There’s a reason why some sports fans are referred to as ?die-hards? ? even after they move away, their loyalty to their hometown team endures, according to research by Scott Tainsky and Monika Stodolska, professors of recreation, sport and tourism at Illinois.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. There's a reason why some sports fans are referred to as 'die-hards' - even after they move away, their loyalty to their hometown team endures, according to research by two University of Illinois professors. Scott Tainsky and Monika Stodolska, professors of recreation, sport and tourism , say new residents of a community maintain an attachment to their old team or former city as a way of asserting their identity after they move. 'People new to a city don't just adopt their new hometown's team as a way to acclimate themselves in a new community,' Tainsky said. 'For new residents, sports is not that tool to stand around the water cooler and start the assimilation process ' at least not right away, and possibly never for some. They see it more as a way to assert their loyalty to their old hometown team, or the city they identify with. That leads us to conclude that the team or city someone identifies with is a relationship that endures.' The study, published in Social Science Quarterly, looks at the stability of fan identification among individuals who relocate, and whether that identification represents an actual bond between fan, team or city.
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