How Fans Choose Their Team

WINNING HELPS
Over all, there are 1.65 Yankees fans for every Mets fan. But this ratio differs tremendously for people of different ages. The explanation seems to be a team’s success during a fan’s childhood.
RATIO OF
YANKEES FANS
TO METS FANS:
2 TO 1
Men are more influenced by a team’s success during their childhood.
The Mets won the Series when 52-year-olds were 7.
The Mets won the Series when 36-year-olds were 8.
1.65 TO 1
Women’s allegiances are more steady.
64-year-olds skew toward the Yankees, who won the Series when they were 6, 8, 11 and 12.
The Yankees won the Series when 42-year-olds were 5 and 6.
The Yankees won the Series when 24-year-olds were 6, 8, 9, 10.
1 TO 1
AGE OF FANS
THIS YEAR
64
62
60
58
56
54
52
50
48
46
44
42
40
38
36
34
32
30
28
26
24
22
AGE
AT WIN
INCREASE IN LIKELIHOOD OF FANDOM
BECAUSE OF CHAMPIONSHIP
MOST IMPRESSIONABLE:
8-YEAR-OLD BOYS
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
1.2%
0.9
2.6
3.0
4.9
5.5
4.8
8.0
6.4
7.0
7.8
6.7
5.7
5.3
3.6
2.2
1.4
2.6
1.4
0.6
Here is how much a World Series championship boosts the likelihood that boys and men will become lifetime fans of the team.
 
The odds of being captured as a perma-fan peak with those aged 8 to 12 at the time of the championship.
 
Source: analysis of Facebook data by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
By BILL MARSH