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The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of social media in brand associations, particularly in regard to soccer fan clubs.

The study used a professional English Premier League soccer team to investigate the effects that social media interaction had on brand associations of the team’s fan clubs in two national contexts – England and Greece.

In total, 207 online questionnaires from six fan clubs were collected and analyzed using descriptive and inferential (t-tests and χ² tests) statistics.

The results revealed similarities on Facebook in terms of positive receptions of brand attributes and resonance of perceived brand benefits, while significant differences were observed on Twitter, particularly in terms of brand benefits.

Professional football clubs currently strive for a number of concurrent goals, ranging from on-field success to profit maximization to fan expansion and engagement. The purpose of this paper, theoretically informed by the social penetration theory, is to analyze the economics behind such goals and examine the association between team performance, commercial success, and social media followers in professional team sports.

A data set relating to 20 European professional football clubs that combines financial (revenues and costs), sporting, and digital-reach measures for three consecutive football seasons (2013/2014 to 2015/2016) was used. In addition, to elaborate on this data in terms of a descriptive study, the study constructs a range of correlation statistical tests and linear modeling techniques to obtain quantitative results.

The results indicate that all the three main sources of club revenues (match-day, commercial/sponsorship, and broadcasting) are positive drivers for Facebook followers. Staff investments (staff costs) are also positively related to Facebook followers, albeit to a lesser extent, while higher-ranked clubs seem to follow a constant approach in terms of their revenues and cost structure.

This study seeks to bridge the communication and sport economic research, providing evidence that Facebook followers are part of the cyclical phenomenon of team revenues and team performance. In doing so, it initiates a debate on the relationship between the digital expansion of a football club and its sports and financial indicators.