In Defense of Fair Weather Fans
Fair weather fan. That's a phrase used as an insult when discussing the following of sports teams. The term is used interchangeably with 'bandwagon.'
You are generally seen as not really being a 'true' fan if you are only intersted in the team when the team performs well. To be a 'true' fan you have to
suffer through the hard times. I have been a big believer in this line of thinking. I have been a fan of the St. Louis Rams ever since they moved from Los
Angeles to St. Louis. It was painful to be a Rams fan in the beginning. In fact, the Rams moved to St. Louis in 1995 and were the worst team of the
1990's until 1999 when they won the Super Bowl. The feeling was tremedous and I felt like the bandwagon fans that hadn't followed the Rams through
the rough times of 1995-1998 didn't deserve to rejoice in the Super Bowl victory as much as I did. Could they even name the starting quarterback from
the year before?
Lately, though, I have started to consider another side of this issue. There will always be those of us that will support our teams no matter how
successful they are, but if everyone supported the teams no matter what, what would be the incentive for the team to improve? Success in sports is all
about personnel. It starts with the coaches - what teams hire the best coaches to implement the best game plan. Then, of course, is the players. Teams
are successful based on the performance of the players within the coaches game plan. So, to be successful, a team must be willing to spend the money
to hire a good coach, and to spend the money to hire the best players availble.
In major professional sports we have two different models: 1) a league with a salary cap (NFL, NBA); 2) a league without a salary cap (NHL, MLB).
Clearly, in the NHL and MLB a factor in a team's success is its willingness to spend money on salary. Since there is no artificial restriction to the amount
of money that can be spent, teams that want to win can disregard financial issues and spend freely in order to do so (see: 1997 Marlins and the New
York Yankees). However, most teams have financial constraints based on their location that limits the amount of money that can be spent on salary.
The willingness to win for these teams, then, must be based on whether or not these teams spend money on salary that is commensurate to the market in
which their teams are located. While that may seem elementary, in the past we have seen an owner complain of being a 'small market' baseball team that
can't compete with the big boys and yet instead of investing his income stream into the team in order to compete, he pocketed the cash to make one of
the biggest profits in the league (see: Minnesota Twins). Which brings me to the leagues with the salary caps - you would think that all teams would be
on equal ground since salary spending is capped, but there are also owners in the NBA (LA Clippers) and the NFL (Cincinnati Bengals) that have
consistently kept their team salary below the cap level while also consistently losing.
Ok, but what does all this shit have to do with fair wether fans, youi ask (you thought I forgot didn't you?)? Well, the fair weather fans keep the teams in
line. They make sure that there aren't more Donald Sterlings (Clippers) and Mike Browns (Bengals). The fact that the fair weather fans won't come to
games, buy t-shirts and hats, or watch games on t.v. costs the teams money when they are losing. That provides the teams incentive to invest capital
back in the team. Season ticket sales generally are proportionate to performance. If a team loses and fans stop going to games, the team has only two
alternatives: 1) get better; or 2) move to a different city (where they will quickly burn through the honeymoon period with losing teams (ya hear me there,
Mr. Bidwell?).
So, while you or I will never be bandwagon fans (if you care enough to have read all this crap, I think it's safe to say that you aren't the type), maybe the
next time we see some schmuck at a bar wearing a brand new jersey and hat of the local team that has just come into success we should thank him for
that success and buy him a beer instead of rolling our eyes and making fun of him. On the other hand, I don't see why we can't just do both.
And For No Apparent Reason
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