INDIANAPOLIS — Whether it’s the Indiana Pacers, the Fever, or both, if you love a team, you’re considered a fan. WRTV looked into the science behind fandom and the rapid rise in fandom for the Fever.
Fans have been traveling from far and wide to watch the Fever in action. One fan said, “We’re from Virginia we flew all the way.”
Fever fandom has notably surged, after the arrival of star point guard Caitlin Clark. Another fan commented, “I like to watch her and she’s entertaining.”
This excitement has not been lost on the organization; last season, more than 300,000 fans walked through the doors of Gainbridge Fieldhouse to see the Fever play, setting a new single-season record for the WNBA.
This spike in interest raises a question: What actually goes into being a fan?
Edward Hirt, a professor of Psychological and brain sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, has studied the science behind fandom.
He explained how emotional investment in sports triggers chemical responses in the brain. “When things that we care about happen, there are reward centers in the brain that give us a lot of brain chemicals that feel good... and so we like to replicate,” he said.
Hirt explained to WRTV the role of specific brain chemicals in the fandom experience. “We think of endorphins when people run, and positive kinds of things, and oxytocin. We also think of testosterone getting released when people are watching games and feeling energetic and things like that.”
Relationships also play a significant role in fostering a fandom. "It's relationships, I think it's connections to people that kind of bring us to games,” Hirt noted. He added that fandom often extends beyond immediate families to include friends and shared experiences that bring fans together.
In Indiana, two players have emerged as key figures in attracting fans to the state’s professional basketball teams. Hirt remarked, “I think both on the women's side with Caitlin Clark and on the men's side with Tyrese Halliburton... they seem to rally everybody. And so that's fun, and I think it really gets people invested.”
Regardless of personal feelings toward specific players, Hirt emphasized the unifying nature of sports. “It can be a uniting force cutting across so many different things,
socioeconomic status and race and gender and everything, because we have this in common. And so we all root for that team.”
As the Fever continues to make headlines and draw crowds, the complex interplay between emotion, community, and the science of fandom may very well propel their legacy within the sports world even further.
