The effects of fantasy football participation on team identification and NFL fandom

Abstract

Nearly 27 million people in North America played fantasy sports in 2009. This quantitative study examined how a person’s level of participation in fantasy football affects team identification, team loyalty, fandom of the National Football League (NFL), and consumer behavior. I also looked at whether fantasy football participants prefer a win by their fantasy team or their favorite team. An online survey was conducted using a snowball sample. I found higher participation levels result in higher team identification, higher team loyalty, and higher fandom, where fandom of the NFL is higher than team identification. Higher levels of participation also led to more time spent watching NFL games as well as more time spent online researching and updating their fantasy football team. I also found that over 41% of fantasy football participants prefer a win by their fantasy team, instead of their favorite team. A win preference of fantasy team resulted in lower team identification and team loyalty, which could have major implications on ticket sales, team merchandise sales, and sponsorship sales.