Forrester and colleagues studied how being a fan of a team influences responses to that team’s team colors. They report that “This study aims to empirically test whether identifying as a supporter of either New South Wales (NSW) or Queensland (QLD) rugby league teams influences the extent that their respective team colors blue and maroon are associated with positively and negatively valenced words. . . . NSW supporters were faster and more accurate when categorizing positive words presented in blue than maroon font and negative words in maroon than blue font. While QLD supporters did not significantly differ when categorizing words in either blue or maroon, they rated blue and maroon equally positively in contrast to the NSW supporters.” These findings indicate positive links to team colors for fans of those teams.
Declan Forrester, Heather Winskel, and Mitchell Longstaff. “Effects of Team Affiliation on Color-Valence Associations.” Color Research and Application, in press, https://doi.org/10.1002/col.22915