Why Do People Watch Sports

People feel like being part of a Tribe. 

Fans of a tem are like members of a tribe.

People like to share common emotions.

Our nervous systems get somewhat linked in a large crowd.

Its probably caused by electromagnetic induction. The Nervous systems of all the fans are broadcasting and recieving signals continuously. With all that shared emotional activity and sound in the same area its probably easy to feel.

Check out this great article `Cells That Read Minds' (link below) by Sandra Blakeslee in the New York times.

The so-called talent-luck theory, which was first proposed by the UCSD psychologist Nicholas Christenfeld in 1996. (Link Below)

Here's the model in short form: humans like watching feats of physical talent, but we still want to be surprised.

People like the lack of a pre-destined outcome.

When you watch a movie you kind of know the Hero will win.

A sporting event is going to be different and potentially unexpected every time. Even if you put the same teams back on the field a second time, the game may play out drastically differently.

Watching sports gives us a perfect, safe and secure, black and white, little microcosm of life. Following a player, team or game allows us to experience ups and downs and a whole array of emotions, just like in real life, but we aren't actually affected.

People love drama, suspension, and resolution, which are all elements inherent in sports.

A sports game is a sort of story. There is a beginning and an end. There is a protagonist (your team) and an antagonist (the other team). There is a scene and setting, the stadium at noon, and there is a plot, which is the action.

The most popular spectator sports tend to be ones we played as kids

Most people don't have the skills professional athletes have. But thay may have played the sport when young and have an appreciation for how hard it actually is.