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This study assessed the mediation effect of perceived brand quality and the moderation effect of consumer ethnocentric tendency in the proposed consumption model of a global sports brand. The English Premier League was selected as a global sports brand and four hypotheses were established to explain how consumers' perceived brand globalness affected their watching intention. Data were collected from 302 collegians in Republic of Korea. Results showed that perceived brand quality partially mediated the relationship between perceived brand globalness and watching intention, and ethnocentrism played a moderating role. The findings contribute to our understanding of consumption activities of global sport brands.

In 2005 Manchester United was taken over by US businessman Malcolm Glazer, in part because of the club's brand name prominence in the global sport of soccer. This paper examines how Manchester United rose to a pre-eminent position in world football through its on-field performances and its off-the-field management strategies. It shows how the club took its storied history into world markets to take full advantage of globalisation, the opportunities extended through the English Premier League's reputation and developments in global media technologies. Astute management of club resources is identified as the major factor in global brand management.

New media has emerged as a significant dimension of branding and global sports sponsorship because it provides the capability to communicate with consumers worldwide via a multitude of digital platforms. This paper discusses the results of a systematic review of the development of global sports sponsorship and the importance of new media integration to the sector for the future. Results indicate that a new paradigm is emerging which involves thematically linked, integrated, strategic global marketing initiatives driven by new media applications, which have enhanced the value of sports sponsorship.

Today, in the sports arena, the status of a sports team brand is vital. The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain how a team can become an international global brand. Following a conceptual approach, it articulates a model for a team's brand internationalisation and proposes four strategies relevant to the sports arena - Brand Reputation; Brand Affinity; Brand Challenger; and Brand Conquistador. It illustrates this internationalisation process via three case studies: Football Club Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille.

This research aims to examine the fundamental elements regarding Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) marketing strategy. Specifically, the objective of this analysis is the implementation of globalizing the club brand of PSG.

The author held three 2-h face-to-face meetings. Given that the main criterion in the choice of the respondent for a case study was the quality of the information that could be obtained during the interview, the professionals were selected because of their direct involvement in the PSG’s global marketing strategy. Data collection was conducted with the aid of several in-depth interviews with the Deputy General Manager (in charge of commercial activities), Frédéric Longuépée, the Corporate and Brand Communications Manager, Nicolas Serres and the Brand Diversification and Development Manager (in charge of eSports), Fabien Allègre.

It appears that since the acquisition of PSG by Qatar Sports Investments, the club has entered a new era and has set in motion a strategy to compete with the biggest sports brands in the world. The results of this research reveal that the globalization strategy of PSG is itself part of Qatar’s internationalization approach. The findings also suggest that the global marketing strategy of the club is based on three key steps. First was the reorganization of the club to create an omnisports brand with a new CEO at its head, which is highlighted here. The rebuilding of the brand followed, through the creation of new identity and logotype, the acquisition of brands-athletes and controlled communication. Finally, the development of the club which is based on the diversification of growth drivers.

Overall, these results contribute to the enrichment of sports clubs and global marketing research This research offers a unique perspective and insights on the marketing strategic globalization of a professional sports club linked with the internationalization of a country. Best practices become visible through this analysis, which might serve as guidelines in other contexts.

This paper looks at how two sports teams, hockey club the Toronto Maple Leafs and Football Club Barcelona, have each built and leveraged their brand equity. The main differences between the two clubs lie in how they position their brands. For TML, the affective and experiential sides of the product are emphasised to make the brand grow; for Barcelona, the cognitive and affective dimensions of the product are prioritised to nurture the brand. Differences between hockey and soccer also contribute to branding discrepancies in terms of exposure and global influences.

The history and heritage of some brands is such that an accumulation of brand equity occurs whereby stocks of images, symbols, logos and icons are built up. The role of brand managers in these cases is to release this equity in an attempt to both realise the value of brand equity and provide a foundation for future development of brand equity. Using a case from global sport, this study analyses the branding of a property and how this drew from a number of equity enhancing features, as well as capitalising upon changes in marketing and the marketplace.

The purpose of this paper is to provide better understanding of potential foreign customers or satellite fans' perceptions of professional‐football brands, as this constitutes a necessary step toward setting up an internationalisation strategy to create a global professional‐sport brand.

Twelve semi‐directed individual interviews with French satellite fans about how they perceive the English Big Four brands of Arsenal Football Club (FC), Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC and Manchester United are conducted.

The paper found the common and specific features of each club's brand equity and the typical fans' perceptions of the clubs, which constitute major dimensions upon which the clubs are differentiated in the customers' minds. It also identified such key antecedents to building strong professional‐sport brand equity in the French market as the fit between the image, the values or both of the foreign club and the local club a fan supports.

The main limitation is the size of the sample, even if the saturation‐semantic criterion is applied.

This paper emphasises the need for professional‐sport clubs not to underestimate the need for strategic‐marketing steps different from those used at home before implementing foreign marketing operations and constitutes a first step toward future research into the analysis of the perceptions of potential foreign customers or satellite fans in broader contexts.

Although many studies have dealt with the perception of local professional‐sport brands, this paper represents one of the first empirical studies of the perceptions of professional‐football brands in a foreign market.

Sports fashion is marketed showing happiness, physical performance and self-care. Thus, sports fashion brands should see a good fit with sustainability: future orientation, self-care, care for others and going out for a physical experience, oftentimes in nature. On the other hand, sports fashion is regularly made of non-sustainable materials and produced under difficult work conditions. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned issues.

The paper at hand seeks to investigate sports brands' approach to sustainability by examining their product portfolio and their annual report data, analyzing their status quo and sustainability strategy. A content analysis is conducted employing the brands' annual reports and their online shops as data sources to assess their status quo in terms of sustainability as well as future plans.

Results show that on the ecological side, brands unanimously focus on carbon reduction, organic cotton, recycled polyester, circularity-ready business model innovation and water and toxic waste management. The social aspect may be divided into the focal brand and the supply chain, including similar measures: equality and diversity, the promotion of ethnic and cultural minorities and increased safety and health for workers.

The paper derives development opportunities and pitfalls for sports fashion brands.

This research aims to examine football fans' awareness of their team sponsors and to compare sponsorship awareness between season ticket holders and casual spectators. Data was collected from among fans of a professional football team and results revealed that spectators recall 'top of mind' those sponsors with their logo displayed on the team shirts. Thus, being visible from the stadium stands is important to ensure recall rates. Fans are typically able to properly recognise sponsors and non-sponsors of their team. However, some competitor brands engaged in football sponsorship are incorrectly recognised as sponsors of a team. Finally, the number of brands recalled and recognised correctly by season ticket holders is significantly higher than for casual spectators. The research findings, managerial implications, limitations and future research directions are discussed.