At 10:27 PM last
night I got a text from my dad. “LA Kings Stanley Cup champions.” This text
came just seconds after I had watched Alec Martinez scored the cup-clinching goal in
double overtime. The last few years have been fun because the Kings have been a
dominant team in the NHL. My dad has been a fan of the team since I can
remember, but has never had much to celebrate because of their lack of success.
Maybe that’s why a couple weeks ago I decided to buy him an LA Kings hat for
father’s day. He has so long been a supporter of a losing team that I thought
it would be nice for him to be able to have something to identify him with the
winning team. I wonder whether this gift would have come to my mind had the
King’s continued to lose.
I am not the only
one who pays more attention to a winning record. Valued at $450 million, the
King’s value change from 2012 to 2013 was +63%. As of last November, they
were valued as the 10th most valuable team in the NHL. I am not sure exactly how big of an impact a winning has on faniship, but I know it's at least some.
I remember
once reading an article in which the author cited a florist who noticed that
when a team was winning games and titles, he received more orders for flower arrangements based on the team colors and logos. For examples, he
noticed a sudden increase in orders for green and gold funeral flower arrangements
after the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl.
I thought it was
interesting that in probably the most identity-based settings in our society, a
funeral, friends and family would associate the deceased with the teams they
supported. I thought it was even more interesting that at least some were more
likely to feel it appropriate to connect the identity of the deceased to a team
if that team was winning. This is a huge statement to the power of sports in
influencing and even creating identity.
It makes you think about what people would
remember about you when you die. If they were asked to speak about you to a room
full of people who barely knew you, would your connection to a sport or a team
be one of the first things that comes to mind? The powerful way sports
influences identity and self-perception is fascinating.
I am not exactly
sure all the reasons my dad has been such a King’s supporter all these
years, part of it is probably his California upbringing and another part of it
the era where Gretzky made the Kings contenders.
Research will surely continue
in sports and communication because owners and managers want to understand what makes a team a
part of a fan’s identity. They want to know the how LA Kings become so important in
a fan’s life that even their funeral is dressed in black, white and silver.
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