Fan Loyalty and Motivation

Purpose Statement: The purpose of this professional paper is to review psychological and marketing theory and research to explain what motivates an individual to become a highly identified loyal fan of a sports team. Implications for professional practice and future research will be presented. Justification: Understanding what motivates a fan to become a highly identified fan is important to a team manager because fans are the primary revenue source of a team. The fundamental goal of marketing managers is to create repeat customers (brand loyalty) (Fortunato, 2006) and loyal fans represent most repeat customers. An organization’s brand is critical in creating a constant revenue stream from its consumers. Reaching the consumer is at the heart of most, if not all, branding principles. A great strategy for managers is to “Drive sports consumers’ preferences and loyalty [by building] strong, positive, and unique consumer beliefs about [their organization], in other words, [constructing] a strong brand image” (Bauer, Stokburger-Sauer, & Exler, 2008, p.206). A strong brand image has a considerable impact on consumer’s brand loyalty. Having a consistent brand management strategy allows organizations to create an increase in their overall value (Fortunato, 2006). That value is turned into revenue for the team or institution