Science At Work: Study Claims Fans Of Winning NFL Teams Actually Make More Money (Sorry, Kansas City)

So what’s your favorite winning NFL moment that doesn’t involve a six-team parlay? Do you remember walking in to work the next day, head up high knowing you wouldn’t have to hear crap from the other football fans in the office–and you, in reverse, could talk smack back? Now, flip that. The heartbreaking losses that leave your shoulders slacked and tucked away in your cube all day. Well, that’s the basis of a study out of Xaiver University, which claims fans who live in the area of winning NFL teams actually are more prosperous than fans who don’t. Sure, but in the end, the bars on both sides prosper regardless.

[E]conomist Michael Davis and the psychologist Christian End say that having a winning NFL football team increases the incomes of the people who live and work in its hometown by as much as $120 a year. And while the study doesn’t identify exactly what causes the boost, the authors point to psychological literature suggesting that winning fans are at once harder workers and bigger spenders. In short, buoyed by the team’s success, we work longer hours, take bigger risks, and shop more avidly, all of which helps the local economy.

“This collective mass of people in a good mood, that is something that could really bolster the economy,” says End, an assistant professor of psychology at Xavier University.

See, it’s not the subprime meltdown or the billions we’re sending overseas to finance shit we don’t need that’s brining down the economy… it’s the sad people in the country! Come on US Americans, do your part! Forget about your mortgage and daycare payments… and get happy! Your fellow US Americans are counting on you!
The secret benefits of fandom [Boston Globe]
Image [TK]