The downside of Fandom and Sponsorships - An empirical study of sports team rivalry and other negative sport sponsorship effects

Sammanfattning: This study examines how sports team rivalry and other negative sport sponsorship effects can interfere with a successful sponsorship agreement between a sponsor and its sponsored object. The study consists of two sections, a quantitative, as well as a qualitative research part. In the quantitative part of this study, I have focused my research on European club football and analyzed rival fan's reactions in the highest club football competitions in Austria and Germany. Results showed that fans of the examined football teams transferred their negative rivalry feelings towards their rival's sponsors. However, not all sponsors were fully influenced by this negative image transfer. For this, influencing factors were analyzed. The level of fan identification showed no significant influence on fan's responses; however, the cause of the cooperation deal did. Furthermore, it was found that there is a statistically significant interaction between the effects sponsorship level and geographic origin of a rival brand on fans' responses towards this brand. An experimental design was used to test those hypotheses. The qualitative research part tried to examine what fans' reactions look like if their favorite team's main sponsor acts in a legally or socially controversial way. This was done through a Netnography study of two different German football fan groups. The study tried to analyze supporters' opinions towards their controversial main sponsor. Results showed that it seems like the longer and more intense a sponsorship deal lasts, the easier sponsor and team become "one" in the supporters' mindsets and, as a further step, negative opinions towards this controversial sponsor seem to disappear. The implications of these studies' findings for both managers in the business world as well as football club officials are discussed. Managers are recommended to consider possible negative effects of sponsorships in subgroups. Similarly, team sport officials have to strategically analyze their potential main sponsors and consider future scenarios.