With a week under its belt, Major League Baseball is well underway as we take a fresh look at the annual Sports Fan Loyalty Index conducted by New York
market research firm Brand Keys.
The St. Louis Cardinals retain their No. 1 ranking from last year, while the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants swapped places, coming
in at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively. The Detroit Tigers remain at No. 4 and the Washington National are still No. 5.
Let’s look at the cellar dwellers: The Seattle Mariners sank
from No. 25 to last place at No. 30; The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies retained standings at Nos. 29 and 28, respectively; The San Diego Padres were down to No. 27 from No. 24, and the
Houston Astros rose from last place to No. 26 this year.
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Robert Passikoff, founder and president of Brand Keys, Inc., says the survey of 250 self-declared fans in each team’s
local market provides more than just gate counts, but insights that enable league and team management to identify areas, particularly emotional aspects of loyalty, that need strategic brand
coaching.
The Sports Fan Loyalty Index, which measures all teams in the four major sports leagues, provides an apples-to-apples comparison of the emotional intensity with
which fans in a team's area support the home team.
The drivers of fan loyalty include:
Authenticity: How well they play as a team, offensively or
defensively. Sometimes a new stadium or new manager can help lift loyalty when it comes to this driver.
Fan Bonding: Are the players particularly respected and admired
on and off the baseball diamond?
History and Tradition: Is the game and the team part of fans' and community rituals, institutions and beliefs? No matter how you feel about
them, the Yankees (No. 9, down from No. 7 last year) have the highest rating when it comes to this driver, and for what it’s worth, it’s what has kept the Cubs going for years.
Pure Entertainment: This has always been the most important driver when it comes to reinforcing or building fan loyalty. But more important than a win-loss ratio is how exciting is a
team’s play.
“Overall league and team rankings correlate very highly with game viewership and merchandise sales,” says Passikoff, “and since rankings
can be influenced depending upon how loyalty drivers are managed, it's critical that team marketers do accurate scouting regarding the strategic ball they intend to pitch to fans. All teams benefit
from increased fan loyalty levels, particularly America's National Pastime. Teams need to create strong emotional connections to succeed with their fans.”