Sport fans' responses to the end of the season

While the benefits of identification with a sport team have been described (Wann, 2006a), the conditions under which fans will change or switch identification have not been investigated. The present study was designed to address this gap. Participants (154 college students) indicated how likely they were to engage in various acts following a basketball loss in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship tournament by the University of Kentucky (UK) men's basketball team. Half of the vignettes described a loss early in the tournament, while half of the vignettes described a loss in the Final Four. Results indicated that the timing of the loss, level of team identification, level of basketball fandom and level of maladaptive fan beliefs all influenced the likelihood that participants partook in certain activities. The results are discussed in terms of the influences that affect such decisions.