The Three Types of Fans

Professional sport

Professional sport is now one of the most famous industries on the planet. Fans, ticket sales, and retail transactions hold all sports teams afloat and offer million-dollar contracts and lucrative commercial endorsements to professional athletes. In economic sports, fans play an important role. During sports, fans also inspire players by cheering them on. During the match, players’ performance improves as the fan base grows. Fans are usually rewarded for their help by the players doing well in all games. Average fans, fanatics, and bandwagon fans are the three types of fans. However, only fanatics are loyal; fans who have an intense pride in a team and care about how a team does on different competitive games.

Fanatic fans (Loyal)

The diehard fans have different characteristics that define their loyalty to their teams. The diehard fans will put their favorite team before almost all other priorities. For example, their lives revolve around their favorite team, and they will do anything for their team. For example, fanatics may provide material support for the team when the team is bankrupt or lacks a sponsor. The fanatics will always stand by the team in good or poor performances. Fanatics can go as far as offering material support whenever there is need to improve the performance of the team. Fanatics believe that the club can always do better and that it is the responsibility of the fans to support the club both in spirit and materially.

The second characteristic is that fanatics attend every sporting event their favorite team participates. For example, sky box, season ticket holders, and loyal tailgaters. The loyal fans aim at improving the club both in performance and in the financial base. Fanatics can demonstrate their loyal and genuine support by paying gate collections which increase team’s profitability. The third feature that defines loyal fans is that they are usually not much fun to sit by at games because they get easily irritated or believe they understand more about the game than everyone else does. For instance, loyal fans often want to win every argument about their favorite team. They feel possession of the team and in most cases want to show they are a know-it-all. The fanatics feeling of possession and that they know it all shows their loyalty to their respective teams. They assume that the team belongs to them even though they do not own team’s share capital. Fanatics stand to support and defend their teams against any criticism.

The fourth characteristic about loyal fans is that they spend much of their free time researching their favorite team and will know almost every aspect of every player on the team, as well as their opponents. For instance, they know how they match up with the other teams and stats. For example, they always compare their performances with other close competitors and analyze the statistics. Fanatics can improve the team’s performance by analyzing other team’s performance. A loyal fan would share the statistics with the players to motivate them to work harder towards emerging as the best. Besides, they can use the statistics to predict the outcomes based on previous matches. Such analysis drives the team players to work hard to meet fanatic’s expectations.

The fifth characteristic is that no matter how bad the season is going for their favorite team, fanatics will always stick with them. For example, loyal fans never stop showing their support despite the team’s poor performance. They never shift their support to a performing team at the expense of their team. Fanatics will never change their support for their team despite their teams waning performance. If someone badmouths or insults their team, fanatics will get defensive and outraged about the other person’s opinion. These types of fans work together supporting the activities of the team by attending the team matches and providing moral support to the players.

Average Fans (Disloyal)

Average fans also referred to as disloyal supporters because of their lack of commitment to a team. They have different features that best define them. The first characteristic is that disloyal fans usually have one or two favorite professional sports teams and spend a fair amount of time attending different sporting events between their favorite teams. For instance, average fans may support two different teams because of the two teams both play good games. Average fans always concentrate on the match and not the team. They tend o support the team that plays a good game. Average fans do not contribute positively to the performance of the team because they only attend games for entertainment.

The second characteristic is that they cheer for whichever team might be winning at the time. For example, these fans will usually say that they are rooting for whomever the sports critics. Average fans shift their support to the best performing team. They do not take a strong stand during the game. They seem comfortable with any outcome of the match. Their motive is entertainment hence they are often contented with any results of the match.

The third feature is that disloyal fans get their tickets to a game. The fans then run out and buy team clothing, knowing that they will only wear it one time. For example, average fans may attend games occasionally when the team they are supporting then is leading the table. A fan should stand by the team at all times. However, for disloyal supporters, they only support the team when it is winning and shift support when their team is performing poorly.

Bandwagon fans (Fair weather fan)

The bandwagon fans do not commit support to any team and have different characteristics. The first feature is that they are seasonal fans who go by team’s fashion. For example, bandwagon fans support the team that is enjoying massive support in a given season or period. The second characteristic is that these fans do not have a favorite team or even like sports period. For example, they will watch a game only if there were nothing else they would rather watch. Bandwagon fans do not support any team. However, they enjoy supporting teams with a wider support base in a given season. The third characteristic is that bandwagon fans do not care who wins or loses. For example, most of the time these fans do not know much about the sport that they are watching or about sports in general.

The fourth feature is that fair weather fans do not get into the games that are going on and would rather be doing anything else than watching a game. For example, in most cases, bandwagon fans attend games to interact and to socialize. They do not have any interest in any team’s performance.

Conclusion

There are many characteristics of sports fans: loud, quiet, wise, dumb, mean, kind, die-hard, and beginners just to name a few, but all of them are characteristics of average fans, fanatics, and bandwagon fans. However, all fans have one thing in common they all love their sports. Some people love it for the history. Some love it for the winning. Some love it for the camaraderie. However, there and even though all fans do not like the sports for the same reason, the love is still there.