Michigan vs. Ohio state football rivalry is one of the longest rivalries in the history of sports. When these two teams first met in 1897 the University of Michigan registered an outright win, followed by a couple of more wins and ties till the year 1912. The contest was postponed for a few years after this till after the First World War. The University of Ohio became a member of the Big ten conference in 1912. In 1917 Michigan too joined the conference after being absent from it for ten years. These two teams played their first conference match in 1918. Michigan prevailed and recorded their eleventh consecutive win over the Ohio Buckeyes as they were popularly known, this new and upcoming football rivalry was also fueled by the just concluded Toledo war, also referred to as the…show more content… This has certainly had an impact on the fans of the two football teams. Studies have shown that fans are more likely to commit acts of violence against team members and fans of the rival side. Hostility and aggressiveness developed by these fans tends to peak during match days. More cases of violence and rowdy behavior in fans are witnessed during derby matches.
Rivalry in sports has also proven to impact on fans in a manner that they dedicate large amount of their own resources to the team they support.
Fans from both Ohio and Michigan dedicate copious amounts of resources in order to support their team as they strive to outsmart their rivals. During the Ohio Michigan football derbies all tickets are usually sold out making for entertaining contests with the animated fans adding fervor to the competitive nature of the sports. A good is example is the massive support fans showed for the Ohio Buckeyes in 1922, through collective effort they helped build the teams stadium and on the day it officially opened over 71000 fans showed up to cheer and support their favorite teams to