The club often wins more games when a franchise invests in a superstar like Tom Brady or LeBron James. But do the fans follow? How much team loyalty is purchased along with an expensive star?
Many fans voiced their disapproval of the “bought” Miami squad during the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs, perhaps not as much as some owners might have hoped.
Researchers at the University of Kansas surveyed more than 1,500 Americans about how much they liked teams that bought excellence and compared that to liking teams that built excellence from the ground up in a recent paper that was peer-reviewed and published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.
“People reliably preferred the ‘built’ teams and slighted the ‘bought’ teams,” said lead author Omri Gillath, professor of psychology at KU. “This was true of sports teams even if they didn’t know them, such as New Zealand rugby teams and work teams such as a squad of lawyers.”
In each of the five trials, participants were more ready to support teams that had been developed over time than those that had been brought together by free agency and wealthy owners. People valued legal teams that had been patiently and gradually formed over those that brought in celebrities to make a splash and win favor.
Hard work is a central American value, and it certainly applies to work and sports everyone loves a winner, but even more so when the backstory is based on perspiration and determination.
Professor Christian Crandall
This preference is reliable and strong. What makes the difference?
“Fans appreciate the effort and commitment required to build a team from the ground up,” said co-author Christian Crandall, professor of psychology at KU. “Hard work is a central American value, and it certainly applies to work and sports everyone loves a winner, but even more so when the backstory is based on perspiration and determination.”
Fans anticipated that a team that was created over time would exhibit greater collaboration and function more efficiently as a unit. Although team cohesion was a benefit, it was less significant than observing how hard work went into creating a team.
Fans prefer the teams who develop their players, invest in them and cultivate their skills.
“This explains part of the appeal of winning teams and part of the appeal of faithful fans of teams that work, struggle and manage to eke out just a few wins each season,” Gillath said. “It could also help explain people’s endorsement of Cinderella teams in competitions like March Madness. People love to see ‘unknown’ teams who work hard beat highly ranked teams with top one-and-done recruits.”
