I’d like to suggest we stop calling sports “escape”
It’s the opposite. It’s engagement. Sports fans aren’t running away from the negative, they are running toward the positive.
We often talk about "third places" i.e. a social setting where people can gather outside of work/home
We should also be talking about "third things" i.e. common points of engagement that reduce social pressure and deepen connections
Sports are the ultimate third thing
This all assumes that we even know what sports show for casual fan even looks like?
And a more important point: implied is the idea that this is the way to move casual fans down the avidity funnel… which it is not.
Is there a world where a casual fan stumbles upon a “casual fan oriented Sports Center” and doesn’t immediately flip away? Sure. It’s that a likelihood that a company should invest in? Absolutely not.
It’s a fair point and the analogy ain’t perfect… but I feel like the industry has gone down this road before, and it’s never worked because casual fans don’t watch this sort of content
Just what people not all that interested in sports want… a sports show.
Just put the same idea in a different context to get a sense of how silly this is… a chocolate bar for people who don’t love chocolate. Brilliant!
I'm biased, but I think it's always worth revisiting this article when looking ahead to the Thanksgiving holiday...
nypost.com/2022/11/22/p...
engaged sports fans suffer less from afflictions like depression and loneliness because fandom facilitates friendships.
passing fandom along to our kids imparts a social skill that has lasting benefits on their mental health.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy5t...
fans have more friends because sports provide an infrastructure for interaction.
sports give you a reason to hang out. and hanging out with friends is good. it's the primary reason why fans tend to be happier than non-fans.
Fans have more friends!
Sports fandom facilitates human interaction. Fandom is a social good.
