This study investigates how digital sport fandom is constructed and expressed on social media, examining the interplay between global fan communities and local event contexts. It introduces and empirically examines the framework of “glocalized digital tribalism” to profile contemporary fan identities.
A comparative analysis was conducted. BERTopic modeling and VADER sentiment analysis were applied to 168,126 Reddit comments from the 2025 Australian Open and US Open tournaments to profile discussion themes and emotional valences.
Discourse was globally unified around high-profile athletes but culturally divergent. Discussions of the Australian Open were overwhelmingly focused on male athletes, in contrast to the US Open, which maintained a more equitable discourse that included both men’s and women’s tennis players. Additionally, the “home” US Open conversation featured prominent women’s tennis discussion, civic pride and political references, while the “away” Australian Open discussion focused on environmental conditions and external critiques of American culture. Cultural proximity and shared actions in digital communities shaped both topic salience and affective sentiment.
The study advances the novel concept of “glocalized digital tribalism” through integrating social identity theory, team identification, cultural proximity and participatory culture theories. It provides an empirical model for profiling dynamic, platform-based fan communities that redefine engagement and belonging in digital sport spaces.
