What pro basketball taught me about sports fans – Flinder Boyd

“Most sports fans are first struck by fandom between the ages of 8 and 12. The reasons people choose to root for a particular team vary, but a study using data sourced from Facebook found that on-field success is a major factor in fan attachment. The study looked at baseball fans from several different age groups, and found that when a team wins the World Series in any given year, eight per cent more eight-year-old boys become fans for life (for girls, the age of initial attachment isn’t quite as rigid).”