?? Gen Alpha Soccer Fandom Thanks To... Their Parents?

In March, Morning Consult?released a report about Gen Alpha?and their media and entertainment habits. Mixed among a slew of screen time, influencer, slang insights, and more was one particular page about sports that caught our eye. According to their research,?14% of Gen Alpha parents?consider their children?"avid" fans of?men's soccer. This percentage is equal to that of MLB fandom and?trails?only the overall percent of Gen Alpha parents who say their children are avid NBA and NFL fans. This is noteworthy in and of itself, but it's perhaps most notable?because?this percentage is higher than that of avid men's soccer fandom?among Gen Z and all U.S. adults – each at 9%. The same is true for?women's soccer, where?9% of Gen Alpha?are avid fans according to their parents. This is slightly higher than avid fandom among Gen Z (8%) and nearly double that of all U.S. adults (5%). This got us thinking about fandom and how?soccer fans ages 30?or older with Gen Alpha-aged kids?compare to their peers who do not have the same-aged kids in their household. Our hypothesis – those with Gen Alpha kids are more avid soccer fans and are, at least in part, helping drive Gen Alpha's love for soccer (as illustrated by Morning Consult). Of course, as we know from being on the sidelines and talking with families, the inverse is also true and Gen Alpha are?helping bring their parents into the fandom fold. But for the purposes of this deep dive, were focusing exclusively on those over 30 years old?who have been fans for more than 10 years. Hypothesis in hand, we jumped into our fandom data and were able to come to a few conclusions—all of which support what we had thought. Here are a sampling of headlines as we compare both segments: ?

• Of soccer fans ages 30 and over who have been fans for more than 10 years, 57% do not have Gen Alpha-aged kids in their household. This means?43% of fans ages 30 and over do have Gen Alpha kids; let's call them "soccer parents" for simplicity ?
• Isolating these soccer parents by fandom level,?71% consider themselves "avid" soccer fans?and are 41% more likely to do so than their 30-and-over?peers ?
• 56%?of the soccer parent segment are?still active playing soccer?and are 117% more likely to still be active than their 30-and-over peers ?
• 14%?of the soccer parent segment point to being?born into their fandom?as an initial reason for soccer interest and?8% cite gaming. They're 40%?and 167% more likely to cite these two reasons than their peers, respectively ?
• Among the five soccer fandom personas we created (Advocate, Enthusiast, Sports Fan, Casual, Event Seeker),?22% self-selected Advocate?as their fandom type – they're vocal about wanting soccer to receive the love they think it deserves. The soccer parent segment is 100% more likely to have selected this persona than their 30-and-over peers ?
• 64% watch 3+ games each week?(a third watch 6+ games!)?and are 113% more likely than their peers to do so ?
• 78% use social media for soccer?news and updates versus only 44% of their peers.?56% of their social feed is soccer-related, versus only 40% of their peers' social feeds. They're also more likely than their peers to consider?Twitter/X,?TikTok, and Twitch?as apps for soccer news and updates ?

You get the idea, we'll stop there. While we can't confirm Gen Alpha's higher level of fandom is due exclusively to their parents' love for the sport, we can confidently assume?their parents play a major role.Passing soccer fandom down through generations is an important part of extending our country's soccer culture from fad to folklore.Above, we mentioned the notion of being "born into fandom." If we take this idea and look at how the different generations of fans view this as their point of entry, an interesting insight appears.

Each successive generation places more value on?the passing of fandom via their parents or family as the main reason for their soccer interest. From the Boomer generation to Gen Z there's a?300% increase?in the selection of this answer choice.We expect the trend to continue with Gen Alpha and it's thanks, at least in part, to their soccer-loving and soccer-playing parents. Shout out to the parents for passing the ball?onto their children and doing their part to grow soccer's popularity.