DENVER – Love is in the air in October – and credit can go to Major League Baseball. And this love for baseball has a study from 1992 done by a University of Denver professor resurfacing again, 27 years later.
Howard Markman did a study at DU that found cities that had a MLB teams had a 25 percent lower divorce rate compared to cities that did not.
“Now this isn’t entirely science here,” Markman told Denver7. “However, this is just fun to look at some of the data.”
“Back in 1992, we found that cities that wanted a team had divorce rates about 25 percent higher than cities that already had a team,” Markman wrote to Denver7 in an email. “For fun, I suggested that having a team could lower divorce rates since going to games together was fun and you can talk and enjoy each other.
"And our research at DU has found that having fun is one of the best predictors of a great relationship. The story went viral back then and was published in Sports Illustrated,” said Markman.
Some Rockies fans Denver7 spoke with seemed to agree with that. Love was in the air as well as the aroma of the playoffs.
Markman stresses that ballpark games can be healthy for a marriage and family because there’s time to talk and enjoy each other’s company.
He runs the University of Denver Couple's Clinic, which specializes in increasing effective communication between partners. To sign up for the classes you can call (303) 871-3306.
