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Article
Publication date: 20 February 2024

Luke Butcher and Mark Bryant

Traditional sports have seen declining participation at many levels, with football being no different. This is occurring at a time when emergent technologies present new…

Abstract

Purpose

Traditional sports have seen declining participation at many levels, with football being no different. This is occurring at a time when emergent technologies present new challenges, particularly to the crucial yet ignored cohort of millennials. Without meeting the needs of millennials, football cannot be successful in the future. This research seeks to understand how millennial football fandom (sport, not team) in Australia impacts football participation, whilst empirically examining the impact of football video games (FVGs).

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data are collected from online groups, forums and social media pages of Australian football (soccer) fans. Quantitative analysis of millennial fandom and its influence on football participation (for the first time demarcated into play and engagement) is undertaken, including the moderating influence of time spent playing FVGs, amidst covariate influences of age and number of children.

Findings

Results highlight the multi-dimensionality of millennial football fandom in Australia, reveal the typical hours spent playing football across a range of participation types (including play and engagement), support fan involvement’s influence on engagement with football, establish that a desire to interact with other football fans manifests in playing more football, specify how playing FVGs moderates these relationships, supports the covariate influences of age and evidences that playing FVGs does not hamper football play.

Originality/value

This is the first study to examine millennial fans of football (the sport, not tied to a club) and the influence of fandom on football participation. By separating football participation into two forms, play and engagement, we highlight discrete influences, whilst evaluating for the first time the moderating influence of the time millennials spend playing FVGs. For sport managers and administrators, these are important findings to facilitate better segmentation, recruitment, retention and participation, each with broader societal health benefits. This is undertaken in Australia where football is not a dominant code, relegating fandom to a niche, thus revealing important findings for sports and business management.

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 28 November 2016

Gregorio Fuschillo

The purpose is to argue that market-generated and brand-related phenomena such as fandoms work as a social and institutional force beyond the market and to showcase their…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose is to argue that market-generated and brand-related phenomena such as fandoms work as a social and institutional force beyond the market and to showcase their influence on the society as a whole.

Methodology/approach

The influence of fandoms on many societal institutions is explored through the literature on fandom studies and consumer research.

Findings

The research indicates that market-generated resources and their related sociocultural dynamics play a significant role in shaping the evolution of many institutions of current societies.

Research limitations/implications

The research is exclusively focused on fandoms despite the varied facets of market-related sociocultural dynamics, opportunity exists for research beyond the exploratory work done here shifting the focus from fandoms to brand systems.

Practical implications

Researchers, especially in Consumer Culture Theory (CCT), may use the perspective shift from market to society to enlarge the scope to new fields of study, out of the market.

Social implications

The research provides new lenses to understand emerging phenomena in fields such as religion and/or politics difficult to understand with traditional frameworks.

Originality/value

This paper provides exploratory research identifying market-related social and institutional processes and emphasizing how they influence other societal institutions, such as family, religion, corporations, professions, and politics; rather than bringing social and institutional processes into the marketplace.

Details

Consumer Culture Theory
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-495-2

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 May 2021

Han Soo Kim, Minsoo Kang and Minjung Kim

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the category function of the sport fandom questionnaire (SFQ), determine the optimal categorization of the SFQ and calibrate the…

297

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the category function of the sport fandom questionnaire (SFQ), determine the optimal categorization of the SFQ and calibrate the measurement qualities of the newly modified rating scale option using Rasch analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper relies on the Rasch analysis to validate the SFQ. A series of studies are performed based on analysis procedures for the responses from 244 (study 1) and 477 (study 2) participants.

Findings

The results revealed that the original SFQ consisting of the eight-category rating scale is flagged due to irregular observation distribution and disordering of thresholds, whereas both six-category and seven-category rating scales meet the guidelines for the optimal categorization. However, only the seven-category rating scale showed desirable model-data fit indices. Furthermore, the results of the Rasch calibration model showed that all items of the SFQ have large variability, and a person's ability level varied moderately along the continuum.

Originality/value

Unlike previous studies, examining the psychometric properties of the SFQ, the current study provides information about the optimal categorization and presents a novel reconstruction category in measuring individuals' sport fandom level. In measuring the level of sport fandom, the authors suggest the use of a seven-category rating scale that the current study found to exhibit reliability and construct validity.

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. 23 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1464-6668

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 15 February 2021

Maarit Kinnunen, Antti Honkanen and Mervi Luonila

The purpose of the study is to compare features of career development and fandom in frequent festival attendance in the context of Finnish music festivals.

5016

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to compare features of career development and fandom in frequent festival attendance in the context of Finnish music festivals.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a mixed methods research approach and employs two theoretical frameworks: theories of career development and fandom.

Findings

In frequent festival attendance, both festival career development and festival fandom are most clearly present in motivation development and social dimensions.

Practical implications

Strategically, frequent festivalgoers should be considered as crucial stakeholders, who might mobilize the co-creation of a sense of community or festival brand.

Originality/value

Music-related fandom has been previously investigated in relation to artists and specific musical genres, but not so much in relation to music festivals in general. Career studies, on the other hand, concentrate heavily on sports events. There is a scarcity of research scrutinizing both career development and fandom in the festival context within the same study, and festival attendance as part of music tourism is an under-researched area.

Details

International Journal of Event and Festival Management, vol. 12 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1758-2954

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Gender and Contemporary Horror in Comics, Games and Transmedia
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-108-7

Article
Publication date: 14 August 2020

Po-Lin Pan and Joe Phua

The purpose of this paper was to examine the interplay between sports fanship and brand-related perceptions in the context of sports sponsorship. The effects of sport fans'…

1554

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper was to examine the interplay between sports fanship and brand-related perceptions in the context of sports sponsorship. The effects of sport fans' self-enhancement strategies: Basking in reflected glory (BIRGing) and cutting off reflected failure (CORFing) were investigated in response to how sports fans connected themselves to a sponsor brand as well as whether their sponsor brand trust and loyalty were activated.

Design/methodology/approach

An experiment was designed in the first study to examine immediate effects of team performance and sports fandom on sports fans' connection to the sponsor brand, while an online survey was conducted in the second study to investigate the joint effects of team performance and game venue on sports fans' sponsor brand trust and loyalty.

Findings

The first study found that both team performance and sports fandom yielded significant effects on sports fans' connection to the sponsor brand. Specifically, sports fans with higher fandom reported the highest connection to the sponsor brand after the success of their favorite team, while others with lower fandom exhibited the lowest connection after the failure of their favorite team. The second study suggested that team performance and game venue yielded both main and joint effects on sponsor brand trust and loyalty. Moreover, fan identification mediated the joint effects of team performance and game venue on both sponsor brand trust and loyalty.

Originality/value

Replicating the concepts of BIRGing and CORFing into the context of sports sponsorship, this paper verified the vigorous roles of BIRGing and CORFing in influencing sports fans' perceptions of the sponsor brand. Moreover, both theoretical and practical insights into BIRGing and CORFing concepts applicable to examine the impact of the fan–team relationships on sport fans' perceptions of the sponsor brand through sports sponsorship would be generated for the advancement of sports business research.

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. 11 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 3 April 2024

Christopher McMahon and Peter Templeton

This introduction provides the methodological framework for the book, approaching the business of football through the lens of its most reliable consumers – the fanbase. Fan…

Abstract

This introduction provides the methodological framework for the book, approaching the business of football through the lens of its most reliable consumers – the fanbase. Fan cultures necessarily inform the normative understanding of a football club, due to the popularly held belief that it is the fan’s – or some reified idea of the fan – that is the permanent feature of a football club and that provides its identity. Players and owners come and go, but the relationship between the club and the fan is, theoretically, never-ending. In truth, this is never a real fan who could exist, but a constructed image of the fan built out of other narratives and that, at some level, football fans associate themselves. This fan is no one in particular, but is drawn from a close reading of football culture and identifying the directives of the traditional fan. Utilising a combination of critical theory and the existing literature on football club ownership, our goal is to reveal the distinction between how people talk about the social dimension of football clubs, and how they actually relate to their fans and the wider world in the era of late capitalism. A club is not simply the romanticised notions held by those within the games, but, as with all businesses, it is also the product of it conducts itself in a series of other networks of exchange. Often irreconcilable with the aforementioned romantic notions, these networks often get hidden by the prevailing discourse.

Details

Contradictions in Fan Culture and Club Ownership in Contemporary English Football: The Game's Gone
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83549-024-2

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Fandom Culture and The Archers
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-970-5

Abstract

Details

Fandom Culture and The Archers
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-970-5

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2012

Sam Kaplan and Su Langdon

As the global economy expands, it would seem to be in the interests of the major professional sport leagues of the US to move into new markets, especially China, one of the…

1365

Abstract

As the global economy expands, it would seem to be in the interests of the major professional sport leagues of the US to move into new markets, especially China, one of the fastest growing and largest in the world. In order to sell effectively in this market, it is vital to gain an understanding of the potential fan base. To explore national differences in fandom, a survey was completed by sports fans in both China and the US to assess which sports participants followed and which media they used, to identify fan motives and their feelings about expansion. This study determined that there are clear differences between Chinese and Americans. While many of the Chinese were fans of American sports, they tended to follow individual athletes rather than teams and had relatively low fan identity but high levels of fan motivation. Motives also varied by country, with aesthetics and affiliation the primary motives among the Chinese sample. These distinctions can be utilised to create marketing strategies.

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. 14 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1464-6668

Keywords

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