How people raised and living in Ontario became fans of non-local National Hockey League teams
by Craig G. Hyatt, Andre M. Andrijiw
International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing (IJSMM), Vol. 4, No. 4, 2008

Abstract: Much of the research on how people come to support their favourite sport teams focuses on fans who attend games in person, thereby creating a local bias. Little is known about the process of how people raised in the vicinity of a team reject the local option in favour of supporting a distant team. In order to learn about this phenomenon, 20 Canadian ice hockey fans of non-local National Hockey League (NHL) teams raised and living in Ontario were interviewed. Six reasons for supporting their specific distant team were given by at least a quarter of the fans: an attraction to a specific player, the team's colours/uniform, the team's logo, meeting the team's players in person, seeing the team play in person and the team's status as an underdog. The findings provide further insight into why fans support the teams they do.

Online publication date: Fri, 02-Jan-2009

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing (IJSMM):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com