Exploring Fan Identity Threat Posed By Athlete Retirement

Gillooly, Leah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1320-2803, Lock, Daniel and Inoue, Yuhei (2025) Exploring Fan Identity Threat Posed By Athlete Retirement. In: European Association for Sport Management (EASM) Conference, 2 September 2025 - 5 September 2025, Budapest, Hungary. (In Press)

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Abstract

Aim and Research Questions Using the focal context of tennis, we explore how fans experience transitions in their fandom when their favourite athlete retires. Specifically, we seek to extend extant theorising on identity threat responses by assessing how fans respond when faced with the retirement of their favourite athlete. The research questions (RQ) are: RQ1: What emotions do fans experience when faced with the identity threat of their favourite athlete retiring? RQ2: What is the impact of athlete retirement-invoked identity threat on fans’ self-identity as a sport fan?