Next Year Is Our Year : An Examination of Sport Fandom of Perennial Loser Teams

This study set out to examine the relationships between NFL team success and various fan traits like grit, global and collective self-esteem, team fandom, and sport fandom. The main hypotheses of this study were that fans of perennial loser NFL teams would demonstrate significantly higher levels of grit, sport fandom, and team fandom than fans of more successful teams and significantly lower levels of global and collective self-esteem than fans of more successful fans. Participants were recruited via online forums as well as in person via Western Kentucky University’s Study Board. There were a total of 85 participants, all of which completed a short packet of randomized surveys after reading and agreeing to the informed consent document. Participant responses were examined using multiple regressions