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Spectator sports is about status
Hello TPM community,
Another provocative title.
We talked about how being a fan of a sports team is about identifying with a team/sportsman-woman to feel the high of victory when they win as a mood/self-esteem booster.
I think there’s another important function to being a sports fan.
Status.
When we win status for our belonging group, all group members benefit from this status. Same thing for losing.
So, when for instance the France soccer team wins, it’s a status boost for the whole country. So sports have a very good ROI in terms of status for a whole country. Yes it’s expensive. But then the status is distributed among all countrymen/women.
For instance when one is travelling/meeting foreigners and a World Cup has been won recently by one’s country of origin.
What do people say?
“You guys are World champions”
Or
“You guys won”
So it frames the countryman/woman as a winner of some trophy hence of higher status than his/her interlocutor who did not win anything.
Even if none of them played the game. By virtue of being part of the group they’re considered as winners or losers themselves. Therefore of higher or lower status than their interlocutor.
So of course sports is a status game. However spectator sports are a distributed status game. The team wins more but the whole group of supporters gain status as well.
That is some of the things at stake. This also explains the high emotions. Status is at stake. And we know how much humans are fond of status.
Cheers John.
Yeah, I think it makes sense. A quick note: It's not uncommon to see in highschool as well as in places with low value people, people one upping each other in regards to which football team won and which not. So that reinforces the fact that it's about status.
Cheers Power Duck.
Thanks for your answer.
Yes, an example this morning. I was in an early train to catch a flight: 2 young friends (18-19 y.o.) drunk from the night before argued for 45 min about who's the best: Messi or Ronaldo (!!). It's like having a debate about who's the strongest: the rhino or the elephant. They were really into it. I agree that it smells low value when one is so invested in these kind of debates. It's seems like they live vicariously through those people.
The debate itself could be relevant.. It's the investment that reeks low value.
Yes, absolutely.
And in SOME (limited) cases, there is a "real" status boost.
But:
- Sport results mostly count among men, much less so for women
- Cities-based teams matter less compared to national ones, since most people associate others more strongly to nationality than "city belonging" (especially from what I've seen in EU. You're Italian / Spanish / German, never "Roman / Barcelonian / Berliner"
- You only "gain" with some men, and the most go-getters tend to focus on individuals and personal achievements, not your "group background"
- Most men far over-estimate the benefits of "their team" winning for them
- What you do personally usually matters a lot more for your status/success/reputation
That is the reason why TPM usually recommends to drop the fandom.
Not because what your various groups of belonging don't matter: they do.
But you have little agency on that, PLUS they matter less than what you do personally, and you'll generally have a much, much higher ROI focusing on the self (and even better mental health/power if you don't project your full ego on some random team).
The country's general appeal matters a lot more than team results, and I think that team results mostly help insofar that they may help increase the country's standing on an international stage.
But even then, a country is probably much better off when it's known and famous for things that go beyond sports (that also helps much more in dating as well, but don't wanna go off-topic now).
Thanks a lot for your answer, Lucio.
Yes I also think that people overestimate what this status boost can do for them in their lives.
The ROI is good for the government I meant: you get to give a status boost for the whole country. So it increases the government popularity.
