The researcher, Craig Hyatt’ discovered that most of these abandoned (betrayed?) fans did not follow either the Carolina Hurricanes or the NHL’ but they still considered themselves Whaler fans. We can only guess how many sports fans drop off the escalator of present day involvement and live in the world of memories. What prompts voluntary dropouts? There is much to learn’ most of which will require the kind of in-depth interviews that Craig Hyatt conducted. As a recent review of the literature pointed out’ we know little about how financial contingencies or other “life-altering events” such as marriage’ divorce’ or employment change affect sport consumption patterns.