One city two teams: A mixed approach study for exploring sports fandom

Abstract Homeland attachment plays an important role in identification with a sports team, but when a fan has two local teams to choose from, other factors come into play. This study used mixed methods to explore the similarities and differences between fans of two football teams based in the same Mexican city. The two teams are very different in terms of success, yet the city is almost evenly divided between them in the number of fans. An online survey (N = 371) and online interviews (N = 47) were used to collect data. Mann-Whitney U test results show statistically significant differences in the ways fans view their teams, confirmed by the qualitative data. Their fandom may be built upon personal values, but these values differ for fans of rival teams. One group of fans shows evidence of identity fusion—a strong emotional connection with their team.


Introduction
What makes someone decide to become a fan of one team and not another? Both family and locality are the greatest predictors of fan attachment (Wann & James, 2018) but what happens when your hometown boasts two local teams? Family plays an important role, but it is not the only motivator when choosing an affiliation between two local teams.
Football is the most popular sport in Mexico, with 58% of the population stating they are followers of one of the many first or second division teams in the country (Consulta Mitosfky, 2022). Over 8 million people play in amateur leagues (Antinori, 2021) and Mexico boasts the largest television audiences for football matches in the Americas (Brewster & Brewster, 2018). Even in this football-loving country, the city of Guadalajara stands out (Antinori, 2021). The city has been the birthplace of numerous well-known players for the Mexican national team, such as Javier "Chicharito"' Hernández, and others, though born in different cities, are products of the youth systems of the two current local teams: Guadalajara and Atlas.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS Josefina C. Santana holds a PhD in Education. She is a professor of media research at Universidad Panamericana in Guadalajara, Mexico. Her research interests include fandom, especially sports fandom, and she has been a life-long fan of one of the teams mentioned in this study. Nilsa Téllez is a Doctor of Philosophy with a concentration in Political Science from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León. Her interests include: public opinion research, media effects, and mixed methods studies.
Though both teams have a similar history, they are far apart in terms of successes. Both teams are over 100 years old and are part of the ten founding members of the Mexican League (Brewster & Brewster, 2018). But Team Guadalajara, better known by its nickname "Chivas" can boast 12 championships in those 100 years, while Atlas, at the time the study was carried out, had only one, dating from 1951. The second championship came a few months after the interviews were completed, after a gap of 70 years.
Logic would say that Chivas would have many more fans than Atlas does, yet the city is almost evenly divided between the two. Locality plays a large role in the decision to follow a certain team (Wann & James, 2018), so it is natural that native Guadalajarans would root for one or the other of these teams, but team performance is also an important factor in fandom, and only Guadalajara could be termed successful.
This study looks at how fans of these two teams express their fandom. Some commonalities can be found when talking to followers of either team, yet there are clear differences in terms of motivations, values, and expectations. Football is very popular in Latin America, yet academic research into sport as a social phenomenon is still limited. This study hopes to contribute to sports management and marketing by explaining the motivators of fans of both teams. More importantly, it can contribute to social scientists looking into fan behaviour, especially in understanding spectator violence, which is a growing concern in Mexico and in the rest of the world.

Becoming a fan
Sports fandom typically begins in childhood and the family is the most important influence on the selection of a favourite team (Wann & James, 2018). Motivations for consuming sports are related to entertainment, escape, eustress, and aesthetics (Hirt & Clarkson, 2011), and identification with a specific team can be based on psychological, environmental, or team-related factors (Koch & Wann, 2016).
Environmental factors include proximity to the club or the stadium, association with a particular community, or geographical association. Team-related factors include admiration for a certain player, or a team's sense of tradition (Aiken & Koch, 2009) or team performance, with more successful teams attracting a greater number of fans (Wann & James, 2018). Team successes reflect on the fan, leading to enhanced self-esteem (Tyler & Cobbs, 2015).
Yet unsuccessful teams may also have very loyal fan bases (Newson et al., 2021;Santana & Tocora, 2022). These fans must build their self-esteem on other factors, such as style of play (Tyler & Cobbs, 2017) or team history and tradition (Santana & Tocora, 2022). Newson et al. (2021) propose the concept of shared dysphoria -the opposite of euphoria-to explain why underperforming teams have such passionate fans. Shared dysphoric experiences -suffering together-creates strong bonds between sufferers.

Sports rivalry
Rivalry in sports is understood as an "adversarial relationship existing between two teams, players, or groups of fans" (Havard et al., 2013, p. 51) Rivalry develops through historical competition, proximity, on-or off-field incidents, and demographic factors, frequency of competition and parity of results (Havard et al., 2013;Tyler & Cobbs, 2015). Ronconi (2022) mentions that rivalry between "big" clubs is a characteristic of Latin American football, with most clubs having rivals in the same city or the same region. Matches between city or regional matches are known as clásicos in Spanish-speaking countries, and they tend to generate great interest among fans and non-fans alike (Ronconi, 2022).
Historical competition, proximity, frequency of competition and on-and off-field incidents are present in the rivalry between Guadalajara and Atlas. Chivas was founded in 1906. When the team entered the professional league, it adopted a policy, which continues to date, of playing exclusively with Mexican players, and this fact is a source of pride for its fans (Magazine, 2001). Chivas is one of the "big four" or "national" teams (Magazine, 2001(Magazine, , 2007 -the four teams with a large fan base outside of their home territory. The other three are América, Cruz Azul, and Pumas, all based in Mexico City. For many years, Guadalajara was the most popular team in the country, though lately it has alternated in first position with Club América. The most recent poll shows Chivas in first place with 19.4% of fans versus 19% for América (Consulta Mitosfky, 2022). The match between these two teams is known as the "Clásico Nacional", the national derby, as it pits the first and second most popular teams in the country against each other.
Atlas, on the other hand, occupies the sixth place in popularity with 3.6% of the fans (Consulta Mitosfky, 2022) who are mostly based in the city of Guadalajara. The team was founded in 1916 by a group of young men who fell in love with the sport while they were at school in England. They took the name of the club from Greek mythology and the colours -red and black-from their school team (Aceves Arce, 2010). It is said that, initially, Chivas was the team of the "popular classes" (Magazine, 2001), and Atlas belonged to the elite, but if that distinction ever really existed, it has blurred over time. Ronconi (2022) points out that another feature of Latin American football is that fandom tends to cut across traditional societal divides. That is, teams will have followers that are not segregated by location or by socioeconomic status, but rather, fans belonging to different social groups. Sharing a preference for a certain football team can bridge social or political differences (Ajzenman et al., 2023). It is difficult to say how many fans each team has locally, but they are evenly distributed across the city and among different socioeconomic levels.
Chivas has 12 league titles, the latest of which was obtained in 2017. It is one of the only two teams currently in LigaMx which has never suffered relegation and is not only one of the most popular teams in the league, but it also boasts fans in the United States and in Central America. Atlas, on the other hand, when this study was carried out, could boast only one championship; that was obtained in 1951, and the team has suffered relegation on three occasions. The closest Atlas had come to a second title was in 1999, where they lost the final match in a penalty shootout. Lacking titles, fans focus on a dynamic style of play that earned the team the nickname "The Academy", and on its youth system, which has produced players that later formed the backbone of the national team, notably for the World Cup 2006.
The two teams have been playing each other for many years. Their first matchup took place in 1916, only a month after the birth of Atlas. Legend has it that the game finished in a brawl that involved team members, their families, and random spectators. The derby between these two teams is the oldest clásico in the Mexican league (Aceves Arce, 2010). For fans of either team, a good season is defined by a) beating the hated rival; and b) finishing above the other team in the standings.
Rivalry between Chivas and Atlas is intensified because they share the city guaranteeing that neither team ever really has home field advantage, and that matchups tend to play to sold out stadiums. For 50 years, they shared a stadium, Estadio Jalisco, inaugurated in 1960, until Chivas built a new stadium across town. They have played there since 2010, while Atlas continues to play in Estadio Jalisco.
Sharing a city also means that fans of the other team may be neighbours, co-workers, or even family members (Ronconi, 2022). Whoever loses the clásico must put up with the noise of celebrations going on around them, and perhaps some (mostly good-natured) bullying until the next face off. The balance has favoured Chivas, who have won 108 of their 284 matchups, while Atlas have won 92, with 85 matches finishing in a draw (Goal, 2023).

Social identity theory
Both fandom and rivalry can be understood in the light of Social Identity Theory (SIT) (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) that focuses on understanding how individuals form their social identities and how these identities influence their behaviour and interactions with others. SIT posits that individuals have a natural tendency to categorize themselves and others into social groups based on shared characteristics such as nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, or even sports team affiliation. This categorization is an important facet of social perception and helps individuals understand their place in the social world. Once individuals identify with a particular social group, their self-concept becomes partially derived from that group membership. Social identity refers to the part of an individual's self-concept that comes from their membership in a social group and the emotional significance attached to that membership. People tend to compare their own group favourably to other groups, leading to in-group favouritism and out-group discrimination. They strive to maintain a positive social identity by emphasizing the positive attributes of their own group and seeking to differentiate their group from others. This can lead to intergroup conflict and prejudice, and also, to distancing when group behaviour or results are unsatisfactory (Hirshon, 2020).

Team identification
Social Identity Theory underpins much of the research into football fandom (Hirshon, 2020); for example, derived from SIT, scholars have posited the idea of team identification-a psychological bond fans form with their sports team (Wann & Branscombe, 1993;Wann & James, 2018). Team identification consists of four components: emotional connection, social connection, self-esteem, and psychological well-being. Emotional connection reflects the emotional bond that individuals develop with their favourite sports team. Social connection refers to a sense of community and belongingness with other fans who support the same team. Shared experiences, traditions, rituals, and social interactions related to the team contribute to the development of social connections. Supporting a successful team can enhance individuals' self-esteem, as they associate themselves with a winning or prestigious group (Hirshon, 2020;Tyler & Cobbs, 2017). Conversely, if the team performs poorly, it may lead to a temporary decrease in self-esteem. The final component of team identification is its impact on individuals' psychological well-being. Strong identification with a team can provide fans with a sense of purpose and meaning, enhancing positive emotions and minimizing negative ones such as stress.
For some fans, team identification is a central part of their lives. Wann and James (2018) have termed these highly identified fans, who see the team as a reflection of themselves, taking successes and failures personally. Though highly identified fans may exhibit extreme behaviours (Wann & James, 2018), they also show higher self-esteem, a tendency to positive emotions, and fewer signs of depression (Hirshon, 2020).

Identity fusion
Another theory derived from SIT, Identity Fusion, takes the idea of team identification further (Newson et al., 2021). Identity fusion is defined as a psychological state in which individuals perceive their identity as deeply connected and fused with a group or collective entity (Henríquez et al., 2020). The fused identity includes a sense of oneness with the group, which results in a strong motivation to behave in ways that promote the group's interests and well-being, even if those actions conflict with one's self-interest. Identity fusion is different from other group identification concepts, such as social identity and team identification, as it involves a sense of personal merging with the group (Gómez & Vázquez, 2015).
Identity fusion is founded on four principles. The first of these is the personal agent self, with an individual who maintains actions that tend to benefit the group. The second principle is identity synergy, where the fan merges their individual and their collective selves. The principle of relational ties establishes that individuals view other members of the group as family. The last principle is irreversibility or irrevocability, with fans remaining merged for life because of the emotional bonds that tie them to the group (Gómez & Vázquez, 2015;Henríquez et al., 2020). Whereas highly identified fans show adherence to a team's values, highly fused fans show a more emotional response, and are more likely to be loyal to their team despite hard times. Identity fusion has been linked to extreme behaviours in fans, such as violence against outgroup rivals (Hirshon, 2020), but also to increased altruism (Ramírez & Salazar, 2021).
Thus, selecting a team to follow depends on more than locality or family ties; it is based on one's underlying values and the social group one wants to be associated with. This study used mixed methods to provide a more complete picture of Atlas and Chivas fans, how they became fans, what their fandom means to them and how they express it. The research questions were: RQ1: Is there a statistically significant association between being a fan of Guadalajara or of Atlas with the frequency of attendance at the stadium? RQ2: Is there a statistically significant association between being a fan of Guadalajara or of Atlas with the people who influenced to become a fan of the team?

RQ3:
Are there statistically significant differences between the motivations for going to the stadium based on being an Atlas or a Guadalajara fan? RQ4: What differences exist between the ways Atlas and Guadalajara fans express their fandom? RQ5: How do fans of Atlas and Guadalajara perceive the rivalry between the two teams?

Quantitative study
An online survey was created using QuestionPro and distributed via fan sites on social media between late September and early October 2020. The instrument includes 22 questions, two of which are demographic questions and four ask about team affiliation. The remaining sixteen questions ask about the respondents' perceptions of their team. These are answered on a fivepoint Likert scale, with 1 being totally disagree and 5 being totally agree. The questionnaire was piloted and validated in other studies (Santana & Tocora, 2022) and showed strong internal consistency and validity (Cronbach's alpha = .85). Additionally, it discriminated how fans of different teams base their fandom on different motivations.

Qualitative study
For the qualitative study, a snowball sampling technique was used, where contacts were asked to recommend people they knew were fans of either Guadalajara or Atlas. The interviews were carried out via Google Meet due to Covid considerations. The questionnaire was based on Wann and Branscombe's (1993) Sport Spectator Identification Scale (SSIS), and its revised version, SSIS-R (James et al., 2019). This 7-item scale has been used "to examine a variety of affective, cognitive, and behavioural responses" (Theodorakis et al., 2016, p. 180) of fans in different sports and different cultural contexts. It has shown to be a reliable predictor of fan feelings towards their favourite teams, as well as their reactions and motivations.
The interviews were framed as narratives, with fans describing their first match and their best and worst experiences as fans. They were also asked when and why they became fans, how they felt about winning, if they were casual or passionate fans, how identified they felt with the team, where and with whom they preferred to watch a game, and if they would ever contemplate changing their allegiance.
Interviews were conducted with 47 respondents, 29 of whom were fans of Chivas and 18 fans of Atlas; nine were female and the remaining 38 were male. Though no census exists as to the number of fans either team has in the city, the numbers probably reflect their distribution. Their ages ranged from 18 to 70 years old, with an average age of 26. 6 years. Because of the way they were contacted, respondents likely fall into middle and upper middle socioeconomic strata and may not be representative of the total fan base. The interviews were carried out between January and April 2021. At that time, neither team was doing well, though later that season Atlas managed to enter the playoffs for the title and was sent off in the first round.
Respondents were contacted and asked to participate in an interview lasting between 30 and 45 minutes. The purpose of the study and the nature of the questions were explained. If the contacts agreed to participate, they were sent a link to connect via Google Meet. They were asked to keep their cameras off for privacy purposes, and only the voice was recorded. Before the interview began, they were asked to read a document again explaining the study and they were asked to read aloud a paragraph expressing their consent to participate. They were also asked to provide a pseudonym to use to identify the data. Interviews were transcribed manually and the transcriptions, together with the recordings, were stored on the researcher's laptop. Quirkos software was used for thematic analysis, which "reports experiences, meanings and the reality of participants" (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p. 81).

Quantitative analysis
The survey included a question to identify if the respondents were fans of a Mexican football team. This item functioned as a filter to generate a database made up of 717 cases. Subsequently, for the purposes of the study, only the individuals who declared they were fans of Chivas and Atlas were selected, which allowed us to obtain a sample of 371 cases, 51.2% followers of Club Guadalajara and 48.8% of Club Atlas (See Table 1).
On the other hand, 81.1% of the responses came from men and 18.9% from women (See Table 2). This is consistent with surveys on fans in Mexico, in which, although a slight increase  has been observed among Mexican women who like and follow football, they are still outnumbered by men (Consulta Mitosfky, 2022). Regarding age ranges of the respondents, 71.4% of the respondents were between 19 and 39 years old. It is worth mentioning that 75.1% of the sample was made up of fans who declared themselves to be so for at least ten years (See Table 2).
In relation to the first research question, Chivas fans were more likely to say they had been influenced by their parents to become fans (45.9% versus 33.7% for Atlas). However, a Chi-square test showed the difference was not significant x ^ 2 (4) = 8.01, p = .091.
Regarding the frequency of attendance at the stadium, Table 3 shows differences between the two teams, mainly between the two extreme points of going to all home games and never going; Atlas fans showed greater commitment to attending home games. In this sense, it was verified that there is a statistically significant association between being a fan of Atlas or of Chivas and the frequency of attendance at the stadium to follow the team at home, x ^ 2 (3) = 47.583, p < .001. More specifically, an analysis of the residuals allowed us to observe that the differences were presented in "All or almost all home games" where Atlas dominated (44.9%), and in "Sometimes" or "Never or almost never" where Guadalajara dominated with 42.5% and 20.2%, compared to 22.7% and 6.3% for Atlas.
Regarding the motivations for attending the stadium for home matches, Table 4  To determine if there were statistically significant differences between the motivations to go to the stadium based on being a fan of Atlas or Chivas, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test was  carried out, since the motivation variables were not normally distributed. No significant differences were found in the social motivations of attending games for fun U = 12623.5, p = .23, providing a topic of conversation, U = 12235.5, p = .09, making friends, U = 12848, p = .37, feeling proud of the team's tradition, U = 13224.5, p = .65 or for the atmosphere of the stadium, U = 12253, p = .09.
On the other hand, fans of Guadalajara do differ significantly from those of Atlas in relation to issues of perception of the team's performance, declaring that they feel more satisfied with the current team, U = 5433.5, p < .001 and considering that the team tries their best to win each game, U = 10496.5, p < .001 (See Table 5). Likewise, Guadalajara fans expressed a higher level of agreement on considering that their team's stadium is ideal to watch the games, M = 4.70, SD = 0.61 to a greater extent than the Atlas, M = 4.44, SD = 0.78; U = 11028, p < .001.
Followers of Atlas present a statistically higher average than those of Guadalajara in terms of the level of agreement with motivations with emotional overtones such as: "Attending my team's games makes me happy", U = 11281.50, p < .01; "Attending games makes my life more complete", U = 9987, p < .001 and "Being a fan of my team makes me special", U = 9739, p < .001.Additionally, they present statistically higher averages in terms of rewards that satisfy needs, specifically: "Attending games gives me a break from my weekly routine", U = 11206.5, p < .01, "Attending games satisfies my needs for a social life", U = 11797, p < .05.
Finally, the followers of Atlas and Chivas represent statistically different groups when comparing the feeling of being part of a community, U = 11163.5, p < .01.In this regard, it is Atlas fans who present a higher average M = 4.08, SD = 1.17 with respect to Guadalajara, M = 3.67, SD = 1.33. On the part of fans of Club Guadalajara, the motivation lay in the team's performance. In the case of Atlas, motivation is linked to loyalty to the team regardless of their (lack of) victories, U = 10998, p < .001.This is consistent with the perception of community with other fans. Another difference consisted in the fact that Atlas fans expressed greater pride in the team's youth system U = 9364, p < .001.

Qualitative analysis
Fans of both teams share some commonalities: respondents of both teams stated that they prefer to attend live matches rather than watch them on tv, they feel pride in their team, and they would never consider changing allegiance. With two exceptions, all interviewees stated that they enjoyed going to the stadium because of the atmosphere, "There's nothing like the atmosphere in the stadium. . .it's an experience that . . . even if you don't like football, everyone should experience it. It's great". "It's magical".
Being in the stadium allows the fan to live the match more intensely. "You feel like you are part of the game, not just a spectator, so you scream, let out all your emotions". Some believe the stadium allows them to "be myself", while others say attendance is "transforming". "I told my girlfriend, 'If you still want to be with me after the stadium, it's because you really love me', because, really, I transform. . .it's like another person living inside of me". "I'm driving and I have my special playlist with Chivas songs, and then I see it and I get all excited and I say, 'there it is! There's the stadium!'".
Fans of both teams also agree on the importance of winning. One fan states, "It's a football team, so results always matter". Another says, "Sure, your team wins, so it changes your mood". Still another says, "It's very important. When the team wins, I feel good, and I feel that other things, other problems in life are less important because Chivas has won". Though "winning makes me want to go to more games, to go to the stadium", several fans also point out that they will continue to cheer for their team, win or lose. As one fan says, "Chivas has lost a lot of games lately, and as a fan, that feels bad, but in the end, if you're a fan, you'll always be with them, no matter what happens". An Atlas fan echoes the sentiment: "For me, it's Atlas; win or lose, I'll be there".
Fans of both teams also agree that they would never consider changing allegiance. This was true for all interviewees, regardless of team and regardless of if they identified as passionate or as casual fans. A character in the Argentinean film The Secret in Their Eyes (Campanella, 2009) says, speaking of a football fan, "A guy can change anything. His face, his home, his family, his girlfriend, his religion, his God. But there's one thing he can't change. He can't change his passion . . . ". Three fans (one Atlas and two Chivas) appear to quote this line, either consciously or unconsciously. One of them states, "Never. You change girlfriends. You change underwear. You change careers, but you never change teams. That's it. Never". Another says, "No, it's like everyone says. A man can change his partner, or political party, or religion, but never his football team". The third said, "Look. A man can change his religion. He can change his girlfriend, but he can't change his team". One fan appears to sum up these feelings. When asked if she had any tattoos related to the team, she answered, "No, it's tattooed deeper than that. . .It's not that I'm an Atlas follower; I'm Atlas, that's it".
Regarding differences between fans of the two clubs, Atlas fans were more likely to selfidentify as passionate fans (68.4% versus 37.9%). They are also more likely to use emotionally charged terms such as "love" "At that moment I fell in love with the stadium, with the colours, with the shield" or "I love the colours; it's something that I want in my life forever, something I'll pass on to my kids".
Chivas fans tended to associate their team with the city "Because I'm from Guadalajara" (eight Chivas fans versus one Atlas fan). Teams of both fans mention rivalry (48.3% versus 44.4%), though Chivas followers mention América and Atlas almost equally. For Atlas fans, on the other hand, there is only one rival: Chivas.
Atlas fans point to the sense of kinship that develops with other fans. "A relationship that you have with the people who are there, because in Atlas games, there are people who, even if you don't know them, they are your friends for life. . .it's becoming like a family". "You make friends with the guy in the next seat, the guy behind you. You celebrate a goal with them even though you don't know them; it's that friendship, that brotherhood that comes from being an Atlas fan".
Chivas play in a newer, more modern stadium, and fans were more likely to mention the quality of peripheral services available, such as parking, food, and beverages. "Then there's the things they sell, the chips, the beer".
Themes found in data from Chivas fans are pride in the number of championships, and pride in the fact that the team fields only Mexican players. The themes that can be construed with Atlas fans are loyalty and dysphoria.

Championships
Sixteen of the 29 Chivas fans mentioned that their best fan memory was seeing the team win a championship, especially the latest one, that of 2017. "That championship in 2017; that's the best thing I've ever experienced". "We won the final, and the celebration, and the chants, are something that will live in my memory forever".
The tickets were really expensive, and they were sold out, but the brother of an ex-classmate was selling one, and it was really expensive, but I didn't care. I paid for it, and I cried and cried. I went to the stadium by myself because there was no way to get more tickets, but it doesn't matter. I cried like a child from happiness.

Nationalism
Several of the fans mention with pride the fact that the team plays only with Mexican players. "I really like that they play only with Mexicans . . . not like other teams that play with foreigners. I mean, what's the point?" "It's a team that represents many Mexicans; it's an institution you can be proud of".
One fan says, "Change teams? The day they stop playing with Mexicans". Another goes further: The day they stop playing with Mexicans, it doesn't matter if they beat Real Madrid, it doesn't matter if they win a championship, it doesn't matter if they play in Europe, whatever you want. That day, being a Chivas fan loses all meaning.

Loyalty
When asked to explain why they are fans of their team, followers of Chivas point to their 12 championship titles. When Atlas fans are asked the same question, they explain that it is difficult for others to understand.
And of course, you say, "if you have such a successful team in the city and a loser, why do you back the loser?" In the end, maybe it's that. Maybe it's not backing the winner. I like challenges, and I don't mean being an Atlas fan is a challenge, but it's like love. It's not for everyone. It's for people who like tough things. And here I am.
Obviously, nobody likes to lose, but I think it gives this a special flavour, never having seen your team win a championship, but starting every season with enthusiasm and hope, because you think, "this will be the year".
Collectively, fans of Atlas are known as La Fiel -the faithful-and this word, or associated words such as loyalty and perseverance are mentioned in several of the interviews.
Atlas has a kind of identity of being loyal, so to me, it's really important to be identified as an Atlas fan. I would say I'm a loyal fan. I'm always going to be there, all the time, win or lose.
"Atlas always tries to win; they stubbornly hang on to not losing. I think that identifies me as a persevering person and I think it's important to be identified with the virtues of the club". "Faithful forever". "One of the faithful".
That faithfulness that not everyone understands, because Atlas hasn't won a thing in the past half-century, but yeah, the people are still there. It's one of the greatest groups of fans in Mexico and I believe that Atlas is great, not because of its championships; it's great because of its fans.
The team slogan is "If I explained it to you, you wouldn't understand it". Atlas fans seem to live by this motto.

Dysphoria
The second theme evident in the interviews is acknowledgement that being an Atlas fan is not easy. "I like it when we win, but lately, it's been like every hundred years or so". "My worst memory of the team? It's hard to say. With Atlas you get used to losing so it's hard to say the worst moment". "I watch every press conference, every game, win or lose, good times or bad. They are normally bad, but I watch anyway". "Being an Atlas fan hurts, but we've gotten used to it".
A comparison between fans of both teams who identified as passionate and those who identified as casual yielded no significant differences, except in terms of interest in being identified as fans of the team. Casual fans were more likely to say that it made no difference if people identified them with the team or not, while passionate fans were more likely to say, not "I'm a fan of . . . ", but "I'm Chivas" or "I'm Atlas".

Discussion
Chivas fans have a more cerebral approach to their fandom. They base it on objective motivators such as pride in the team's commitment to fielding only Mexican players, the 12 championship titles, and a new and modern stadium. Magazine (2001) says ". . .Chivas fans are supposedly attracted by the team's association with nationalist sentiments" (p.190). These nationalist sentiments are evident in the way fans associate the team with all things Mexican. At the same time, the 12 cups in the club trophy room offer incontestable proof that the team is worth backing, and team success has shown to be one of the most powerful motivators for fans (Wann & James, 2018).
Atlas fans show a more emotional response to their team. This is evident both in the quantitative and in the qualitative data. They use emotionally charged words such as loyalty, faithfulness, and love for the team and the colours. Perhaps because it is emotional, their fandom can withstand frustration and lack of results. Dysphoria, or suffering for the team, also shows up in interviews with Atlas fans. Newson et al. (2016) have documented the bond that develops between fans of unsuccessful teams, which may explain the sense of community that Atlas followers emphasize. This bond may develop precisely because of the shared suffering or dysphoria (Newson et al., 2021).
Atlas fans, in their emotional responses, their sense of kinship with other fans, and their unshakeable loyalty to the team, show evidence of identity fusion, especially regarding three of the four principles posited by Identity Fusion theory (Gómez & Vázquez, 2015;Henríquez et al., 2020).They speak of identity synergy ("I'm Atlas, that's it"), relational ties ("that brotherhood"), and irreversibility or irrevocability, emotional bonds that tie them to the group ("Faithful forever"). Newson et al. (2021) point out that dysphoric experiences tend to affect fusion more than euphoric experiences. This may explain why Atlas fans, who had suffered relegation, negative results, and disappointment for many years, seem more highly fused with their team than their Chivas counterparts.
Loyalty to the club is a characteristic of fans of chronically underperforming teams (Hirshon, 2020). It is also in line with the findings of Newson et al. (2021) in their research on Premier League fans, and of Humphries and Kucek (2020) in their study of fans of the Tottenham Spurs. Spurs fans also speak of tradition and rituals. Tradition is mentioned by two Chivas fans in regard to their club, and by one Atlas fan regarding his allegiance ("It's a family tradition"). Rituals are not explicitly mentioned, but fans of both teams speak of them -eating at a restaurant near the stadium, listening to a specific playlist while driving to the match, the chants during the game. Interviewees of both teams mention that they miss attending live matches (due to COVID restrictions); they can watch the game on television, or internet, but the associated rituals are missing from the experience.
Fans of both teams regard the other as a rival, and not merely as an opponent (Tyler & Cobbs, 2015). They differ in that rivalry for Chivas is non-exclusive (Tyler & Cobbs, 2017); they consider both Atlas and América as their rivals. América is a more competitive team than Atlas is; it is also a very popular team nation-wide. Thus, Chivas fans may consider América a more worthy competitor. For Atlas fans, however, there is only one rival, and that is Chivas.

Conclusions, implications, and further research
Fan allegiance is based on values, but fans of both Guadalajara and Atlas focus on different values when selecting their teams. For Guadalajara fans, nationalism, and championships are the pillars on which they have built their fandom. They are proud of their team because they believe it represents Mexico and what the country stands for. As Magazine (2001) points out, a win for Chivas is a win for Mexico. Though the last few seasons had not been successful, they look back on their 12 championship titles as proof that they have chosen wisely. However, the quantitative data point to the fact that their fandom may be predicated on team performance, and attendance to the stadium suffers when the team is performing poorly. Team management could look into ways to create more emotional bonds between the team and the fans, perhaps by emphasising Chivas' considerable history and tradition.
Atlas fans appear to be less voluble, more steadfast in their support. They emphasize the sense of community with other fans. It would be useful to explore if the same kind of kinship develops among fans of other Mexican teams and how it affects event attendance. It would also be worthwhile to understand the motivations behind Atlas fandom, especially among younger fans who were not influenced by family members. Because fan identification is linked to direct and indirect consumption, this information would be especially valuable from a merchandising and public relations perspective.
Identity fusion theory as applied to football fans (Newson et al., 2016) is a relatively new idea. It would be worthwhile to study if fans of other Mexican teams, especially those who have not been notably successful, also show signs of fusion. Henríquez et al. (2020) point out that identity fusion is associated to quality of life and life satisfaction. It would be interesting to see if this association is found among Mexican football fans and if authorities can take advantage of fused fans to participate in social improvement projects, as has been done in other countries (Ramírez & Salazar, 2021).
Likewise, it would be interesting to study how fan attitudes have changed toward Atlas in the wake of their two recent championships (December 2021 and May 2022). They won their second championship after a hiatus of 70 years, and the third just five months later.
Finally, in studies like this, it is difficult to estimate the size of the real population of followers of Atlas or Chivas, and to access a random sample that guarantees representativeness. Given the above, the results reflect the characteristics of the sample and are not generalizable to the population. However, the latter may be possible as similar studies are conducted with consistent results.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Citation information
Cite this article as: One city two teams: A mixed approach study for exploring sports fandom, Josefina C. Santana & Nilsa Marlen Téllez, Cogent Social Sciences (2023), 9: 2227499.