After years in the #2 spot, Major League Baseball is now tied with the National Football League for the "most loyal fans," according to the 15th annual 2010 Brand Keys Sports Loyalty Index. The new
study puts the National Basketball Association in second place and the National Hockey League in third among pro sports.
The firm says fan loyalty is based on four parameters:
- pure entertainment, or how well a team does, and how exciting they are;
- authenticity, or how well they play as a team, which can be helped by new venues and
management;
- fan bonding, or the respect and admiration fans have for players; and
- history and tradition, meaning the role a team plays in a fan's and a
community's rituals, institutions and beliefs.
Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys, says that fans aren't as rigidly sports-based as they used to be. "It used to be a much
segmented audience of sports fans who, if they were football fans, followed only football. But around the mid-'80s you started to have greater and greater crossover."
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He says teams can build
loyalty through different channels based on the four loyalty drivers. Pure entertainment as a loyalty driver, says Passikoff, has less to do with the win/loss ratio than on how competitive or
aggressive they are.
He says the Yankees do a good job of bonding with fans around merchandise, and not just because they have won championships. "They leverage everything they can and market
the hell out of everything," he says. "You don't see a 'Seattle Mariner' TV network."
He says hockey's problem is that it isn't TV-friendly, and because of players' gear, is not amenable to
player-fan loyalty. "It's very hard to set up a situation where you can bond with players. They all look the same." He says hockey is prone to building loyalty on pure entertainment based on wins and
losses because "the truth is hockey is exciting even when it's a crappy game."
The index also named the top-five teams for fan loyalty in each league:
- For the NBA: San Antonio
Spurs, Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons (tied), and Utah Jazz.
- In the NFL: Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers,
Tennessee Titans and New York Jets.
- For the NHL: Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers, San Jose Sharks, New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins.
- In the MLB:
Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, L.A. Dodgers, and Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers (tied).
The teams that saw their fan loyalty grow more than any other
team were the Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA; the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL; and the Colorado Rockies and Minnesota Twins in the MLB.