International Journal of Sport Management

Investigating Rivalry in Professional Sport

Cody T. Havard, Michael Hutchinson

Abstract: The current study used the Sport Rivalry Fan Perception Scale (Havard, Gray, Gould, Sharp, & Schaffer, 2013) to show that fans of professional sport teams reserved stronger negative perceptions of their primary rival than their secondary rival team. Further, the current study found that presence of a rival team impacted fan intentions to consume their favorite team, and their perceptions of rival teams impacted those intentions. Finally, the current study quantitatively measured Glory Out of Reflected Failure (Havard, 2014). Results showed that the presence of a primary and secondary rival did not impact fan likelihood to experience GORFing. However, perceptions of both primary and secondary rival teams impacted fan likelihood to experience the phenomenon. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and future study introduced.

Citation: Havard, C. T., & Hutchinson, M. (2017). Investigating rivalry in professional sport. International Journal of Sport Management, 18(3), 422-440.

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