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OVERVIEW OF SPORT FANDOM
The behaviour of those interested in sport is of significant importance to their chosen sports team, which includes the managers tasked with marketing the team brand to current and prospective supporters, as well as to commercial partners. Supporter behaviour can include the purchasing of season or game tickets, following the game via multiple media platforms, hospitality packages, merchandise and memorabilia, as well as advocacy and positive referrals to others. PepsiCo’s estimated US$73.5 million Indian Premier League title sponsorship from 2013 until 2017 was in part due to the over 122 million cumulative viewers who watched the first 16 games of the tournament in 2012 (Smith, 2013). In the United States, the average baseball team is worth US$744 million, partly due to an estimated US$650 million in digital media revenues during 2012 (Ozanian, 2013). Locally, the South African Rugby Union’s decision to host the sold-out Springbok versus New Zealand Test
match in August 2010 in the 90,000-seat FNB stadium in Soweto, Johannesburg, was partly informed by the political, commercial and social considerations facing both the Union and the City-owned stadium (Gerardy, 2010). The behaviour of sport supporters is thus an important contributor to the business performance of sport teams, and has thus been the focus of significant academic research.
Sport marketing researchers have investigated a number of questions related to sport supporters, including gender effects (Branch, 1995), loyalty (Mahony, Madrigal & Howard, 2000), team identity (Branscombe & Wann, 1992), and multiple consumption motives (Funk, Filo, Beaton & Pritchard, 2009; James & Ross, 2004; Wann, Grieve, Zapalac & Pease, 2008). Studies of supporters have occurred within the sport marketing context, which has been defined as the process through which a contest with an “uncertain outcome” is staged, creating opportunities for the simultaneous fulfilment of objectives among sport customers, sport businesses, participants and other related individuals, groups and organisations (Chadwick, 2005, p. 7). This definition captures the two dimensions of marketing of sport and marketing with sport, first noted by Shannon (1999).
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. OVERVIEW OF SPORT FANDOM
1.2. PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1.4. THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT
1.5. RESEARCH DESIGN
1.6. SUMMARY AND ORGANISATION OF CHAPTERS
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. INTRODUCTION
2.2. SPORT MARKETING
2.3. SPORT MARKETING RESEARCH .
2.4. SPORT TEAM IDENTIFICATION
2.4.1. DEFINING TEAM IDENTIFICATION
2.4.2. CATEGORISING TEAM IDENTIFICATION .
2.5. SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY .
2.6. OPTIMAL DISTINCTIVENESS THEORY
2.7. SUMMARY .
2.8. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1. INTRODUCTION
3.2. RESEARCH DESIGN
3.3. PHASE 1: PROFILING SPORT FAN IDENTITY CHARACTERISTICS
3.4. PHASE 2: INVESTIGATING OPTIMAL DISTINCTIVENESS .
3.4.1. SAMPLING .
3.4.2. DATA COLLECTION
3.4.3. DATA ANALYSIS
3.5. INTERNAL VALIDITY .
3.6. EXTERNAL VALIDITY .
3.8. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS .
4.1. PHASE ONE: QUANTITATIVE METHOD
4.1.1. SAMPLE DEMOGRAPHICS .
4.1.2. SCALE RELIABILITY
4.1.3. STAGE-BASED FAN PROFILES
