normal lives, to identify with something other than themselves, and even to suffer collectively. This was a great article that sources a ton of different scholarly papers within it.
Thomas also shares this quote, from a 1998 study by Paul Bernhardt: After a win, diehard fans are more optimistic about their personal sex appeal and their ability to perform well at mental or physical tests, Professor Hirt found. When the team lost, that optimism evaporated. Testosterone levels were found to increase or decrease by up to 20% based if a fan’s team won or lost an important game. A hormonal response that can increase or decrease self-esteem? Does that suggest an addictive influence? I find this to be a very interesting piece of the puzzle.
My thoughts (revisited)
Before reading through these papers, I was of the opinion that fans are fanatical because they want to be a part of a community and crave recognition for their contributions to the team’s success. Van Shaik says ‘If a sports team expresses approval and makes fans feel there is value in their contribution, a fans involvement will continue to increase’. At Shnarped we are always trying to understand the dynamics between the fans loyalties to a team and their loyalties to the players on that team. They are in some ways parallel and in some ways much different. In the same way that a team can encourage and recognize approval, we believe Shnarped can better enable athletes to provide their own encouragement and recognition to their loyal fans. All players know that their fans are a huge source of motivation (and salary). By enabling a more direct line of player-fan communication, we hope to be able to better recognize certain fans for their contribution to an individual athletes performance. How exactly we will do this still needs some work, and this blog represents only our first glance at the real psychology underlying a fans emotional attachment to their favorite team. I will be taking a ‘back-to-basics’ approach to understanding the psychology of motivation theory before making too many more product decisions in the medium-term.
A brief aside – So what exactly motivates players?
I don’t have the full answer to this, but I will argue that money is not nearly as big a factor as everyone thinks it is. The current NHL lockout overtly suggests otherwise, but I believe only relative compensation is important even in this matter, and a player’s real motivation relies much more heavily on intrinsic factors. Intrinsics factors that a supportive fan base can promote and inspire.
This video of Eric Winston ripping into the fans that cheered QB Matt Cassel’s injury suggests there is so much more to athletes’ motivation than money. It gives me chills.
http://youtu.be/X7tG8HJsi0Y