All Rivals Are Not EqualClarifying Misrepresentations and Discerning Three Core Properties of RivalryB. David Tyler, Western Carolina UniversityJoe Cobbs, Northern Kentucky University

Properties of Rivalry

Only one rival?

Exclusivity ScaleSymmetry

Dichotomous or continuous?

Symmetric or bidirectional?

A rival is "a highly salient outgroup that poses an acute threat to the identity of the ingroup or to ingroup members' ability to make positive comparisons between their group and the outgroup" (Tyler & Cobbs, 2015, p. 230)

Properties of Rivalry

[T]hose who split up rivalries among different schools don't really get what 'rivalry' means (respondent #1)

Exclusivity ScaleSymmetry

Green Bay is by far Chicago's biggest rival. Allocating over seven times the amount of [rivalry] to them over the second [rival] accurately represents my feelings (respondent #9521)

Ohio [State] will always be the biggest rival, with Notre Dame a distant second. MSU wants to be our rival, but hey, Little Brothers always want to live up to their big brothers (respondent #1084)

Rivalry ProxiesModeling demand

• League structure• Division (e.g., McDonald & Rascher, 2000)

• Geographic proximity• Distance radius (e.g., Paton & Cooke, 2005)

• Shared border (e.g., Morley & Thomas, 2007)

• Total distance between opponents(e.g., Forrest, Simmons, & Feehan, 2002)

• Subjective identification• Panel of “experts”

(e.g., Boyd & Krehbiel, 2003)

Rivalry Hypotheses

A Team Can Have More Than One Rival

(non)Exclusivity Continuous Scale

BidirectionalDegrees of Rivalry Exist among Multiple Rival Teams

Rivalry is Perspective-based and Not Necessarily Shared by Opponents

Method Sample• Qualtrics online survey• Respondents recruited

from team message boards• Name favorite team• Who is a rival of that team?• Allocate 100 rivalry points

• N = 5,304 valid • 194 message boards• 96% male, mean age 37

• Replication in NFL, NHL• NFL N = 1,649• NHL N = 1,435

H1: (Non)exclusivityA Team Can Have More Than One Rival

H2: Continuous ScaleDegrees of Rivalry Exist among Multiple Rival Teams

H3: BidirectionalRivalry is Perspective-based

Why does this matter?