Leveraging Youth Sports Fandom for Sustainable Impact: An Analysis of Community Engagement by Sports Team Foundations in New York City

Abstract

This study analyzes how the cultural power of youth sports fandom can be effectively leveraged by sports team foundations to drive meaningful impact. To answer the question in what ways can youth sports fandom best be leveraged to build sustainable community impact, this study draws on the literature on the anthropology of youth sports fandom, the sociology of identity formation, social theory of community belonging, and communication science on social media and youth fan culture. Focusing on foundations associated with major sports teams in New York City and Arsenal FC in North London, this project investigates the relationships between youth fans, their favorite teams, and the charitable initiatives of the teams. To best understand how youth fandom is currently leveraged for sustainable impact, I interviewed nine foundation representatives, surveyed thirty-five high school students who identified as sports fans in New York City, and analyzed the financial details of the twelve major foundations in the city. Findings indicate that while fandom significantly influences youth identity and community engagement, structural barriers often limit effective youth engagement for charitable activities, such as awareness or volunteership. This paper also identifies best practices for foundations, emphasizing successful ways for building a fan culture that promotes charitable activity. Ultimately, the research supports a pathway for sports teams to embed social responsibility within their fan cultures, and harness the transformative potential of youth fandom to foster inclusive communities globally.

Introduction

In 2018, the Arsenal Foundation took a bold step in extending its philanthropic reach by first launching an innovative initiative designed to empower displaced youth in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan, the biggest camp in the world for Syrian refugees. They partnered with Save the Children, a global humanitarian organization, that … With this program, the Arsenal Foundation and Save the Children established coaching programs throughout the camp, creating a network that provides young people the opportunity to play soccer and learn valuable life lessons. This program did more than introduce soccer—it used the sport as a vehicle for education, healing, and leadership in a community facing constant uncertainty. Arsenal has worked in this camp for seven years and has successfully built a network of young coaches to make the program sustainable. Some of the coaches are from Arsenal’s home in North London, while others are from the camp and participated in the program as children, creating a self-sustaining model with a culture rooted in mentorship. The Arsenal Foundation has instilled a sense of hope and belonging in the children they work with, creating life-changing connections and experiences that they will never forget, similar to the ways Arsenal on the pitch affects their fans. Through the sport, the Foundation-led programs teach these young people about discipline, teamwork, and resilience. During these past seven years of work, Arsenal’s commitment has transformed the camp into a grassroots network of coaches and players that lays the foundation for a successful long term, [positive community impact.]

Similar to how Arsenal's performance on the field captivates millions of fans, the club’s connections off the field foster an emotional connection that is equally powerful, particularly for those directly impacted by the outreach. While many young Arsenal fans eagerly pay attention to the on-field team performance, tracking results, team news, and league standings, very few of them are aware of the transformative work their club is doing behind the lights. The contrast between this visible fandom and the hidden philanthropy behind it raises a question: How is the power of youth sports fandom harnessed to create a positive impact in communities, and what is the potential of this power?

Youth sports fandom is more than a pastime—it’s a dynamic force rooted in belonging and identity.. Young fans often form deep emotional bonds with their teams—bonds that shape self-perception, behavior, and values during critical stages of development. Many sports teams have understood this and have attempted to bridge the gap between fandom and philanthropy, engaging their young supporters in their charitable initiatives. However, the success of these efforts varies widely, and many sports teams are still struggling with connecting their youth fan base to their charitable missions.

This study explores what drives young fans to form deep emotional connections to teams, and how this differs in geographic regions of the world, in which different fandom cultures exist. By comparing fandom and engagement across regions–specifically New York and Europe, we will explore how sports league structure  affects both the nuances of fandom and the outreach strategy of sports team foundations. Additionally, this study will assess the performances and the ideologies of the sports team foundations in the world to identify the structures and engagement strategies that produce the greatest impact. By highlighting successful models and uncovering opportunities for innovation, this paper will develop certain best practices for connecting fan passion and charitable work. Through the investigation of youth sports fandom, this study will ultimately chart a path forward, and form a connection between teams and fans that creates the most possible social good. A deeper understanding of younger fans’ motivations and expectations, and more knowledge of the perspectives of sports team charitable foundations can foster more inclusive and charity oriented communities throughout the sporting world.  A core contribution of this study is the development of a new theoretical lens called ritual philanthropy, defined as visible, recurring acts of charitable engagement that are intentionally embedded into the shared rituals of sports fandom, specifically amongst youth By positioning philanthropy not as separate to fandom but as essential to fan identity and ritual, sports teams and their foundations can engage their fans in charitable outreach and create more positive outcomes for their communities.

Methods

This study uses a mixed-methods approach of both quantitative and qualitative research, to analyze how youth sports fandom can best be leveraged to provide communities with sustainable support. These methods include a literature review, a survey of young fans, interviews with sports team foundations, and data analysis of foundation performance, that has a focus on charitable programs and using publicly available financial data. A geographical focus was placed on New York teams, with comparisons to European teams. This was done to better understand how community engagement strategies differ across regions. 

The research included studies on anthropology of sports fandom, analysis of sports team philanthropy, research on fan engagement in charitable activities outside of sport, the difference between European and American sports models, and the role that growing fan presence on social media plays in youth sports fandom and activism. The literature review synthesizes these academic studies and reports to establish a framework for understanding how young fans connect with sports teams, how these teams have historically leveraged this connection for community driven activities, how these dynamics have changed over time, and how they differ across continents. The research draws on sources including articles in journals, books, and financial reports from foundations of major sports teams, to provide insight into best practices for charitable foundations of sports teams

To gain qualitative insight into how sports team foundations operate, I conducted interviews with foundation representatives of these organizations in New York City, and in London. In total, I conducted nine interviews, eight with representatives from New York, and one from London. The teams interviewed were the New York Mets, the New York Nets, New York Liberty, New York City Football Club (NYCFC), and Arsenal Football Club. The interviews explored each foundation’s approach to community outreach, flagship programs, operational challenges, and perspectives on youth engagement to community outreach, their deepest and most successful programs, the challenges that they face operating their foundation, their plans for marketing their programs to get donations, and their thoughts on including teen volunteers at their charitable events. Although the interviews were not recorded, detailed notes were taken on each interview, and analyzed to identify recurring themes, highlighting both successes and challenges faced by sports team foundations. The interviewees were recruited by cold emailing foundation heads, and using my social network to connect with foundations. I reached out to twelve teams in New York City, and was able to meet with nine of them. Although some interviewees were willing to go on the record, the interviewees will remain anonymous. The interviews were conducted over zoom, held for approximately thirty minutes, and followed a structured list of questions. 

To understand the perspectives of potential youth volunteers, a quantitative survey was distributed to young sports fans ages 14-18. This survey was conducted with students that attend a private high school, grades 9-12, in Riverdale, Bronx, New York City. This survey measured the attitudes, awareness, and participation in sports team led community activities of students at the school. The survey included demographic information, such as age, location, and primary team and sport support. It also included fandom intensity metrics, which measure the fans own perspective of how much they consider themselves to be a fan. There were questions on how each fan primarily follows their favorite teams, and how they use social media to do this. Fans also answered questions on charitable engagement with the sports team foundation of their favorite team, to reveal if they have participated in a team sponsored charitable activity or if they would be willing to volunteer. The survey was delivered via email to the entire student body of around 650 students and included a qualifying question asking the recipient if they consider themselves a sports fan or not. Participation in the survey was voluntary. The survey data was analyzed to draw actionable conclusions about fan engagement and willingness to volunteer in sports team sponsored charitable activities. There were also short interviews conducted with selected fans to better understand their perspectives and thinking behind their answers. 

Sports team foundation performance was analyzed through the foundation websites and social media page to understand the charitable programs of twelve major sports team foundations in New York City. Analysis of foundation performance included an evaluation of each team’s charitable programs, which issues they cover, which issues they don’t, and how deeply they cover each issue in the city. Data was taken from each team’s community website and the teams were evaluated across seven primary domains, recreation and athletics, allyship and social responsibility, community and neighbors, education, mentorship, and careers, and finally, public health and wellness. Depth of coverage for each issue was measured by the number of programs each team has dedicated to addressing the issue. The analysis also included the social media pages of each sports team that has a specific social media page for community outreach. These pages were checked to make sure that every program they have is covered by the data, and that there are no programs advertised on their social media pages that are not on their websites. The study also included an analysis of financial reports, and evaluations of team net worth, to understand what portion of their net worth each team is putting into charitable activities, and whether their charitable spending has increased proportionally with their net worth in the last five years. This data was synthesized to highlight the most effective strategies teams are employing for sustainable community engagement, and opportunities for improvement in these areas. 

Informed consent was gained from all interviewees and survey participants. Because the study involved organizations–businesses and youth under the age of 18, anonymity was utilized to protect the identities of respondents. By integrating both qualitative and quantitative research methods, this study provided insight into how youth sports fandom can be leveraged to create lasting impact on communities.

Anthropology of Youth Sports Fandom

To understand the anthropology of youth sports fandom, it is important to take a layered look  into how young people use sports teams as sources of community, meaning, and identity. Building on the theoretical concept or ritual philanthropy outlined earlier, this section investigates how foundations currently integrate philanthropy into fan rituals and practices.

Youth sports fandom is not solely about spectatorship, it is rooted in cultural and sociological theory, shaped by age, gender, geography, and digital media.. For many young adolescents and young adults, sports fandom can play a crucial role in identity development. Life stage theory, a theory of psychosocial development by Erik Erikson, proposes that individual personality in life evolves through eight distinct stages. Erikson claims that one of these stages is the adolescent period, which is gone through from ages 12-18. This stage is the identity and role confusion stage, where teens begin to feel confused and insecure about themselves as they transition into adulthood. They begin to seek a sense of self, or an individual identity, leading them to explore different roles and behaviors in search of direction. Many adolescents experience what Erikson called 'role confusion'—uncertainty about identity and place in the world. Young people often can turn to athletes and teams as a solution to their search for role models and identity coherence. This form of identity is also strengthened by para-social relationships, which is defined as the one-sided connection between a person and a celebrity or media figure, where the person invests time and emotion into the relationship, but the other party is completely unaware of the existence. These connections can offer fans a source of intimacy and belonging even in environments where real-world connections are limited. 

Social media has intensified these connections by fostering an unprecedented participatory culture, where fans are not just spectators, they are content creators, critics, and builders of communities. The Uses and Gratifications theory, which proposes that consumers actively elect media to fulfill their specific needs instead of being passively influenced by it, explains this. It can help explain that youth use sports content for an escape, an emotional release, community, and identity. Beyond the psychological aspect of sports fandom, there is also a lens to analyze fandom which sees it not as a static trait for a person to have, but as a constantly evolving identity. Judith Butler popularized a theory of gender performativity that states that gender is not a natural or fixed identity, but rather a performance involving actions that create the illusion of a stable identity. This perspective reveals how young fans navigate different societal expectations of being a sports fan. For instance, an adolescent girl may be less enthusiastic about a sport gendered as masculine in public spaces to avoid societal judgement, when in private she may be an intense fan of the sport. The performative theory for sports fandom also allows us to further analyze how young fans adapt their fandom to fit their other identifiers such as race, gender, and sexuality. This approach is different to most fandom theories that often define fandom in terms of binaries, such as being an “authentic” or “inauthentic” fan. The societal expectations that force young fans to conform to the binaries of sports fandom are heightened with the increased popularity of social media, which only ostracizes certain fans because of their identities. It makes these fans feel as if they are less welcome in certain communities because of how they identify, or how they express their respective sports fandom. 

Along with identity, the sense of community is also very important in youth sports fandom. The idea of youth fandom fits well with studies that find a framework for a community psychology as one involving membership, fulfillment of needs, and shared emotional connection. This helps explain how young people use fandom communities as a way to cope with struggles like identity crisis, peer pressure, and emotional trauma. This echoes more recent research which analyzes the different ways in which the sports industry and the pop culture industry approach youth fandom. The sports industry usually identifies quantitative things such as attendance, or merchandise, while pop culture fan studies focus more on community building and emotional investment. Bringing both of these types of fandom studies together can help reveal the full extent of the nature of sports fandom, and its ability to build communities and create cultural belonging. 

Like any study of community, the anthropological study of youth sports fandom must also grapple with the dynamics of exclusion. Often in sports fandom, women and people of historically marginalized races are often seen as “inauthentic” fans because they aren’t fitting traditional norms of sports fan behavior.This marginalization often surfaces when women or minorities share sports opinions that are challenged not on merit, but on identity. Instead of trying to prove their point, fans often taunt women or minorities and poke fun at their identities rather than their sports views. This also happens with athletes, as many athletes can be harassed because of their race, gender, or sexual orientation. This points to a broader narrative that sports fandom culture is dominated by the white, male, middle class population. This characterization marginalizes young fans who do not fit one of these identities. This exclusion is not merely in sports fan communities, it also harms these people in the sports industry as well, as fans who are seen as “inauthentic” may get less opportunities for volunteership or deeper engagement with sports because of their identifiers. Thus, fandom must be understood from an intersectional lens to completely understand its depth. 

Approach to Charitable Work for Sports Team Foundations

An analysis of the charitable work of the twelve major sports team foundations in New York City, as well as one major foundation in London England, reveal a diverse ecosystem, with many different strategies for community engagement. While every team operates a charitable arm, there is a wide variety of scale, focus area, and commitment financially. Financial data obtained from the non-profit website ProPublica, indicates that most organizations in New York City spend between .01% and .10% of their teams estimated franchise value on their charitable organizations per year. The New York Mets and New York City Football Club rank the highest on this list, each allocating .10% of their value to their charitable arms every year. Teams like the New York Giants and the New York Islanders operate at just .01% and .02% respectively. Although these percentages appear small, New York’s sports franchises are massive organizations, and even a small amount of their value can create great amounts of social change. These numbers also highlight relative investment priorities for the organizations revealing which foundations are most committed to community impact and which are more financially conservative in turning franchise wealth into social capital.

The twelve major sports teams of New York City, decided by team value across five different sports, were the New York Knicks, the Brooklyn Nets, the New York Liberty, the New York Jets, the New York Giants, the New York Rangers, the New York Islanders, the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, New York City Football Club (NYCFC), the New York Red Bulls, and Gotham Football Club. The data revealed five primary domains of impact that the teams were then evaluated on: recreation and athletics, allyship and social responsibility, community and neighbors, education, mentorship, and careers, and finally, public health and wellness. Teams like the Yankees, Mets, and Knicks demonstrated broad, multi-domain engagement strategies. Others such as Red Bulls or Gotham FC are notably more limited in programmatic scope. The Knicks ranked the highest in the total number of community based programs, (nine in recreation and seven in education) demonstrating a strong emphasis on structured community youth initiatives and classroom mentorship. The Giants, despite their low spending ratio, led in allyship-related programming, they have particularly strong programs in the LGBTQIA+ and youth justice fields. The Yankees were very strong in public health and environmental wellness, with interesting and creative initiatives such as “tower garden” focusing on urban agriculture and nutrition. 

Many teams across New York City embrace partnership-based models, which involves combining resources with other local non-profits to deliver joint programs. This allows for broader overall reach without extensive staffing or budget requirements, but can also impact the visibility and the long-term cohesion of the foundation negatively. Volunteer engagement remains modest, as few organizations offer structured public opportunities and most instead rely on other partners or on their own staff to provide the human resources necessary for charitable events. Social media is very important in promoting activities, but not all team websites actually reflect the full range of programming, suggesting inconsistency in transparency. Teams use social media to promote their programs because the next generation tends not to check the websites on the team, preferring to stay updated via social media. Youth fans today do not separate their fandom from digital life,so if community work is not visible and sharable online, it essentially doesn’t exist to them. Some teams maintain a social media page for their community exploits, while some teams instead choose to post their community content on their main official social media page, which may make it accessible to the most fans but harder to follow closely. Team foundations often miss the opportunity to embed community messages into the digital rituals of fandom, such as posts, retweets, and stories.

Sports team foundations differ in their approaches to charitable work, which can reveal their unique ideologies. Interviews help give a deeper look into the goals that motivate these foundations, creating a more vivid picture of their operations behind their strategies for impact. The Mets operate under a “four-bucket” model focused on providing services related to youth and education, health and wellness, community and neighbors, and baseball and athletics. This structure allows the Mets foundation to diversify their funding while also maintaining a clarity of their mission and many sports team foundations in New York interviewed use a similar system. Programs like 'Ya Gotta Read' promote literacy among thousands of students across the city while “Sandlot Stars”, is a program that brings resources and equipment to youth baseball academies in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. It is a program run by a New York City based sports team foundation that targets communities out of the city, something very rare for foundations based in the city. A notable strength of the Mets organization is their data-driven approach. They track impact across programs (reporting 350,000 lives touched) and use indicators such as English and math test scores to target specific schools for outreach. The Mets do not operate a public volunteer network, instead they encourage individuals interested in volunteering to work with their community partners. The Mets staff also acknowledged the difficulty of selecting partners due to many partners wishing to work with them.

The Nets and Liberty Foundation’s charitable work is shaped by a hyperlocal philosophy focused on listening to the community in Brooklyn and amplifying it. Their aim is to amplify existing community programs rather than build new ones from scratch. Similar to the Mets, the Nets and Liberty also operate under four pillars, homelessness and food insecurity, health and wellness, equitable development, and education and youth basketball. Their community relations team is understaffed and resource constrained, and their approach to community outreach is very relationship-based. They work with trusted, large nonprofits to support programming aligned with community needs. Read Across Brooklyn is a standout program that encourages youth literacy, with a STEM curriculum built in. The Nets and Liberty’s strength relies in amplifying existing programming rather than building massive initiatives that are made in-house. They do not operate a volunteer network, and mostly use corporate employees who are often excited to help out. Their occasional global initiatives, (such as clinics in Paris) have created international visibility, but primarily their focus is on Brooklyn and the other four boroughs.

NYCFC’s foundation operates with a focused, soccer-first approach to impact on the community, they seek to solve social issues by creating more pathways of access to the game. Unlike most foundations with tether themselves to social causes, NYCFC stays closely connected to the sport itself, creating mini pitches across New York City and running free programs for kids to learn how to play. In these programs, the kids learn soccer but also important life lessons as well. Their program reflects an investment into long term infrastructure and people. They commit to training coaches and mentors brought up in the communities that they serve. This strategy has proved successful, as an in-house study that they conducted found that they get a 4.50$ return on investment in social value for every dollar they spend, demonstrating clear impact. Social value is measured by the broader, non-financial benefits that their work brings to individuals and communities, such as improved wellbeing, social cohesion, and personal development. These are often referred to as “soft” outcomes because they are difficult to quantify but they are essential in measuring true impact. According to Mulgan, a professor in collective intelligence, social value encompasses the wider effects of programs by capturing the long-term outcomes that contribute to societal and personal transformation. This includes enhanced quality of life or strengthened community ties. The foundation also prioritizes theory of change modeling, a strategic framework that maps backwards from long term goals to identify the specific short-term and medium-term outcomes and the decisions needed to achieve them. This modeling helps them align each program that they run with a defined set of goals for the program. According to environmental specialists and psychologists Taplin, Clark, Collins, and Colby, this framework provides a structure that aligns organizational activities with a clear change pathway. When implemented thoughtfully, it can become both a roadmap and a tool for reflection that helps organizations ensure that every step they take meaningfully contributes to their plan for long-term impact. While NYCFC does incorporate youth volunteers, they face constraints around the cost to background check volunteers and safeguarding, which limits volunteer scale, although they do remain open to creative partnerships and fan involvement.

The Garden of Dreams Foundation, an extension of Madison Square Garden, the home of the Knicks and the Rangers, has a large access to resources, venues and volunteers. As it is an organization of a stadium instead of a team, it serves as an extension for all of the acts that perform at Madison Square Garden. In addition to housing two sports teams, the Garden is also home to the Rockettes, as well as plenty of other concerts, stage shows, or forms of family entertainment. The Garden of Dreams Foundation builds its community work around long-term relations. In a conversation from a representative from the foundation, they described that their mission is to stay in the lives of children and families through mentorships, scholarships, and immersive experiences. Garden of Dreams chooses to conduct its programming through a wide network of partner organizations and usually provides manpower and resources to assist with the work the partner organizations are doing. The foundation places an emphasis on live sports, viewing it as a transformative experience and distributing thousands of game tickets annually, frequently featuring youth courtside at events. Volunteers typically come from MSG staff or the organizations that the foundation is partnering with, and season ticket holders also donate unused seats to support the mission. Though the foundation benefits from its size and infrastructure, it faces the challenge of high demand and limited resources, often having to make tough decisions about which partners to support. Plenty of their day-to-day work is focused on analyzing which causes to support and which to not support. 

The New York Red Bulls operate a dedicated community department, rather than a formal foundation. This is due to the structure of the Red Bull global organization, which has its own global charity arm (Wings for Life). Locally, their community outreach centers itself on three pillars: education, food insecurity, and “beyond the 90”, which supports life skills and well being beyond soccer. Much of their work focuses on Newark, and Harrison in NJ, where the club is based, and their relatively little community work in New York City.. Because the department is run by only one single full-time staff member, much of their impact depends on collaborations with other departments, partners, and club staff, who contribute across marketing, media, and even volunteering at events. While they sometimes engage with outside volunteers, capacity limitations and staffing make it challenging to scale volunteer opportunities more broadly.The Red Bulls leverage their brand visibility to spotlight local causes and foster community connection beyond matchdays, and to give their fans and community members a stronger sense of belonging to the club beyond their matchdays.

The New York Giants demonstrate a multifaceted and deep rooted community outreach through their Foundation and Community Relations Department. Their approach combines long-standing partnerships with organizations and minority coaching initiatives, with player-led activism and NFL wide programs such as Play60. The Giants prioritize learning from within, as they take direction on programming from the passions of their players, coaches and ownership, while also executing league-mandated initiatives, tailoring them to local needs across the tri-state area. Measuring quantitative-impact is a growing focus, the Giants track the numbers of donations received, organizations supported, and events held, capturing much of their reach through a comprehensive “Year in Review” PDF and through strategic use of social media. This involves carefully planned posts on the main Giants account and frequent updates on a special community department account. Volunteer events primarily including staff and at times local youth athletes. Geographic scale remains a key challenge, especially in balancing the demand for support across the entire tri-state area with finite time and resources. Still, even though the Giants face high expectations that come with being an NFL franchise, their dedicated team continues to build a presence in their community and use their platform to drive significant change off the field.

Gotham FC operates a growing community department, rather than a formal foundation, making them one of the few NWSL clubs that structure community impact in this way. This means that they don’t have an official non-profit organization, and instead operate as an extension of the club. Their approach centers around four core pillars, addressing issues that matter specifically to their community and women’s sports fans, including LGBTQ+ empowerment and gender equity. Rather than running large public events with volunteers, Gotham executes focused programs such as Keep Her in the Game, which addresses the troubling dropout rate of girls in sports by providing high school curricula and mentorship, targeting 1,500 girls by the year's end. They also lean into the club's inclusive culture with LGBTQ+ initiatives like drag brunches before matches, and other visible, allyship-driven initiatives,strongly reflecting the values of their fanbase and players. As a community department embedded within the franchise, they take advantage of the multi-stakeholder partnerships of the club to pair club identity with sponsorship funding. Gotham sees fostering inclusive fan culture and social impact as essential to growing women’s soccer and tries to bring both boys and girls to stadium experiences to normalize the idea that women's sports can be celebrated by everyone.. While their social media presence for community work still is evolving, they currently share updates on the club’s main channel and feature player-driven content to keep storytelling authentic, and fans connected. Although they only have been an organization for slightly over a year, they are working hard to create impact and set themselves up to be influential in the future. 

The Arsenal Foundation operates with a strong emphasis on community identity, long-term mentorship, and soccer as a tool for social change. The Foundation supports a mix of local outreach and international programs, sometimes partnering with trusted organizations to deliver targeted impact. Its flagship initiative is Coaching for Life, a long-running program in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan that blends football with support and leadership training. Most of Arsenal’s charity work remains at home, however, where they have a community hub next to the stadium built to house their community events and activities. In the hub, the outreach sessions focus on social inclusion, education and employment, and youth mentorship across North London. The Foundation often works in tandem with player-founded organizations like the Willow Foundation and redirects funding responsively in times of global crisis, such as when it suspended regular campaigns to support Save the Children’s Ukraine Emergency Fund. Arsenal invests in pathways for youth leadership instead of offering public volunteer opportunities, promoting former participants into leadership roles. 

Arsenal’s charitable approach is shaped by its identity as a European club, which differs in key ways both structurally and philosophically from the American model of franchises. As a club, Arsenal is part of a broader civic community based in North London, with an international fanbase and a reputation built over generations. Unlike U.S. based teams which operate in a franchise system characterized by closed leagues, shared revenues, and privately owned business models governed by market logic, Arsenal functions instead as a singular civic identity that is embedded in a long-standing tradition of local responsibility and association to a place. As sports expert van Bottenburg describes, this distinction between the two sports models is rooted in the divergent historical paths that shape American and European sports cultures. In Europe and particularly in the UK, sports evolved from voluntary clubs that emphasized social belonging and community responsibility.These clubs became woven into the fabric of local life, often supported by public institutions, reinforcing the idea of sports teams as public assets and not corporate entities. In contrast, the American system followed a commercial path from the beginning, organizing sport within school and collegiate institutions and eventually consolidating the professional leagues into profit-driven franchises. These leagues, like the NFL and the NBA, formed closed competitive structures that didn’t contain functions such as promotion and relegation. Instead they prioritize financial sustainability and national market control over community integration. This can have tangible implications for their model of philanthropy as well. While many New York teams focus on high-volume outreach across diverse issues, Arsenal prioritizes long term impact and consistency in fewer locations. Arsenal’s investment in Za’atari reflects a commitment to depth over breadth, where the goal is not just to serve but to build sustainability within their programs, even far from the club’s physical home, something very rare for American foundations. Arsenal also represents a community smaller in size than almost all American franchises, as they solely work in certain neighborhoods of North London while all of the foundations in the city work with communities all throughout the city. Additionally, Arsenal's philanthropic funding often comes from internal club revenue or specific campaigns such as jersey sales, rather than fan-facing fundraising events like 50/50 raffles or ticket incentives, which are more common for American sports foundations. This European approach emphasizes identity, legacy, and continuity over the more transactional, event-based strategies typical of U.S. team foundations. Arsenal leans on the emotional weight of being a lifelong supporter, not just a customer or game attendee. Arsenal’s foundation mirrors the identity of the club itself and extends those values of community, belonging, and moral responsibility far beyond the pitch.

Leveraging Fandom

In contemporary sport, fandom is much more than just passive spectatorship, it is instead a deeply psychological force capable of shaping identities, communities and even institutions. Scholars of philosophy and psychology such as Kadlac and Stever, emphasize that fandom–even more among youth–plays a crucial role in identity creation during formative stages in life and has inspired more recent research on the psychology of identity creation. For young people fandom has been observed to offer a sense of belonging, value orientation, and an escape from everyday challenges. As Masucci emphasizes, fandom can act as a deeply intimate and empowering space where individuals can find both entertainment and also a sense of personal significance and a place in the world. The act of engaging with fan content can provide youth with tools for understanding themselves and others. Masucci highlights that fandom becomes a site of belonging when young fans connect with peers who share the same passions, fostering friendships and encountering the profound feeling of “being on the same wavelength” as others who share the same sentiment. These communities often become informal support networks that help youth navigate media, and real-life challenges like mental health, social pressure, and identity formation. The sense of community is so powerful it can even become an essential part of the fan’s life journey and shape how they view the world, express creativity, and understand  cultures. In this way, Masucci defines fandom as something that transforms into belonging and discovery, and they argue that one of the most impactful aspects of fandom lies in the relationships and the growth that it enables. The emotional investment of fandom, what Kadlac calls “the power of we”, makes fandom a uniquely powerful tool for mobilization and for actual change. Yet as experts in communications and philosophy Osborne and Coombs argue, the dominant culture of fandom perpetuates narratives rooted in rigid binaries of “authentic” and “inauthentic”. These schools of thought can limit the inclusion of fan identity in non-sporting contexts. Osborne and Coombs declare that when sports fandom is instead viewed as performative and always evolving instead of as fixed and consumeristic, fandom can be harnessed to inspire empathy, action, and volunteerism. However, despite the expansive reach emotionally that fandom has, results from the survey suggest fandom remains relatively untapped in community initiatives, particularly among youth. This clear disconnect between visible fan engagement and hidden philanthropic work presents both a major challenge and an opportunity for change. 

The results of the survey conducted suggest that sports fandom is an extremely powerful yet largely untapped tool for advancing charitable engagement and community impact. Among survey respondents aged 14-18, a significant 97% identified themselves as sports fans, displaying how sports team fandom is very popular amongst teenagers. When asked if they would be more likely to participate in a charitable event if it is affiliated with their favorite team or athlete, 76.5% of people said yes. Yet 84.4% of respondents reported they do not follow their team’s charitable outreach, and 0% had ever participated in a team or athlete-led charitable event. This disconnect reveals a missed opportunity to channel fan passion into real-world impact. Fandom is popular and already fosters cultural engagement, yet that energy is not redirected into any type of action by the foundations. The disconnection between sports team foundations and their young fans reveals structural and communication barriers that the teams themselves acknowledge. Interviewees from organizations such as the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Mets emphasized that while they value youth engagement highly, most foundations lack the capacity and staffing or safeguarding infrastructure to directly support any young volunteers. Many end up relying on third party partners for channeling donations and for staffing events, meaning that fans that want to help their team may not even know how to volunteer, or may not be given the chance. NYCFC staff noted that background checks and youth volunteer training cost over $100 per person, posing a deep institutional barrier to building pipelines for young volunteers despite the enormous interest and clear benefit.

Yet the potential to engage youth meaningfully is undeniable. Over 64% of responders said that following their favorite sports team gives them a sense of belonging, with another 70% saying that being a sports fan has positively impacted their relationships in the community. These results also align with recent literature that has given us insight into the dynamics of sports fandom. Kadlac explores the moral dimension of fandom and argues that sports allegiance can create a “we-ness” that is rooted in shared emotional investment and experiences. This phenomenon of “we-ness” can particularly be prevalent in adolescents. According to Erikson’s life stage theory, they are at the stage of identity construction. For many, sports fandom is a social compass that offers support and a group to belong to. Gao and Babiak both further explain that when teams link their identity to creating social good in the community, fans are more likely to follow and donate.

There are other benefits to volunteering that help the volunteers themselves, fostering both immediate and long-term improvement in their psychological well being, social skills, and future engagement in their communities. Research by experts in sociology Wilson and Musick highlights that volunteering can enhance youths’ civic skills and promote a sense of social responsibility. This contributes positively to their mental health and has been proven to reduce instances of antisocial behavior like delinquency and substance abuse. Specifically, volunteering during the adolescence period has been associated with a greater sense of life satisfaction and heightened social connectedness, laying a foundation for sustained involvement in their communities which continues into adulthood. Similarly, health psychology expert Schreier emphasizes that structured volunteer opportunities for students foster improved self-esteem, stronger peer relationships, and greater academic engagement; thus nurturing a sense of identity and purpose that extends far beyond just the volunteer experience itself. Volunteering can transform fans from passive observers into active participants.

Together, these findings underscore the transformative role of volunteering in shaping youth identity and civic belonging. Reinforcing volunteership as beneficial to both the volunteers, and the subjects of their work.

Research conducted also noted that social media emerges as the dominant medium for the connection between teams and fans. Although TV and streaming remain common ways for youth to follow their favorite sports, social media has rapidly emerged as a hub for fan engagement and content consumption. According to trained media researcher Chan-Olmsted, smartphones have now become indispensable in the modern sports fan experience, offering not just scores and highlights, but functioning as a real-time gateway to community participation for these fans. The portability and versatility of these phones make them ideal for the spontaneous nature of sports fandom. Nearly 65% of fans used social media during live games at the time of the study during 2019, with a growing number using YouTube and Instagram for highlight clips or behind the scenes content. The device is a personalized media center that allows fans to “bask in reflected glory”, celebrate victories, and engage in conversation with rival supporters. For youth, this mode of consumption can be a powerful way to express loyalty and connect with broader communities. Among the youth sports fans in New York City surveyed, 52.9% and 32.4% are using these TV and streaming respectively, yet nearly all the respondents stated that they also use Instagram to follow professional sports and to access highlights and other content. YouTube and TikTok also were popular among respondents, as the platforms were each used by 47.1% of respondents. 

The results reflect broader shifts in how fandom operates in the digital era. As Sports Management professor Pegoraro notes, social media platforms have helped to transform fans from just passive spectators, into active participants who participate not only by consuming but also creating content, interacting with their teams or athletes, and forming online communities. These platforms can facilitate parasocial interactions and even create virtual identities, which allows fans to share experiences regardless of geographic distance. This growing reliance on social media also has ramifications. It can fragment how and where fans can receive information, especially charity content from Foundations. This content remains outside of general mainstream sports branding. Thus, despite unprecedented digital fandom levels, opportunities for Foundations to mobilize fans towards community involvement are often unrealized and don’t reach their full potential. More than 60% of respondents strongly agreed that social media helps them build and maintain a connection with their favorite sports teams, however, when asked about whether they follow the work of any sports team foundation, only 15.6% of people said yes, and most of those who did said they yes, got their information about the sports team related charitable work from social media, not team websites or foundation pages. These results support something that several interviewees pointed out. Many foundations still treat community work as an initiative that is kept as separate from their main brand. As a result, fans may never see or hear about these programs unless they search for it specifically, which most young people never do. 

The data and literature make it clear that sports fandom amongst youth is widespread, emotionally powerful, and deeply connected to identity and community. Despite high levels of interest in participating in team-led community efforts, structural and communication barriers–including lack of accessible volunteer opportunities, high safeguarding costs, and a separation between main team branding and foundation messaging–have prevented this high potential of youth fandom to be harnessed effectively.

Social media, a space where youth already engage with their teams, remains a crucial, yet underutilized channel to bridging this gap. If sports team foundations can integrate storytelling and raise awareness of their charitable activities, they can help transform fandom from a cultural identity into an active force for social good.

Embedding Ritual Philanthropy in Youth Sports Fan Culture

Before exploring how sports fandom can uplift communities across border lines, it is important to understand how philanthropy can be embedded within the culture of fandom itself. Scholars of sports and media studies argue that fandom can operate as a kind of  civic ritual, a space where collective emotions, identities, and values are performed and reinforced through a series of shared practices When sports organizations integrate charity and philanthropy into this ritual space, they create ritualistic philanthropy, which is visible, and recurring acts of giving and service that become aspects of being a fan. This can help cultivate cultural citizenship, a framework where fans don't just see themselves as supporters of a team but also as members of a civic community that has shared social responsibilities. Across New York and Europe, teams and foundations are building this connection through sustained and participatory initiatives. As Osborne and Coombs observed, sports fandom is a performative identity, it is shaped by how fans express their connection to the team and to their fandom community. Embedding the value of philanthropy into this performance can give fans ways to live out the deeper values of their communities, and transform fandom from an experience of private passion to one of public good.

Fandom, used correctly, can transcend wins and losses. It instead weaves together emotion, memory, and identity into something far greater than what it looks like on the outside. Whether it is experienced in stadiums, on social media, or within local communities, sports fandom can offer something that few other cultural phenomena can, a profound sense of belonging and shared purpose amongst a community. For millions of fans around the world, supporting a team is a way of forming community, constructing their identity, and also holding onto hope, even in moments of instability or hardship in their lives outside of sport. Personal aspects of fandom spread beyond traditional team territorial boundaries and are used to uplift individuals and communities in need, so they feel support and belonging. For two children in different places, living in different communities across the world, what does it mean for a young fan that is living in New York or North London to indirectly support children in the Za’atari camp or in the Bronx not just through symbolic allegiance but through meaningful connections? How can sports teams act as bridges between these two communities?

To explore these questions, the next section moves from theory to practice, it identifies how the emotional power of fandom can be intentionally activated for global good. It examines the unique role that both teams and fans can play in spreading the feelings of fandom across borders and across cultural divides. Hope and belonging in this context are not abstract things, they are feelings that can be manifested in the real-world when structured through programs or partnerships. Through detailed analysis of team-led initiatives such as Arsenal’s Coaching For Life, NYCFC’s mini-pitch network, the Met’s youth literacy campaigns, and the Garden of Dream Foundation’s sustained engagement with young people, it becomes clear how sports fandom can catalyze societal transformation when aligned with strategy and connected heavily to the community.

Best Practices for Intentionally Mobilizing Fandom

To successfully mobilize fandom for hope and belonging, teams must first recognize that the emotional connection fans feel toward their team is a uniquely powerful resource, but one that must be handled with care and activated intentionally and with authenticity. The most effective foundations do not treat their community work as an isolated side project, instead they embed it within the everyday ritual of fandom. The most impactful programs succeed not just because they are well-designed interventions, but because they are aligned with the identity of the club and its fanbase. In doing so, fans view participation not as separate from their fandom, but as a core expression of it

Several best practices emerge from these themes. First, teams should build programs that are local and sustained, rather than one-off or purely symbolic. When outreach is grounded specifically in the team’s home communities or connected authentically to its global identity, like Arsenal’s long-term Za’atari commitment, fans can understand the real impact of their involvement. Secondly, teams should integrate community engagement visibly into their main fan channels and media. This includes match-day rituals or social media narratives. Many fans do not proactively seek out foundation or community department content: teams must bring that content to where fan culture and community already live to build exposure. Thirdly, clubs should design low-barrier, inclusive ways for fans of all ages to participate. This can include donation drives, mentorship opportunities, or digital campaigns. Teams should also work to expand their capacity for structured youth volunteering when possible, as it positively benefits both parties. Fourth, teams should actively seek and listen to feedback from young fans and community members themselves when designing outreach priorities. Teams should also have a data-driven approach to identifying needs in the community as well as for monitoring the success of their programs. Finally, storytelling matters: sharing not only the outcomes but the human stories of hope, belonging, and transformation can help foster the emotional investment that then powers sustained civic participation. 

Ultimately, teams that embed philanthropy into fan culture forge deeper, more resilient bonds with their supporters, and a more just and hopeful impact in their communities. The challenge ahead is not to ask whether sports fandom can be mobilized for positive impact. The challenge is to make this mobilization more intentional, more inclusive, and more deeply-embedded into the rituals of being a fan. If done well, fandom will not only reflect, but spread values of hope and belonging across communities.

Conclusion

This study answered the question of how the emotional power of youth sports fandom is leveraged to sustainably provide support and foster hope within communities around the world. Sports fandom is a powerful force for identity and community, especially among youth. When teams intentionally embed philanthropy into the culture of fandom, they can activate that force for deep social good. However this potential remains mostly unrealized. Teams that align their outreach with the identity of their fans, embed philanthropy into fan rituals, and create sustained, volunteering pathways for young fans to engage will be best positioned to be able to turn fandom from a personal passion into a public force. 

The research demonstrated that fandom amongst youth is deeply tied to important concepts such as identity formation, belonging, and community construction. This provides great potential for young fans to be heavily involved in community outreach, something that is beneficial to both the people in need throughout the city, and also to the young fans who experience improved mental and physical health, boosted self-esteem, and more of a sense of purpose. Although there is great potential for strong bonds between teams and their young fans, structural and communication barriers between the two sides are preventing this potential from being realized. Best practices revealed that the most impactful foundations build local and sustained programs, integrate charitable work visibly into the rituals of fandom, create low-barrier, entry points for fan involvement, and make use of data and fan feedback to help shape their outreach. Programs that reflect the identity and values of their fanbases tend to forge the deepest emotional connections and most effective engagement.

Globally, these insights have important political and economic implications. Sports fandom is one of the largest and most influential cultural forces, cutting across national borders, and across divides of race, gender, and class. As the social trust in traditional institutions declines in many different parts of the world, sports teams and their foundations can end up holding unique power as trusted community actors that foster civic participation and social capital. Economically, embedding philanthropy into fan culture offers a sustainable model for creating community value: as the fanbase loyalty increases, so too does the potential for clubs to drive impact and create partnerships that serve both commercial and social goals of the teams. Politically, at a time when polarization and exclusion are rising, sports foundations that cultivate important values such as hope, belonging, and cross-cultural empathy through fandom can serve as bridges across divides.

The challenge ahead isn’t just to ask whether sports fandom can be mobilized for positive impact, it is to make this mobilization more intentional. Inclusive, and deeply embedded into the rituals of being a fan so that sports communities everywhere can become agents of belonging and resilience in a world that is increasingly fragmented.

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