Sports Fans: Don’t Forget How Lucky We Are!
Social media has been a game changer for sports. Tools like Facebook and Twitter have allowed leagues, teams, and individual athletes to communicate directly with the fans, and more importantly (probably), have given the fans the opportunity to interact with said leagues, teams, and athletes on a much more personal and consistent level than ever before. If you’re a sports fan reading this blog, you probably already knew this. I’m here to remind you not to take it for granted.
We live in a world where we can now see, and even better, participate in conversations that would only have happened behind closed doors even just a few years ago. How times have changed! In the past few weeks alone, I saw three tweets from professional athletes that really made me thing about how lucky we as sports fans are, to live in today’s world.
Last week, Chris Bosh tweeted, “Been wanting to ask. Where Should I go next season and why?” Later, he clarified, “Ok… Let me rephrase the question. Should I stay or should I go?” If you weren’t aware, this is a massive summer for the National Basketball Association. Several of the leagues stars and superstars are on the free agent market (e.g. LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh), and their decisions will have a major impact across the league (Some argue, and I agree, that LeBron’s decision of whether to stay in Cleveland or head elsewhere has implications far beyond basketball. If LeBron leaves, the team folds, fans stop attending the games, the city’s morale takes a hit, and so on, and so on).
What’s so awesome about Bosh is that he has given the fans a chance to have a say in his decision on whether to stay in Toronto or sign with another team. Who knows how much the fans will influence his decision, but I can tell you this, if one team’s fanbase really steps it up and shows love for Chris Bosh, their support could have a very big impact on his decision, so long as the team itself is a good fit in his eyes. What player wouldn’t want to play in front of a team whose fans showed you tremendous support from the beginning? Thousands of fans have responded to Bosh so far. It will be interesting to see where he goes!
Fans aren’t the only people who can sway the decision of a free agent. Last week, Jeremy Shockey tweeted, “Dear Sharper pls dont sign with the Jags.. you have a home in New Orleans!!” Darren Sharper, veteran NFL Safety, became a free agent after the 2009-10 and had several suitors during the offseason. Shockey, understanding the importance of Sharper remaining a New Orleans Saint, voiced his opinion and his concern publicly to his 48 thousand Twitter followers.
Several days later, Sharper reportedly re-signed with the Saints. Now, again, who’s to say how much Shockey’s tweet influenced Sharper’s decision? In the end, it probably had very little do with Sharper’s return. However, the point is, that we as fans were able to see this simple but personal message sent out from Jeremy Shockey to one of his teammates, which probably wouldn’t have happened before the Twitter era. Athletes are simply more wiling to speak their minds about previously private matters in today’s world.
On April 27th, Carolina Panthers Safety, Chris Harris, was traded to the Chicago Bears. The crazy thing is, Harris himself tweeted about the trade, before it even happened! ““Breaking News,” he said, “I will be traded to Chicago Bears. Carolina u have been great and deeply missed. I have a special place in my heart for you.” Just moments later, he tweeted, “Oops!! I jumped the gun! Trade isn’t confirmed yet. I’ll confirm or deny on http://facebook.com/nfl.chris.harris.” And later that afternoon, Harris posted to his Facebook wall, “The deal is done. I’m now a member of the Chicago Bears. I’ll be back here on Facebook a little later to tell you Carolina Panthers fans how much I love ya and you Bears fans how much I look forward to playing for you again.”
I’m not sure exactly what happened, whether Harris did really jump the gun, or if his representation just got nervous about him tweeting the news himself. Whatever the case may be, it happened. Prior to social media, players would never have the chance to personally break news about this kind of thing. Sure, maybe they could feed it to a reporter who would break it himself, but now players have the ability to control the message. You may not have heard about this, because Harris is a relatively low profile player in the league, but imagine if it had been someone the mainstream media cared about. Or maybe, just maybe, the media didn’t pick this story but because of fear that their job just became a little more obsolete. 
Conclusion
My point is this: social media has forever changed when and how information is distributed from leagues, teams, and players, to the fans. We are seeing and influencing conversations like never before because there has been a shift in who controls the content. Please don’t take any of it for granted.
While I titled this post, “Sports Fans: Don’t Forget How Lucky We Are!,” I easily could have dropped “Sports Fans” from the title, or even called it, “Brands, What a Massive Opportunity You Have!” The point is that 1. This post can apply to all industries, and 2. Brands need to realize that they have the opportunity to engage customers and fans on a completely different level than they previously could, and in some instances, let them (feel like they) have a part in a real-life decision.
Author: Sam Taggart
