Customer-based brand equity in the team sport industry Operationalization and impact on the economic success of sport teams

Purpose - The paper aims to refine existing customer-based brand equity models for the team sport industry and examine the importance of brand equity in the professional German soccer league Bundesliga. Design/methodology/approach - After assessing brand equity on the basis of actual consumer responses, we relate the brand equity measure on an aggregate level to objective means of economic success. Online sampling with a total database of 1,594 usable questionnaires is utilized for analysis. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (including multi-group analysis) as well as structural equation modeling and regression analysis are applied. Findings - Results highlight the adequacy of a parsimonious brand equity model in team sport (BETS) model and the importance of the brand in team sport for economic success. Research limitations/implications - The main limitations of this research are sample constraints; test persons are highly involved in and knowledgeable about the product category under research. Future research should address a more diverse population. Practical implications - Teams and their management have to realize the relevance of their brand in economic success. They have to recognize the significance of the stadium visit and the individual spectators in the stadium. Originality/value - First, a parsimonious BETS model is presented. Second, it was found that special attention should be devoted to the brand equity-component "brand awareness" when researching brand equity. Third, this is one of the few studies that uses actual economic data to show the impact of brand equity based on direct consumer responses on company success.