A thought on toxic sports teams' fanbases?

[Buzz Rules]

A thought on toxic sports teams' fanbases? Have sports teams' fanbases become more toxic in the last decade? For example, last night the USA lost to Panama in the 2023 GC semifinal (just using the event as an example, I know 99% of you don't care about soccer) and the fanbase is unreasonably mad on social media (my soccer friends just shrug their shoulders when talking about the match in person, a more reasonable take to be honest). I know social media just makes everything worse (in most cases), but have fanbases from every sport become more toxic, unreasonable, and entitled in the last 10 years or is my perception wrong.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Every fandom/community online is toxic. They've been toxic for the entire time that I've been using the internet. That isn't unique to sports.

 

[Buzz Rules]

Every fandom/community online is toxic. They've been toxic for the entire time that I've been using the internet. That isn't unique to sports.

What about the fans you meet in person?

 

[BrianL]

Every fandom/community online is toxic. They've been toxic for the entire time that I've been using the internet. That isn't unique to sports.

Yeah, the Internat/social media really enables people to express negative views and be reinforced for doing so. It's a spiral.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Yeah, the Internat/social media really enables people to express negative views and be reinforced for doing so. It's a spiral.

Negative sentiment gets pushed more in internet algorithms in comparison to positive ones, which expands on the toxicity.

 

[Praying Colonel]

I've been in several online sports forum communities for almost 30 years. They cut across a spectrum from forums of absolute nut jobs to forums of fairly reasoned, respectful fans. You can self-select where you want to be, if you take the time to look around and find what works for you.

(Twitter's ridiculous just about all the time and there's really no easy way to curate who you're reading unless you stay out of the comments entirely, so I tend to avoid diving into Twitter after a big loss.)

 

[tvguy]

Not sure if they are toxic, but they have in some cases taken to action. The whole Oakland A's moving to Las Vegas situation for example. First the "Pack the ball park" protest put almost 30,000 fans in the stadium on a night where it might have normally been 3,000 or less. Then at the All Star Game. Did you see all the Green "Sell" tee shirts in the stands in SEATTLE? And of course MLB took action to make sure Fox did not show the silent protest in the 5th inning. They spent the entire protest interviewing Otani in the dugout and not showing ANY of the game or stadium. They even turned down the "natural sound" microphone, although the chants of "Sell the Team" could be heard in the background of the interview.
@Buzz Rules no different than our discussions of Soccer in Sacramento. Greed has taken a front seat over fans and communities.

 

[PollyannaMom]

A thought on toxic sports teams' fanbases? Have sports teams' fanbases become more toxic in the last decade? For example, last night the USA lost to Panama in the 2023 GC semifinal (just using the event as an example, I know 99% of you don't care about soccer) and the fanbase is unreasonably mad on social media (my soccer friends just shrug their shoulders when talking about the match in person, a more reasonable take to be honest). I know social media just makes everything worse (in most cases), but have fanbases from every sport become more toxic, unreasonable, and entitled in the last 10 years or is my perception wrong.

I don't have experience with online sports sites, but I think over-the-top fans might actually be the reason some people aren't into soccer. We hear about violence erupting at matches and don't want to be anywhere near it.

In general, though, I agree that the anonymity and reinforcement of drama online can fuel toxicity.

 

[Buzz Rules]

I don't have experience with online sports sites, but I think over-the-top fans might actually be the reason some people aren't into soccer. We hear about violence erupting at matches and don't want to be anywhere near it.

In general, though, I agree that the anonymity and reinforcement of drama online can fuel toxicity.

That's European hooligans. MLS has supporter groups instead of hooligans. They stand against all forms of violence and discrimination. NE Revolution has several supporter groups. Here is NE Revolution's official website:
https://www.revolutionsoccer.net/fans/supporters

What makes American soccer different (this may convince you to avoid the sport less) is that we learned what not to do by observing the mistakes that European fans have made in the past. If you learn about your local team's supporters groups, you may be pleasently surprised.

 

[_19disnA]

Every fandom/community online is toxic. They've been toxic for the entire time that I've been using the internet. That isn't unique to sports.

I agree. Social media in general seems to give the loudest and most obnoxious people a chance to reach a larger audience. Think we would all be far better off is social media just went away. The sane/rational people can't be bothered with that rubbish so they stop participating. That leaves mostly the looney tune crowd to spout their nonsense to other like-minded individuals.

Social media sites make $$$ from advertisers based on how many users and posts they get so they have virtually no incentive to do anything to get the situation under control. Honestly, social media is basically a chat room that sells ads to make money.

 

[sam_gordon]

I agree. Social media in general seems to give the loudest and most obnoxious people a chance to reach a larger audience. Think we would all be far better off is social media just went away. The sane/rational people can't be bothered with that rubbish so they stop participating. That leaves mostly the looney tune crowd to spout their nonsense to other like-minded individuals.

Totally agree with the above.

Social media sites make $$$ from advertisers based on how many users and posts they get so they have virtually no incentive to do anything to get the situation under control. Honestly, social media is basically a chat room that sells ads to make money.

Actually, your second sentence invalidates the first. If enough people stop coming to a site, the site loses ad revenue. If enough ad revenue is lost, the site doesn't stay profitable and gets shut down. So yes, owners DO have incentive to keep things under control. BUT, at the same time, conflict also brings views. Look at some of the train wreck threads on the Dis. Many will just read the posts and enjoy the popcorn.

It would be interesting know how much participation has dropped off on the CB over the last decade. I seem to remember threads dropping to page 2 fairly quickly because there was a lot going on. Now, not so much.

 

[Travel60]

The anonymity of online gives some permission to be more toxic. But it's not limited to online. DH would not go to a Yankees game if he were invited to watch from the owner's box. A few years ago I was considering attending a certain southern university football game (as a visitor). My son said "mom, you don't want to do that. It's vicious "

 

[fla4fun]

The anonymity of online gives some permission to be more toxic. But it's not limited to online. DH would not go to a Yankees game if he were invited to watch from the owner's box. A few years ago I was considering attending a certain southern university football game (as a visitor). My son said "mom, you don't want to do that. It's vicious "

I agree. Regardless of the type of fan group it is (sports, music, theme parks) the anonymity of the internet does bring out the worst in people a lot of the time. I also feel like this has an impact on some of the in person fans as well though. People following a favorite team online get caught up in the fervor and then carry it with them to the stadium.

When I was in high school, our football team had a friendly rivalry with another school. The most you would ever see as far as people acting out were some cheers putting down the opposing team or perhaps a banner proclaiming one team or the other as the best. There was a cordiality, a feeling that even though both sides hated to lose, they could still display good sportsmanship. Those two schools don’t play each other at all anymore, because the rivalry became dangerous to players and fans. This all happened in the mid to late 2000’s, when social media was becoming a big thing. Coincidence? I don’t think so. The rivalry was always there, but I believe social media is what pushed it over the edge.

 

[jimmymc]

It's no worse than it used to be. I see message boards from 20 years ago that would get you banned from Facebook or Twitter.

 

[_19disnA]

I think overtime the effort to garner followers for fringe ideas has gotten more sophisticated and better organized. Years ago it was a few individuals whose elevator clearly didn't go to the top floor posting crazy ideas. Now that various groups/individuals have figured out how to weaponize their reach on social media to get bigger followings it has become a much bigger deal. The up is down and left is right fringe elements are far more organized then in the past.

Major advertisers did pause their spend on twitter with all of the recent upheavals and uncertainty surrounding that site. Not sure if that has changed or not. About every 6 months some new site seems to appear drawing followers from other existing sites.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

The anonymity of online gives some permission to be more toxic. But it's not limited to online. DH would not go to a Yankees game if he were invited to watch from the owner's box. A few years ago I was considering attending a certain southern university football game (as a visitor). My son said "mom, you don't want to do that. It's vicious "

Lol. My thoughts exactly. We eventually stopped going to games, when the Rays hosted the Yankees. Wow, could it get ugly. The funny part was it was mostly Yankees fans fighting each other. Red Sox fans are a close runner up. We've never noticed fans for other teams behaving badly.

As for football, I didn't realize how bad it could get, until we went to a Miami Hurricanes game as a Tar Heel fan. We're used to basketball games in Miami, which are always civil.