Can sports rivalries bring us closer together?

Issue 50: On the Battle of Alberta; what economics can gain from understand identity; how identity fosters belonging in organizations.

Jay was eight years old when he learned about the nature of social identity.

On the school intercom one morning in late April 1986, his teachers announced that every student in his elementary school should come to school wearing either blue and white to represent the Edmonton Oilers or red and yellow to represent the Calgary Flames. It was the eve of Game 7 in the “Battle of Alberta”—a match that would determine the fate of two of the fiercest rivals in professional hockey.

It’s hard to put the Battle of Alberta into proper context, but these two teams were the dominant face of hockey for an entire decade. The Oilers and Flames made it to the finals for 8 straight years—winning six Stanley Cups. The Oilers of this period was widely considered to be among the best teams in history. And both teams were loaded with future Hall of Fame players, led by the greatest of them all, Wayne Gretzky.

Separated by a mere 186 miles, their rivalry in that period was bitter and often violent on the ice.…