Editors’ Introduction

While sports research often is treated as “less serious” than other areas of academic scholarship, we argue that the immense economic and cultural impact of sports cannot—and should not—be ignored by scholars, particularly in terms of exploring and examining the power and influence of fans. The extraordinary work in this handbook is a testament to how very central sports fan and fandom studies are to understanding the global impact of this area. This collection is centered on the fan perspective and thus is intrinsically tied to the cultural and political issues so prevalent around sports (e.g., trans/intersex athletes, fair pay and gender equity, team finances, etc.). This work provides an overview of the work being done in sports fan and fandom studies and situates the collection of chapters included in this handbook, offering both an explanation for why this is so important and how this book was developed. In the final section, the editors provide a brief introduction to each section and demonstrate how the ideas and concepts presented in each chapter help build our knowledge of sports fans and fandom.