Survey Results: Red Flags, Green Flags, and Skipping Dates for a Game
RotoGrinders conducted a survey of 4,017 American sports fans to find out how being a sports fan affects their dating life. Is it a deal breaker if a significant other supports a rival sports team? Which sports can be considered a “green flag” of a love interest? Would Americans skip a date night to watch their favorite sports team play? The answers to all of these questions can be found below.
Before we dive into the first question about how sports lovers handle dating, be sure to check out our Underdog Promo Code and Sleeper Promo Code pages. That way, you can still enjoy the fun even if you can’t watch a game because of your significant other.
QUESTION 1: Is it a deal-breaker if your love interest/partner supports a sports team that rivals one you follow?
First of all, the respondents were asked if their partner supporting a rival sports team is a deal breaker. According to the responses, 1 in 4 Americans think it is a deal breaker if their love interest/partner supports their rival sports team (23% of respondents).
Is it a deal-breaker if your love interest/partner supports a sports team that rivals one you follow? | |
Response | Percentage |
Yes | 23% |
No | 77% |
When looking at the results in more detail, a slightly bigger percentage of male respondents think it is a deal breaker in comparison to female respondents – 26% male respondents think their partner supporting a rival team is a deal breaker while 21% female respondents think it is a deal breaker.
Is it a deal-breaker if your love interest/partner supports a sports team that rivals one you follow? | ||
Gender | Yes (%) | No (%) |
Male | 26% | 74% |
Female | 21% | 79% |
Additionally, it is seemingly a bigger issue for younger generations since 39% of the 18-24 years old group think it is a deal breaker in comparison to 31% of 25-34 year old respondents, 30% of 35-44 respondents, 21% of the 45-54 group and only 10% of the 55+ group.
Is it a deal-breaker if your love interest/partner supports a sports team that rivals one you follow? | ||
Age Group | Yes (%) | No (%) |
18 – 24 | 39% | 61% |
25 – 34 | 31% | 69% |
35 – 44 | 30% | 70% |
45 – 54 | 21% | 79% |
55 + | 10% | 90% |
If location is considered, the US states where the largest percentage of respondents think their partner / love interest supporting a rival team is a deal breaker (with a minimum of 20 respondents per state) are: Delaware (36%), New Mexico (35%), California (34%), Illinois (31%) and New York (30%).
On the other hand, the states where the largest percentage of respondents think it is NOT a deal breaker are: Kansas (93%), Oregon (88%), South Carolina (87%), Mississippi (87%) and Pennsylvania (86%).
QUESTION 2: Which sports that your love interest/partner either participates in or is generally interested in would you consider a “green flag”?
When asked about sports that can be considered as a “green flag” to follow or participate in by a significant other, the top 3 answers are: football (55%), basketball (39%) & baseball (30%). Having said that, 1 in 2 Americans think that playing / being interested in football is a green flag.
Which is/are the main sports that your love interest/partner either participates in or is generally interested in would you consider a “green flag”? | |
Sport | Percentage |
Football | 55% |
Basketball | 39% |
Baseball | 30% |
Boxing | 13% |
Soccer | 13% |
Fishing | 13% |
While the top 3 answers are the same for both male and female respondents with similar percentages, the fourth most popular answer differs. For women, the 4th biggest “green flag” sport is fishing (14% of female respondents), and for men it is soccer (15% of male respondents).
Which is/are the main sports that your love interest/partner either participates in or is generally interested in that you would consider a “green flag”? | ||
Sport | Male (%) | Female (%) |
Football | 56% | 53% |
Basketball | 41% | 36% |
Baseball | 33% | 28% |
Boxing | 13% | 13% |
Soccer | 15% | 11% |
Fishing | 11% | 14% |
The top 3 answers (Football, basketball, baseball) are the same for all age groups apart from the 55+ age group where respondents think baseball is more of a “green flag” sport than basketball and their order is thus switched (Football at #1, baseball at #2 and basketball at #3).
Football was also the #1 answer in all US states apart from Connecticut, where the #1 “green flag” was basketball (50% of respondents), followed by Football (41% of respondents). Basketball and Football were also tied for the #1 answer in New Mexico with 45% of respondents each.
QUESTION 3: Would you skip a date night to watch your favorite team play against a rival team?
According to our survey, 1 in 2 Americans would skip a date night to watch their favorite team play against the rival team (43% of respondents). Interestingly, men and women both had the exact same answer with 43% of both of the groups saying that they would skip a date night with their significant other to watch their favorite team play against a rival team.
Would you skip a date night to watch your favorite team play against a rival team? by Demographics | ||
Response | Male (%) | Female (%) |
Yes | 43% | 43% |
No | 57% | 57% |
The age groups of 35-44 and 45-54 turned out to be the most likely to skip a date night to watch their favorite team play a rival team with 47% of respondents saying they would skip a date night in both of the age groups. On the other hand, the age group of 55+ were the least likely to skip a date night, however, 36% of the 55+ respondents still said yes to skipping a date night in order to watch their favorite team play against a rival team.
Would you skip a date night to watch your favorite team play against a rival team? | ||
Age Group | Yes (%) | No (%) |
18 – 24 | 41% | 59% |
25 – 34 | 46% | 54% |
35 – 44 | 47% | 53% |
45 – 54 | 47% | 53% |
55 + | 36% | 64% |
The states where the most respondents said they would skip a date in order to watch their favorite team play against a rival are: Louisiana (58%), Delaware (55%), Missouri (51%) and Kentucky (51%).
On the contrary, the states where the most respondents said they would NOT skip a date night in order to watch their favorite team play a rival are: Kansas (82% of the respondents said NO), Minnesota (76%) and South Carolina (73%).
METHODOLOGY
- The survey was conducted between 27th September 2024 and 2nd October 2024
- The sample comprised 4,017 USA sports fans
- Given that the survey is representative of the adult American population, the findings can be reliably generalized, allowing proportions such as 1 in 2 or 1 in 4 Americans to be inferred from the sample of 4,017 respondents; since the number of respondents must be a whole number, the results of proportionate results (1 in 3 / 1 in 4 etc.) are rounded to the nearest whole number
- All research conducted adheres to the MRS Codes of Conduct and ICC/ESOMAR World Research Guidelines
- The research was carried out online with the help of Research Without Barriers – RWB
You can find the most important survey highlights below and the raw data of the responses (which includes breakdown of the answers by age groups, states & more) here.
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