Basketball jones: Fan passion, motives, and reactions to the suspension of the National Basketball Association season due to COVID-19

Abstract

The suspension of the 2019-2020 National Basketball Association (NBA) season due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant that NBA fans were unable to engage in an activity that they loved in the midst of a global health crisis. In this research, we assessed if fan responses to the suspension were associated with different types of fan passion and motives. Shortly after the NBA season suspension, NBA fans (N = 395) completed online surveys assessing harmonious and obsessive passion for being an NBA fan, motives for watching games, and various attitudes and responses to the suspension. We found that both fan passion and motives predicted responses to the suspension, particularly obsessive passion which predicted greater levels of distress, coping responses, and negative attitudes toward the suspension. These findings have implications for both the passion and fan motives literatures.

No games to watch: empirical analysis of sport fans’ stress and coping strategies during COVID-19 lockdown

“…Second, our research makes important contributions to the coping behaviors in the sport management literature. Most sport-related research on coping has been focused on athletes dealing with stressful situations (e.g., Crocker and Graham, 1995; Holt and Hogg, 2002; Poczwardowski and Conroy, 2002), and relatively little research has been conducted to examine the stress-coping process of spectator sport fans during sport lockdown (Schellenberg et al , 2013, 2021). In particular, we contribute to the sport management literature by showing how individual differences, in terms of the psychological dispositions of sport fans, heightens stressful encounters with an event that prompts different coping response behaviors.…”

“…Some of the US professional leagues that operate in closed systems like the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Major League Soccer (MLS) have substantially altered their schedule and format to return (Blasi, 2020). Although some major professional sport leagues made their return in empty stadiums and arenas at the end of July through early August, the absence of live sport events has taken a stressful toll [1] on sport fans (Schellenberg et al , 2021). According to a nationwide online survey (Seton Hall Sports Poll, 2021), since the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, 69% of avid sport fans in the USA responded that they believe watching sport on television has had a positive impact on their mental health while 45% of casual fans believe so.…”

“…Cancellation or suspension of leagues and games would be distressing to those sport fans. Research showed that distressed fans in the event of a league lockout seek for strategies to cope with their stress (Schellenberg et al , 2013, 2021). While several studies on league suspensions have centered on fan substitution to estimate market penetration across sport leagues from sport economics perspective (see Mills et al , 2015; Winfree and Fort, 2008), scant empirical research exists to explore antecedents and consequences of stress appraisals of an event like league suspensions.…”

“…From a consumer’s perspective, lack of sporting events and not knowing when they will return would be perceived as stressful and threatening to their self-identity (see Schellenberg et al , 2013, 2021). Considering one of the motivation factors to consume spectator sport is the emotional outcome (e.g., eustress, escape; Trail and James, 2001), lack of a source of such rewards not to mention the threat of the virus itself, could add more stress to sport fans.…”

“…As shown in previous research, the results of the relationship between stress and coping responses can vary under the subject and situation (Carver et al , 1989). Our study builds on Schellenberg et al (2021) by examining the effects of individuals’ psychological dispositions as predictors of threat appraisals. Although Schellenberg et al captured the role of passion as an emotional state in the stress-coping process, their research leaves considerable room for understanding the effect of other psychological states (Goldberger and Breznitz, 1993; Lazarus et al , 1980; Lazarus, 1999) in the threat appraisal process.…”