Why sports? An investigation into why we love them

By Jeremy Guerin

Over the course of these last three months, I have examined four unique aspects of sports fandom in order to discover why people care about sports. 

1. Sports from a fan’s perspective
2. Sports as an economic juggernaut
3. Sports in times of crisis
4. The psychology behind sports and the relationship between sports and media

I compiled a series of data points and interviews to better understand the scope of the fan, why fans behave the way that they do, and overall why people care about sports at all.

In an article, I interviewed a couple of people to discover why they root for certain teams or players. It was an interesting dive into why people root for out-of-market teams, and the familial or other reasons they fall into loving these teams or players.

I consulted multiple journals and articles to construct an infographic, detailing the economic impact of sports teams. There are both positive and negative impacts of teams on their local communities, and I touch on both as well as the destructive power of both COVID and sports mega-events.

Speaking of COVID, the Boston Marathon took place later than usual this year and gave me an opportunity to interview some Massachusetts natives on what they remember from that day, eight years later as well as the impact of the Red Sox in helping to unite and uplift the city in a podcast. A deeply personal story from one of my interviewees who was actually near the site of the bombings, both of the people I interviewed are big sports fans who keenly felt the wave of emotion that the Red Sox fed off of and galvanized Boston around en route to a magical world championship.

Finally, I talked to an associate professor of sports communication here at Emerson in a video story to discuss the psychological impact of sports on people. We also discussed the rights deals that sports leagues have signed and the evolving relationship between sports and the media as a result of streaming services.

Thank you for listening to this podcast, this will be my final reporting for Emerson College. I want to thank everyone that has helped me throughout this process, not only in this class with interviewing, resources, etc. but also all the professors that have helped me get to this point, on the cusp of graduation. For the last time, I am Jeremy Guerin for Emerson College, signing off.