Social Media Discourse About Division-I Football Players’ Early Exit Announcements: The Role of Expressed Fandom

Abstract

This study sought to understand social media users’ responses to Division-I football players’ early exit announcements as manifestations of BIRGing and CORFing. Researchers analyzed social media users’ replies ( N = 2,009) to six collegiate student-athletes’ early exit announcements on Twitter and Instagram during the 2018 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football season. Results identified four responses to exit announcements: (a) supporting, (b) noting significance, (c) disagreeing, and (d) capitalizing. These reactions varied as a function of fan identification: (a) those who expressed fandom for exited teams supported student-athletes, (b) those who expressed fandom for other teams capitalized on the announcements, and (c) those who expressed no fandom noted the significance of and disagreed with student-athletes. These findings offer unique insights that reinforce and diverge from assertions about fans’ BIRGing and CORFing behaviors. The results also have consequences for how scholars and practitioners come to view the intersections between team/organizational processes, athlete expression, and athlete–fan interaction.

Everyone Hates the NCAA: The Role of Identity in the Evaluations of Amateurism Transgressions: A Case Study of the Chase Young Loan Scandal

“…An additional limitation is that fandom was operationalized with public expression on social media (e.g., banner photographs), as opposed to identification (i.e., a psychological state impossible to accurately infer through limited observations of social media accounts). Although this technique is consistent with previous research (Brown & Billings, 2013;Cranmer et al, 2019), it is dependent on publicly shared indications of group membership. It remains possible that public expressions of fandom will differ from…”

“…Likewise, usernames (e.g., "@Buckeyeman"), hashtags (e.g., #buckeyenation), or references in comments or biographies (e.g., "Buckeye for life") were evaluated for expressions of fandom. Numerous studies have employed similar classification approaches (Brown & Billings, 2013;Cranmer et al, 2019). The strength of the association between social media content and fan expression was determined via Cramer's V. Beasley and Schumacker's (1995) post-hoc comparison procedures were utilized to identify significant cells within the analysis.…”

“…A. Brown et al, 2015; Cranmer et al, 2019). The strength of the association between social media content and fan expression was determined via Cramer’s V.…”

“…A. Brown et al, 2015; Cranmer et al, 2019). Group membership informs intergroup discrimination, which is activated when three criteria are met (Tajfel & Turner, 1979): (a) group members internalize or seriously adhere to their group membership, (b) the social situation provides a leeway for an intergroup comparison, and (c) there is a relevant outgroup from which to make a valid and fair comparison.…”

The role of family and social media in athlete social interactions

“…Social media as a whole does not affect the interaction and social personality of athletes, but social media is currently experiencing developments to promote sports, brands of sports, and fashion (Pilar et al, 2019). Cranmer, Cassilo, Sanderson, and Troutman (2019) revealed that social media is one of the tools that can be used to interact between sports fans and athletes, it is further revealed that the use of media facilitates the interaction of athletes with fans who may come from outside the city and even abroad. Mayuni, Gelgel, and Pascarani (2019) revealed the results of the study, namely, showing that the use of social media had a significant positive effect on face-to-face social interaction at the Sekaa Teruna, Desa Adat Kuta, Badung, Bali.…”