
“We’re not here for the game. The game is nothing. The game is crap. The game makes me sick. The real reason we Americans put up with sports is for this: Behold, the tailgate party. The pinnacle of human achievement. Since the dawn of parking lots, man has sought to fill his gut with food and alcohol in anticipation of watching others exercise.”
Could this iconic cultural commentator be right? A new study suggests that he is not entirely incorrect. Sports brings people together and, in many instances, generates significant loyalty and emotions. The research was inspired by a Brazilian pre-game ritual, "Rua de Fogo" (Street of Fire), which stirred higher levels of emotions among team fans than the game itself. Our version of Rua de Fogo has become the fan activities leading up to the Superbowl and, of course, as Homer points out, tailgating.
Sports, with its inherent competition and uncertain outcome, creates “a natural ebb and flow that draws spectators into heightened cognitive and emotional engagement, often fostering a profound sense of personal involvement.” Emotions spread through crowds like a contagion, and the researchers hypothesized that “pre-game rituals and crowd behaviors outside of play time” could generate the same emotional synchrony as the game itself.
The study utilized heart rate as a biomarker of emotional response in a group of 17 fans, from the pre-game ritual through the final whistle, spanning a four-hour period. The game was a state soccer championship, with a packed crowd, ending in a 1-1 draw, giving the visitors the title. Fan heart rate was monitored using a wearable ECG system, along with an accelerometer that identified the fan's physical activity, resulting in a timeline of physiological responses.
Due to the continuous nature of the recordings and the ability to break down that continuity into 60-second windows, the researchers were able to extract some insights into the heart rate patterns of the group. More specifically, they identified the frequency of similar heart rate conditions (recurrence rates), the moments of collective synchronization, the duration of those collective states (trapping time), the predictability of those heart rates (determinism), and the variation of heart rates within those intervals (entropy).
Among their findings:
- Rua de Fogo Ignites the Crowd - The ritual itself, with chanting and rhythmic jumping, elicited the most intense emotional response, greater than that of the game. The synchrony of fans occurred repeatedly, for long intervals, and the emotional response was both complex and varied, mimicking the sensory overload of the Rua de Fogo itself. Half of the surges in synchronicity were recorded before anyone even entered the stadium.
- Anticipation within the Stadium - Just before kickoff, fans showed the most anticipatory emotional synchronization. Their responses became more predictable and structured, with two distinct surges: one as players took the field and another when awaiting the starting whistle.
- During the Game: Episodic Synchrony - That anticipatory synchronicity continued throughout the game, suggesting the crowd was engaged and emotionally aligned with play. The fans' emotional synchronicity followed the ebb and flow of the game itself. The structure of soccer, with moments of high action interspersed with relative pauses, resulted in less variability in responses and less time spent in synchrony. The crowd pulsed as one but with briefer and less complex coherence. The remaining surges, those emotional flashpoints, were tied to game-specific events: the highest when the home team scored; the second-biggest, a narrowly missed double-scoring attempt
The researchers noted that while these events were accompanied by increased synchronous physical activity, it was emotions, rather than movement, that drove that heart rate biomarker. And the feelings were contagious. The heart rate of the bus driver bringing the team into the stadium became synchronous with the fans as they approached the stadium.
While the study is significantly limited by its small sample size, making generalizations problematic, it does highlight a simple truth: the strongest emotional bonds among fans were forged before the first whistle blew. Rituals like Rua de Fogo don’t just hype the crowd—they synchronize it, creating complex, sustained emotional connections. These findings extend beyond sports, offering insights into how ritual and rhythm drive human connection in any large gathering—from protests to pilgrimages.
"By creating a 'we' experience, rituals like Rua de Fogo solidify social bonds, making sports fandom a key site for understanding how group synchrony drives social cohesion."
In the end, it’s not the scoreboard that unites us—it’s the shared heartbeat before the first whistle. From soccer stadiums in Brazil to tailgates across America, pre-game rituals aren’t just appetizers to the main event; they are the emotional glue that binds us into something bigger than ourselves. And this synchrony isn’t limited to sports. Whether it’s a protest march, a packed concert, or a stadium roar, crowds move together—emotionally and physiologically—creating a rhythm of belonging. Whether we’re chanting, grilling, dancing, or simply anticipating, we’re syncing up, proving that in sports—as in society—the most powerful moments often unfold before the main event begins.
Source: Route of fire: Pre-game rituals and emotional synchrony among Brazilian football fans PNAS DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2422779122