Fan Fatigue

[Jimmy Higgins]

As a fan of the New England Patriots, I am familiar with sports dynasties and how awesome they are... when it is your team. But as the Chiefs are showing now, dynasties aren't generally welcome in this world. For me, The Edmonton Oilers, San Fran 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Chicago fucking Bulls, NY Yankees, Manchester United, and now the Kansas City Chiefs... hate them! This hate is far from rational. What I am finding odd is that we are supposed to like the Alpha... and dynasties are the Alpha franchise. Yet, people tire of them. The Patriots were popular, even through their third Super Bowl... yet, it was over after that.

Often dynasties represent big cities, which often suffer the ire from all others. But the Chiefs, like Edmonton Oilers, represent a small market. A region that doesn't celebrate winning all too often. This should be celebrated. But instead, everyone in America who doesn't live in NYC or about Kansas City will be cheering for the Eagles, Why?

We see the same thing in media, such as with comic book movies. We just lived through the greatest series of comic book movies in human history... and now people are tiring of it.

The main difference between movies and sports is sports are not scripted. But it seems like, as long as the results follow a similar pattern for too long, people tire of it regardless. Looking online, I really I can't find much science on this. I'm befuddled over the Alpha male verse Alpha sports franchise paradox. Add to this, people in general hate surprises, that is just another odd thing that makes dynasties being the bane of sports (for most people).

There is jealousy. But any team winning should illicit that reaction. Why is the human mind against dynasties?

 

[bilby]

Manchester United are a special case. they were (and still are) the second most popular division one club in Manchester, behind Manchester City.

As a consequence of their underdog status, back in the 1980s the club started looking for supporters outside their home town, and that strategy coincided with a number of technological changes in society - availability of games via satelite TV, the ability for fans to discuss games and to purchase merchandise via the Internet, and the shift in revenue from ticket sales to TV rights sales.

The consequence was a sudden spike in interest in English football in places like Japan, India, and even the US, that ManU were perfectly placed to exploit, and which caused a massive injection of cash into the club.

And it was a positive feedback loop. The more cash ManU had, the more they could afford top talent. The better their squad, the more they won. And the more they won, the easier it became to recruit new fans from the vast pool of unaligned nascent fans overseas, who had no particular reason to follow one English club rather than another - but who could see one club winning lots of matches, and one club that was selling official hats and shirts in their local marketplace.

As a Japanese football fan in the 1980s and early '90s, looking for a team to support to make watching the English football on TV a bit more personally engaging, there was only one team whose merchandise was readily available in Japan. ManU. All the other English clubs were only selling their merch in their home towns - because that was where the fans were. But ManU didn't have many fans in Manchester, so they decided to sell merch everywhere.

By the mid '90s, ManU had so much cash that they were buying multi-million pound players, and putting them on the bench - they didn't have a spot for them in the starting lineup, but they bought them to stop rival clubs from buying them.

Sure, Ferguson also developed the ManU youth training pipeline, and brought lots of new talent into the game that way; And undoubtedly he was one of the best managers in the history of English football. But it's a lot easier to be a great manager when you have enough cash to buy the best, and enough to bury your mistakes.

Even in their heyday, ManU were not as popular as ManCity, in Manchester. And eventually, a big injection of cash, coupled with the steady erosion of the ManU 'first to market' advantage with international fans (who can now get merch from any EPL club), brought City back up to the level of their local rivals.

Meanwhile, everybody hates a winner. Most successful clubs are hated, outside their home town. ManU were special, in that they were also hated inside their home town.

 

[James Brown]

I wouldn't mind the Chiefs doing so well so often if I didn't have to watch one of them hawk products in every third commercial while watching a game.

 

[WAB]

All I know is that I've been a NY Jets fan since I was five in 1969, and damn, damn I am so fucking tired of the damn fucking Jets winning all the fucking time!!!!!!11

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I wouldn't mind the Chiefs doing so well so often if I didn't have to watch one of them hawk products in every third commercial while watching a game.

I am a Patriots fan and I swear I'll never rent a Hertz after the endless Hertz commercials with Brady.