“BUZZER BEATERS” AND “BARN BURNERS”: THE EFFECTS ON ENJOYMENT OF WATCHING THE GAME GO “DOWN TO THE WIRE”

Abstract

Prior research on the effects of being kept in suspense about the outcome of a sports contest on spectators' enjoyment of the sporting event has yielded ambiguous findings, which the present investigation was designed to clarify. A high school football game was videotaped professionally. The tapes were edited, and play-by-play and color commentary was added, so as to create a suspenseful version and a nonsuspenseful version of the game. In addition to suspense, outcome of the game (favorable, unfavorable) and gender of the viewer (female, male) were predicted to affect enjoyment of the sportscast. Enjoyment of watching the sportscast was assessed in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design. Viewing a more suspenseful version of the sportscast made the game more enjoyable, less boring, more exciting, and less dull. Moreover, under conditions of high suspense, viewers were more anxious about the outcome, cared more whether the liked team won, and liked the victorious team more than did viewers in the nonsuspenseful versions of the sportscast. In line with disposition theory and prior research, a favorable outcome for the desired team was more enjoyable than an unfavorable outcome, and men generally reported liking the sportscast more than did women.