Sports teams heritage: Measurement and application in sponsorship

Drivers of soccer fan loyalty: Australian evidence on the influence of team brand image, fan engagement, satisfaction and enduring involvement

“…For example, Couvelaere and Richelieu (2005) identified the importance of various nonproduct attributes for the French soccer clubs in their study, whilst Blumrodt and Huang-Horowitz (2017) found French soccer clubs communicated non-product brand attributes as part of their web-based-communication efforts. In their study of sports team heritage, Rose et al (2020) identified the symbols associated with a teamsuch as its colours, logo and mascot-as a significant dimension, one which was positively correlated with attitude towards the team, sponsorship and sponsor brand. In their study of the online engagement of English and Greek fans of Liverpool FC in the EPL, Parganas et al (2017) found that nonproduct-related posts related to the team's history and tradition and its fans were the third and fourth-most interacted with posts on Facebook and Twitter.…”

“…A team's stadium and its environment aid fan engagement and connection through providing both a literal and a spiritual home where rituals and traditions are practiced, which helps the home team with crowd support (Rose et al, 2020). Thus, for fans attending games, the stadium can play a sizeable role in the creation of positive associations with a constant future attendance (Biscaia et al, 2013;Hattula, 2018;Kaynak et al, 2008).…”

“…Brand heritage invokes a brand's past (or elements thereof) and may be useful in differentiating and positioning offers, along with facilitating brand attachment and commitment and impacting purchase intentions (Rose et al, 2016). Recent sports-marketing research shows that invoking sports team heritage can generate positive attitudes towards the sports team, sponsorship and the sponsoring brand (Rose et al, 2020).…”

“…Additionally, given the positive influence team brand image has on cumulative fan satisfaction and attitudinal and behavioural loyalty, teams should focus on branddevelopment strategies that emphasise non-product related brand attributes. Additionally, teams could utilise the TBI scale as an indicator to plan and shape their branding by tracking changes related to present performance and marketing communications (Rose et al, 2020). The importance of the stadium experience, brand colours, history and other fans cannot be overlooked (e.g.…”

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“…In their examination of the 2016 Olympic Games, Billings et al ( 2019) found that social identity among highly self-identified fans was comprised of patriotism, smugness, and internationalism, and that these qualities are so ingrained in fans that they might not even know it. Rose et al (2020) posited that these types of viewpoints are in fact ingrained -that it frames fans' views about their country and its athletes, as well as themselves. A similar study of the 2018 Winter Olympics found that fandom level was the determining factor affecting fans' degree of patriotism and support for their own country (Brown et al 2020).…”