The Effect of E-Service Quality on Football Fan Satisfaction and Fan Loyalty Toward the Websites of Their Favorable Football Teams

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effect of electronic service quality on fan satisfaction and fan loyalty in the online environment. Selection of three hundred and fifty-six fans of a famous sports club was through random sampling using the club's website. AMOS used structural equation modeling for data analysis. Results provided strong support on the effect of electronic service quality (E-S-QUAL) on fan satisfaction and fan loyalty toward the website of their favorable football teams. Business enterprises have well researched e-service quality and loyalty. However, limited research exists in the sports context. This paper provides valuable insight into the measurement of e-service quality and fan loyalty in the sport and offers a foundation for future marketing research.

Exploring Factors That Lead to People Watching Professional Soccer on Television

The purpose of this study is to examine and determine factors that lead to increased television ratings for soccer in the U.S. The study primarily focuses on fantasy soccer participation, involvement in soccer, presence of a local professional team, and social media interaction. After providing a brief history of soccer television ratings in the U.S., a conceptual model based on these factors is developed and explained. The factors of this conceptual model are tested through statistical analysis. Based on these results, the model provides recommendations and conclusions for soccer decision makers to increase television ratings in the future, which ultimately will drive and increase the bottom line of all parties involved.

Rationalizing Sport Spectatorship

This chapter aligns itself with spectatorship theories to identify possible causes for the poor spectatorship numbers observed at S-League matches. Taking into account club affiliations among spectators and how such relationships affect the fortunes of a club's following, relevant theories are discussed in the context of the sports situation in Singapore. Qualitative and quantitative components pertaining to S-League spectatorship are analysed, which serve as the basis for the recommendations presented on improving attendance at local football matches.

Sport Management and Sustainability Innovation Challenges

In the first part of the book, the focus was on introducing the conceptual (Transition Studies) and first practical tolls (sustainable innovation) to set the scene to a deeper analysis of the effective role of grassroots innovation in sport for a sustainable future. This chapter opens the second part of the book by analyzing how sport management studies have analyzed the role of and relationship between innovation and sustainability. From a theoretical and practical perspective, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) function seems to be the area of study and application that could better create a relationship between sustainability and innovation in sport. Innovative CSR seems to be the managerial approach that from mainstream organizations and practices could give grassroots sports organizations practical guidelines to design and develop novel solutions for societal needs. The chapter concludes that a different approach (niche) should be considered for grassroots sport organizations.

Branding Through Sponsorship-Linked Marketing

The essence of sponsorship is reciprocity. Whereas sport organizations and event promoters have increasingly relied on sponsors' resources and financial support to stage their events, many companies have also been vigorously seeking sponsorship opportunities to actualize their marketing goals, such as enhancing brand equity. This research examines the impacts of sponsorship-linked marketing activities on perceived consumer-based brand equity elements (i.e., brand loyalty, perceived quality, and brand awareness/associations) of the sponsor. This was done through a case study of how sponsorship-linked marketing strategy has shaped the development of Li Ning Company Limited, a Chinese sports apparel and equipment company. Results show that the branding effectiveness of sponsorship directly depends on event quality, perceived event-brand congruency, and brand experience, but not level of sports involvement.

Strategic Use of Facebook to Build Brand Awareness

Social media provides a strategic means for non-profit organizations to build and maintain strong relationships with consumers. The purpose of this study was to apply branding theory and frameworks to the use of Facebook by National Olympic Committees in two countries, Australia and Canada over specific time periods related to three Olympics Games. These Facebook pages were examined to determine the types of brand-related post content and communication style utilized as well as the consumer response to these posts. The two organizations generally used Facebook to broadcast product related brand attributes such as information about athletes and teams. There was also a significant difference in Facebook post use and focus by two organizations indicating some international differences in using Facebook for branding a sport organization. The results also provide practical implications for non-profit sport organizations using Facebook to build positive brand images, promote fan engagement and ultimately create brand ambassadors.

Brand Anthropomorphism

This chapter addresses brand anthropomorphism, in particular how sports mascots can be utilized on social media to increase emotional connectivity with fans and their affiliated teams. The history and role of mascots and present day usage encourages understanding of how narratives are a positive and promising tool for marketing communication professionals and those in the sports and entertainment industry. Interviews were conducted with personnel associated with mascots to gain insights into the concept of brand anthropomorphism. Also, an online survey was conducted on mascot brand attributes and results were presented. The ability to personify a brand has significant managerial implications, and this chapter demonstrates how social media platforms may drive brand loyalty.

Digital Marketing

Despite the fact that the branding of football is not a new phenomenon, the emergence of new media has provided the means and the opportunity for the widespread promotion of football club's brands. At the same time, the growing popularity of social media among football fan has empowered them to express their opinions and has granted them unlimited resources for information search and exchange. This chapter aims to examine the relationship that exists between Real Madrid's digital marketing actions and its promotion as a brand and the loyalty of its supporters. An online questionnaire was distributed among sports and football fans in order to identify their profile, their preferred communication channels, their use of social media and their knowledge about Real Madrid.

Getting Brand Commitment Through Internet and Mobile Sports Marketing

This chapter provides a better understanding of the impact that the Internet and mobile sports marketing are having on a business's ability to achieve customer engagement. To achieve this goal, the case of Real Madrid football team is analyzed, as it is calculated to have over 200 million supporters worldwide. Information about Real Madrid was gathered from September 2012 to March 2013 by repeatedly browsing the team's Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and apps. Data from interviews of Real Madrid's marketing department published in business press and posts was also compiled. Additionally, a focus group was conducted to discuss the customer engagement of Real Madrid's fans. The findings offer new opportunities to get customer engagement. They also highlight the important role of social media to gain insight about the fans.

Sport Omnibus Events as Media Shows

Inside the wider commodification process that the social field of sport has been subject to, sport events are not only about the competition itself, but they have become a global multilayered show. The ‘symbiotic relationship' (Valgeirsson & Snyder, 1986, p. 131) between sport and media made them one of the most successful entertaining products as they provide an intense spectatorship experience. The main aim of this chapter is to focus on the media-sport nexus in order to understand the impact that this hybridization process between the two social fields had on sport events? How media reflect and redefine sport competitions as media events? What are the main aspects that make sport events so competitive on the wider entertaining (media) market? Despite the undisputable transformative effects brought by sport competitions entering the media logic, I will argue that there is also a reverse effect that major sport events exert upon the media field, focusing mainly on their interruptive quality (Dayan & Kats, 1992) in terms of media and social agenda. In discussing these aspects I will narrow down the analysis on the major sport competitions, as they are the most complex media-sport constructs. The ‘fun factor' (Kellner, 2003, p. 3) and the emotional flow of the competition reach their most spectacular form through what I call omnibus events. By omnibus events I refer to major competitions on the sport global map that are defined as impressive shows, involving world wide audiences, significant number of sport acts and actors and high commercial value (i.e. The Olympic Games, The World Cup). More important, their vortextual nature (Whannel, 2002) makes them referential for the public agenda, drawing everyone's attention and building alternative ways to connect large number of people to them. The chapter will approach these sport omnibus events as media shows by analyzing their multilayered structure: the dramaturgical dimension of sport acts and its corollary management of impression, the ritual dimension of sport ceremonial practices, the axiological dimension of sport events as social values' system, the commercial dimension of sport events as products on the entertaining and celebrity market, the aesthetic dimension of sport acts as expressive media constructs and their emotional dimension in terms of spectatorship experience. On this last dimension there are two main aspects that I will focus on, one regarding the live-remote experience and the other one directed towards the multiplication process of sport competition related events (from special TV shows, social media events, to thematic parties or marketing events). Media's centrality inside the social field of sport came with a consistent spectacularization effect, contributing to sport competition becoming resourceful media shows in terms of public impact and commercial value, a process that this chapter manages to lay emphasis on by addressing the multilayered nature of such events.