Developing an Understanding of Brand Associations in Team Sport: Empirical Evidence from Consumers of Professional Sport

TLDR

The study builds on Keller’s brand equity framework, identifying 16 dimensions of sport brand associations across attributes, benefits, and attitudes. The authors develop the Team Association Model, a scale to measure these dimensions and enhance understanding of brand equity in sport. They reviewed sport literature using Keller’s framework to identify 16 potential dimensions, then developed, pre‑tested, and validated a scale on a national sample of sport consumers. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that 16 distinct constructs underlie sport brand associations, supporting the proposed model.

Abstract

This study broadens the understanding of brand management in sport by creating the Team Association Model, a scale that identifies dimensions of brand associations, a major contributor to the creation of brand equity. Utilizing Keller’s (1993) theoretical framework of consumer-based brand equity, a thorough review of the sport literature was conducted which identified 16 potential dimensions. These 16 dimensions are derived with reference to Keller’s categorization of brand associations into ATTRIBUTE (success, head coach, star player, management, stadium, logo design, product delivery, and tradition), BENEFIT (identification, nostalgia, pride in place, escape, and peer group acceptance), and ATTITUDE (importance, knowledge, and affect). In order to evaluate the applicability of each potential dimension, a scale is developed, pre-tested, and tested on a national sample of sport consumers. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis of provided support for this paper’s theoretical notion that 16 distinct constructs underlie brand associations in sports.