The Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers of the NBA both play at the Staples Center; Lazio and AS Roma of Serie A both play in the Stadio Olimpico; the New York Giants and Jets of the NFL both play at Giants Stadium. If you follow one of these teams, how do you know which one to follow? Is there some strange geographical dividing line that’s simply less obvious than the line between Queens and the Bronx? Do you just root for the team your dad rooted for growing up? Do you nonchalantly pick the one that strikes your fancy better?
This is a likely IMHO type question.
In the case of the Clippers and Lakers when they play each other, it’s one team’s home game and one team’s fans will have the majority of tickets for that game. Although until last year, there were not many Clippers fans in L.A. since they weren’t very good.
I figured it would be a General Question because the teams do have established fan bases, and there must be some reason. I’m not asking people how they would choose a team, I’m asking how the sporting world resolves the issue.
I think the Lakers and Clippers are more of a class divide than a geographical divide. You aren’t going to impress anyone in L.A. with Clippers tickets.
There’s this saying in football (European football, soccer, that is) that you don’t choose the team you support, the team chooses you.
I think affiliation with a team isn’t so much a matter of geography to most supporters. I know a number of people who are fans of a football team which is based in an entirely different region of Germany than where they come from (and I think I can count myself in as well). You might have an antipathy for teams from your home region, for example, because you don’t like their style of playing or the way how they are managed; OTOH, you might admire a team for its history or because of famous players it fields.
There’s also a considerable element of inheritance to it, as you presumed. Dad was a fan of team X, and he took you to games when you were a child, so if you’re interested in sports, you simply grow up to be a fan of this team as well.
I don’t quite understand what’s the problem that needs to be resolved. Do you mean how it is determined which one of the teams gets the match counted as the home game and which one as an away game? That follows from the schedule of the league or division they’re playing in.
In the UK it doesn’t generally happen. The football (soccer) authorities disapprove of ground-sharing. It only ever occurs on a temporary basis, if one club’s ground is closed for refurbishment.
I still don’t understand the question. If each team has an established fan base, then each team’s fans will root for them regardless of where they are playing.
Who is this “sporting world”, if not the fans?
Moved to IMHO. samclem
In New York anyway, the Jets’ fan base is in Long Island, centered on their previous home, Shea Stadium in Queens, and their training facility at Hofstra. The same people go to their games in New Jersey that went to them at Shea. The Giants’ fan base is most of the rest of the NYC area. A Jersey kid wouldn’t normally consider becoming a Jets fan even though that’s where they play.
Well, I work it out this way: Fuck the Jets! Go Big Blue!
For however many times they play, half of the time one team gets to be the “home” team and half the time the other one does. When Team A is the home team, their season ticket holders get their seats and the other team’s season ticket holders have to buy them the regular way ifr they want to go. Team A gets all of the other perks of the home team like the home locker room, ticket revenue, their band plays the music, etc.
Roma tend to draw their fans from the city itself, and Lazio from the outer suburbs. It’s quite common in Italy for the city to build a stadium for the teams, so perhaps years ago the teams weren’t co-located until the municipality provided a new ground?
Are you saying that it’s based on which tickets you can afford? What happens if the Clippers win a championship? That looks like a serious possibility within the next 5-10 years, doesn’t it? Will all the old Clippers fans become Lakers fans?
You’re overanalyzing. “Resolves the issue” means “chooses a team”. That is, I’m not asking peoples’ humble opinion as to which team they would root for if they lived in one of those areas, I’m asking a General Question about how actual fans of the teams get that way.
The sporting world are the fans!
Is no one getting what I’m asking here? I’m not asking for opinions, I’m asking for facts: Why do Lazio fans root for Lazio? Why do Jets fans root for the Jets? This is a factual question with factual answers.
I get that. I’m asking how fans of the home and away teams become fans of the home and away teams in the first place.
(Thanks for the Lazio/Roma and Jets/Giants info, btw, Struan and ElvisL1ves)
Then why didn’t you just say so in the first place? If you had asked, “Sports fans, how do you become a fan of your particular team?” then I don’t think people would be so confused.
There isn’t really a dividing line between Queens and the Bronx-(plenty of Yankee fans in Queens and vice-versa, and fans of non- New York teams all over). I’m sure the fans you’re asking about choose which team to root for in much the same way as those fans do - who their family has always rooted for, which team is better right now , which team a favorite player is on, which team has nicer colors, etc. And unless things have changed since I was in high school in the late seventies, there is no shortage of female fans who pick a team based on the looks of the players. Everyone has a different reason.
Irrespective of one stadium or two, the question seems to simply be about cities with more than one team…and there’s certainly no one answer.
In some cases, a geographic divide is the main factor, and as described above can survive even when teams move to new locations (whether or not a shared ground). Social & religious factors can play a major part. Glasgow is the most obvious aspect of the religious/sectarian angle. I’ve heard it said that it’s impossible to get a foot on the ladder in business or politics in Turin if you support Torino, and I’m sure there’s plenty of other and better examples of this. And inherited support from parents is a major factor in Liverpool, for example.
It’s really not. No more than if I decided to ask why do cauliflower fans eat cauliflower and why do some people choose The Amazing Race over Survivor.
I had asked
and fetus responded
Of course! That was my point! But YOU had written
which made it sound like you viewed the “fan bases” and “people” as one group, which you were NOT asking about, as opposed to “the sporting world”, which you WERE asking about.
Well, NOW your question makes sense!
Your original post included the idea that they were playing in the same stadium. That’s what was throwing us all off. Why did you include that?
Okay, now that we understand the question, here’s my answer: I will root for a team only if I find something that I admire about them as a group. For example, it a team comes in second-place for several years in a row, I will admire their persistence and hope that they acheive their goal of getting into first place.
I would also root for a team if they were from my school or my hometown, because that means I have something in common with them. But I feel that this has no significance for professional sports, where the only thing they have in common with my city is that half their games are played here. Just because they were offered big salaries by the local team does not mean they are my fellow residents.