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SALT LAKE CITY — As the 2014 Super Bowl approaches, a new poll shows half of American sports fans see God or some aspect of the supernatural at play in sports.
The Public Religion Research Institute survey shows 26 percent of fans pray for God to help their team, 25 percent think their team has been cursed, and 19 percent believe God is involved in determining who wins on the court or in the field.
"As Americans tune in to the Super Bowl this year, fully half of fans — as many as 70 million Americans — believe there may be a twelfth man on the field influencing the outcome," Public Religion Research Institute CEO Robert Jones said in a statement.
"Significant numbers of American sports fans believe in invoking assistance from God on behalf of their favorite team, or believe the divine may be playing out its own purpose in the game," Jones added.
Rituals
The survey also found 21 percent say they perform some ritual before or while watching their favorite team.
- 66 percent of rituals center around wearing team jerseys or clothing with the team's colors.
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- One fan reported wearing "a dirty pair of underwear ... over my pants and then I put my jersey on."
- 24 percent who have rituals choose a ritual that involves some type of activity, such as dancing in a circle, sitting in the same seat or giving a pep talk to the television. Prayer The survey shows football fans are more likely than other sports fans to report praying to God (33 percent vs. 21 percent). Researchers said that may be because football fans are concentrated most heavily in the Midwest and South, regions that also include large religious populations. Survey results were based on bilingual (Spanish and English) telephone interviews conducted with 1,011 adults between Jan. 8 and Jan. 12. The margin of error for the survey is +/- 3.1 percentage points.
