Sport consumers: perceiving and enjoying danger in American football

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to better understand how consumers perceive and process danger in American football and why they continue to enjoy watching the sport given society’s increased understanding of the danger to the athletes.Design/methodology/approachTwo studies, one lab study with eye-tracking (N = 152) and one survey study (N = 444), were conducted. Study 1 examines how the perception of danger associated with football mediates the relationship between exposure to violent or nonviolent video clips and enjoyment of watching video clips. Study 2 examines how device type and screen resolution influence perceptions of danger associated with football.FindingsFindings support the role that perceived danger plays in sport viewing enjoyment. The results are in keeping with reversal theory where individuals have a protective frame that allows them to experience negative emotions (e.g. anxiety) as positive (e.g. excitement). The research also shows that for larger devices, the perception of danger associated with football is significantly influenced by high resolution.Social implicationsThe work, through considering the way consumers experience sport, questions societal tolerance for entertainment that is dangerous to sport participants.Originality/valueThe findings of this work corroborate past research that has found that consumers of sport do enjoy danger for athletes in their viewing experience. Reversal theory is utilized to explain how negative emotions are experienced as positive. The work extends past findings by showing that the characteristics of the device used (large size and high resolution) during sport viewing influence perceptions of danger.