For many people watching sports is a way to kick back and relax and watch your favorite team. But for many professional athletes games can be stressful and outcomes can often determine the trajectory of their life and career. Fans put an enormous amount of pressure on professional athletes and their teams to succeed without considering the human impact it has on these athletes. This leads to sport franchises earning more money than ever and players getting paid more than ever before. Of course, the expectation of these athletes to perform is now at an all time high. Sports across the United States have become more impatient when it comes to winning and performance due to this increased pressure from fans. Unfortunately, young players are given little time to develop and succeed. In fact, owners of these franchises run them like the high earning business they are and cause them to then have to face enormous pressure from their fans.
One reason fans put pressure on professional athletes is due to the rise in gambling in sports. “The gambling industry has rebranded isolation and obsession as dedication,” said Issac Rose-Berman. This puts extra pressure on these athletes to perform. With apps like DraftKings and FanDuel it has become very accessible to bet on everything sports related. One of the most common bets is placing bets on individual players or grouping them in with other bets in a parlay. The addicting nature of gambling adds pressure from fans for athletes to perform. Often, videos go viral on social media of fans in the crowd yelling out to players to score, get a rebound, or get a touchdown for their bets to hit.
Many fans of sports may dismiss these claims that too much pressure is being put on these professional athletes by fans by bringing up the amount these athletes are paid. Thus, justifying the amount of scrutiny they are under because of their immense contracts. But, the reality is that they are also people and despite their salary they too suffer from stress and pressure, primarily from fans. The physicality of playing professional sports with the added mental pressure of the demands of fans can be stressful and contribute to a bad mental state and performance for athletes.
In recent times social media has become more of a way for fans to vent frustration against athletes that under perform in games. Messaging harmful things on social media is very common today. One example of this was in the 2024 NFL playoffs a kicker by the name of Anders Carlson missed crucial kicks for Green Bay and received massive amounts of scrutiny online leading to him privating his Instagram account.
The accumulation of pressure on professional athletes has also led to the creation of pressure on high school athletes. Expectations to make it into big college leagues with NIL money is now a hot topic. Essentially, NIL stands for name, image and likeness and college athletes get funds based on how teams can use them as a brand (autographs, endorsements, marketing). “High school athletes are not only competing for scholarships and championships but also for marketability,” said Method writer Dalton Hunkle. This expectation to market oneself leads many high school athletes to feel significantly more pressure when trying to reach goals. Additionally, the high stress can even take their focus off their academics.
In modern times, it has become very easy to forget that comments from fans can affect real people that then have to deal with the overwhelming stress of them. This constant pressure is what is harming the professional athletes of today’s world. In fact, if fans understood the stress they were causing athletes due to pressure to perform well, it might give those athletes a chance to perform significantly better while also enjoying their sport.
