Professor Roger Cooper is spending his sabbatical being fanatical for the Kansas City Chiefs

Which three people with Ohio University connections were at the opening game of the NFL season in Kansas City on Thursday night?

Well, pop superstar Taylor Swift was there, who early in her career performed at Ohio University Chillicothe, and she is currently dating Kansas City Chiefs Tight End Travis Kelce. Then there was Kelce’s mom, Donna Kelce, who cheers for her son while he plays for the Chiefs and graduated with a radio and television degree from Ohio University in 1974.

And finally, there was the lesser-known, but equally as fanatical Scripps College of Communication Media Arts and Studies Professor Roger Cooper, who is a life-long Chiefs fan. Cooper is taking a Chiefs-themed sabbatical this semester with plans to attend every game this season of his beloved team, home and away, to explore his lifelong obsession with the team, write a book and create a podcast.

“The first sporting event I ever remember seeing was Super Bowl IV, when I was eight years old. The Chiefs won that game and that started my deep fandom for them. I was so enthralled with us winning Super Bowl IV, that it became anchored in my nervous system. Then we went another 50 years before we were ever in another Super Bowl,” Cooper said with a laugh. “Over the next 50 years, we had many bad teams and lost in the most sickening kinds of ways. But my fandom never faltered.”

Cooper grew up in a small town in Arkansas, but his grandmother lived in Kansas City, and that’s where Cooper’s connection to the Chiefs began.

“My parents met in Kansas City,” said Cooper. “The town I grew up in had about 300 people, so being able to go to Kansas City to visit my grandmother meant I had somewhere bigger to go and that had a big impact on my life. That manifested in my love of travel and exploration. And this is my 16th year as a Chiefs season ticket holder, which is a little crazy since I live in Ohio.”

Cooper, who worked professionally as a sportswriter, has published an award-winning book, 25+ journal articles and presented 50+ conference papers, most recently focusing on cross-platform audience behaviors and sports fandom. He plans to spend the next several months taking a deep dive into why he has such a deeply held fandom towards the Chiefs. Cooper wants to explore this story from the perspective of a true fan. He plans to drive or fly to all of the games, talk to other fans and reflect on the things that have brought him to this moment in time.

“For a long time, I thought that when I retired, I would go to every game the next season as a way to deal with retirement,” said Cooper. “But in 2023, I went to a sports conference in Spain and attended a session about fandom. Sitting in that session, I thought, ‘I want to do this now. I don’t want to wait.’”

Cooper also admits the timing couldn’t be better. The Chiefs have won two Super Bowls in a row and this year could bring the third.

“We (the Chiefs) are in this really golden period right now and it’s wonderful,” said Cooper. “But it’s so weird after living with the teams I’ve lived with for 50 years. It’s not lost on me that I am taking my leave to understand my fandom at the right moment in history.”

With plans to journal and record both audio and video, Cooper is not quite sure what his final products will look like, but he’s excited to get started. 

“This has been a sometimes childlike, at times childish, obsession for me,” said Cooper with a laugh. “It’s really so irrational. It makes no sense that at 63 years old, something like this has such an emotional hold on me. One of the topics I want to explore is why do I and so many other people put so much emotional investment in something we have absolutely no control over?”

Cooper's also going to explore the Chiefs connection to Swift and her fans, known as the Swifites, by attending the Eras Tour concert in Toronto, Canada a few days before the Chiefs play the Bills in Buffalo in November.

“I’m not a Swift fan myself. I am just more an admirer of her,” said Cooper. “I don’t know her music that well, but I like what I see about her. The fact that she is unbelievably adored and has remained grounded is impressive to me.”

Cooper knows the next few months are going to be full of discovery and a rollercoaster ride of emotions. And even though he pokes fun at himself over his “obsession” with the Chiefs, he is truly appreciative of his fandom because it’s gotten him through some of the most difficult times of his life.

“My wife passed away five years ago, and that season is when the Chiefs won the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years,” said Cooper. “I felt like she was guiding that in some way. I know it’s odd to say. So many strange things happened that season. And friends knew in all the sadness of what had happened, the Chiefs winning it all was a feeling of happiness for me. So, I’m excited to see where this journey takes me.” 

You can follow Cooper’s journey on his “Coop in the Kingdom” Instagram and Facebook pages.

For additional information on Cooper and his work in OHIO's Scripps College of Communication, please see this webpage.