The purpose of our study is to compare how fans react to rivalry across different professional sports leagues. We surveyed a total of 4,247 fans of teams in Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), the NFL, and the National Hockey League (NHL) to measure dis-identification toward the top rival of respondent's favorite team, as well as prejudice, relationship discrimination, and schadenfreude toward that rival team's fans. We also measured the level of fan identification with each respondent's favorite team. The results reveal a strong pattern of greater animosity toward rivals among NFL fans compared with fans of other leagues.

1. Measuring Rivalry across
Professional Leagues
Is Animosity Consistent Across Sports?
B. Daniel Sparks, Northern Kentucky University
Joe Cobbs, Northern Kentucky University
David Tyler, Western Carolina University
Jennifer Gardner, Northern Kentucky University

2. Literature Review
What is Rivalry?
A rival is "a highly salient outgroup that poses an acute threat to
the identity of the ingroup or to ingroup members' ability to make
positive comparisons between their group and the outgroup" (Tyler
& Cobbs, 2015, p. 230)
• Social Identity Theory
o People associate with others similar to self to
reinforce self-image (Tajfel, 1974; Turner, 1975)
• Schadenfreude
o Pleasure in others’ misfortune (Dalakas & Melancon,
2012; Havard, 2014).
• Bias in Relationships
o Highly identified fans are more likely to commit acts
of aggression (Wann et al., 2003; Wann et al., 1999).

3. Literature Review (Cont.)
League Differences
• Commercialization
o NASCAR fans more accepting of
commercialization compared to NFL fans (Levin et
al., 2013)
• Fan Motivation
o Individual versus team, aggressive versus
nonaggressive, and stylistic versus non-stylistic.
(Wann et al., 2008)
o Results:
• Aesthetics in individual, nonaggressive, and
stylistic sports.
• Economic, eustress, group affiliation,
entertainment, and family in team sports

4. Rivalry Hypothesis
League Differences
Hypothesis: Animosity toward rivals varies across professional leagues.

5. Method Sample
• Qualtrics online survey
• Respondents recruited from
online message boards
• Name favorite team
• Who are the rivals of that
team?
• Asked (DV) questions about
negative bias, relationship
discrimination,
schadenfreude, and dis-
identification
• N = 4,392 valid
• 91% male; 22.4 years old
• 194 message boards
• Respondents Per League
• NFL N = 1,566
• NHL N = 1,500
• MLB N = 853
• MLS N = 473

6. Results: MANOVA
Differences exist on all four dependent variables
DVs F-value (df) P-Value
Negative Bias 30.21 (3223) <.01
Relationship
Discrimination 10.84(3342) <.01
Schadenfreude 25.52 (3241) <.01
Disidentification 17.33 (4439) <.01

7. Results: Negative Bias
NFL and NHL have similar negative bias against rivals
League Sample Mean (SD) P-Value
NFL 984 5.10 (1.50) -
MLB 544 4.78 (1.62) <.01
MLS 305 4.29 (1.60) <.01
NHL 965 5.11 (1.46) 1.0
Bias against Rival Post Hoc Tests (vs. NFL)
Level of significance < .05
Sample item: [Rival team]’s fans are more obnoxious than the fans of a typical
team. (Disagree-Agree 7-point scale)

8. Results: Relationships
NFL fans discriminate in relationships with rivals
more than the other leagues
League Sample Mean (SD) P-Value
NFL 980 3.33 (1.34) -
MLB 530 3.00 (1.28) <.01
MLS 297 2.98 (1.37) <.01
NHL 951 3.12 (1.28) <.01
Level of Significance <.05
Relationship Discrimination Post Hoc Test (vs. NFL)
Assuming I were single, I would be willing to have an intimate relationship with
a(n) [Rival Team]’s fan. (Pettigrew & Meertens, 1995)

9. Results: Schadenfreude
Schadenfreude toward rivals was significantly higher
in NFL respondents
League Sample Mean (SD) P-Value
NFL 997 3.85 (1.72) -
MLB 537 3.28 (1.63) <.01
MLS 310 3.54 (1.72) <.05
NHL 964 3.24 (1.65) <.01
Schadenfreude toward Rival Fans Post Hoc Test (vs. NFL)
I will feel joy if a player from [Rival Team] gets suspended for a year, even if the
suspension was not completely deserved. (Dalakas & Melancon, 2012)

10. Results: Dis-Identification
NFL fans were more likely to Dis-identify with Rival
teams
League Sample Mean (SD) P-Value
NFL 1424 4.11 (1.57) -
MLB 781 3.70 (1.61) <.01
MLS 442 3.62(1.59) <.01
NHL 1403 3.86 (1.54) <.01
Fan Dis-Identification towards Rivals Post Hoc Test (vs. NFL)
When someone criticizes the [Rival Team], it feels like a personal compliment.
(Elsbach & Bhattacharya, 2001)

11. Additional Findings
MLS Comparisons to Other Leagues
MLS league differences
League Negative Bias
Relationship
Discrimination Schadenfreude Dis-Identification
MLS 4.29 (1.60) 2.99(1.37) 3.54 (1.72) 3.62 (1.59)
NFL diff +0.80*** +0.35*** +0.31** +0.48***
NHL diff +0.81*** +0.13 -0.29* +0.24*
MLB diff +0.48*** +0.02 -0.25 +0.08
*** p < .01 * p < .10** p < .05

12. Limitations
• Exclusion of the NBA
• Restricted to US/Canadian professional leagues
• Sample Size variation amongst leagues
• Highly male sample
Future Research

13. Implications
• Fan phenomenon varies by sporting
context (Wann et al., 2008)
• Marketers/Security must be cautious
of generalizing assumptions of Rivalry
across leagues