Why All Americans Should Be Football Fans – TIME

This op-ed was originally published in TIME Magazine on September 4, 2025

Todd once spotted a person wearing a Philadelphia Eagles hat at a local shop. Instinctively, he shouted “Go Birds!”—and received the automatic “Go Birds!” back. After a few minutes of conversation, he invited his new acquaintance, George, to his family’s weekly Eagles watch parties. George and his son showed up that weekend, cheesesteaks in hand. As the season went on, more of George’s family joined. Now, they all look forward to reconnecting as the new NFL season kicks off today.

This simple story captures something important: being a football fan can be good for you and for those around you. You don’t have to know the difference between a cover-four and a Tampa-2 defense to put on a hat, make a friend at the shop, and build a new family tradition. In an era marked by epidemics of loneliness and political distrust, sports fandom is one simple and universally accessible medicine.

And it’s a popular medicine. More than 70% of Americans consider themselves football fans. Over a third think the Super Bowl should be a national holiday, and half say the Monday after should be a paid day off work. The NFL isn’t just the most-watched entertainment in America—it’s one of the country’s last truly unifying institutions. And for those who care about social connection and civic life, fandom is a surprisingly promising path to both.

Decades of research show that fans have wider friendship networks, stronger feelings of belonging, and less alienation. Ben Valenta and David Sikorjak captured this in the title of their 2022 book: Fans Have More Friends. One 2023 study even found that attending live sporting events boosts life satisfaction and reduces loneliness as much as starting a new job. And in one provocative experiment, fans were more likely to step up for one another—being three times more likely to stop to help a stranger in need who is wearing their team’s jersey.

Read the full piece at time.com.