Swedish Football Clubs – a Study of How to Increase the Revenues in Allsvenskan
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Swedish Football clubs – A study of how to increase the revenues in Allsvenskan Author(s): Pär Karlsson Tutor: Professor Hans Jansson Fredrik Skännestig Examiner: Dr. Bertil Hultén Growth through Innovation and International Marketing Subject: Business Administration Level and semester: Master‟s Thesis, Spring 2011 I Abstract The focus of the thesis is how football clubs can increase their revenues through brand equity and different marketing activities. The purpose is to develop a professional attitude towards football brands among the Swedish clubs and to increase the awareness of aspects possible to improve. Due to current regulations the Swedish league differs in some aspects from other leagues in Europe. Therefore this thesis will provide guidelines of how Swedish football clubs could increase their revenues. The theoretical framework includes concepts such as brand equity, stakeholders and the European revenue model. In addition to this a general discussion about sport marketing and its differences from regular marketing will be provided. In order to answer the main research question; “How can Swedish football clubs increase their revenues through marketing activities in order to keep a competitive squad?” interviews with people associated to Swedish football have been conducted. Different aspects have been identified that will provide the Swedish football clubs with important insights of how to improve their revenue stream. Recommendations will be given of how to proceed with increasing the clubs revenues. Key words: Swedish football clubs, Brand equity, Spectators, Sponsors, Investors, Revenue model, Sport marketing, Increasing revenues, Merchandising, Attendance II Acknowledgements The research would not have been possible to complete without the support from everyone involved in it, therefore we would like to thank them. The research has given us the ability to address aspects of the Swedish football market which has been very exciting and interesting. Without the respondents this research would never have been realized. The help from Lars- Åke Lagrell at the Swedish football associations, Sten Söderman professor in sport and the people at four Swedish clubs; IFK Norrköping‟s Krister Eriksson, Kalmar FF‟s Svante Samuelsson, Mjällby AIF‟s Jörgen Martinsson and Trelleborgs FF‟s Barbro Bengtsson has been invaluable. With their interesting reasoning around our different topics we got a deeper insight in the Swedish football clubs. All appreciations to our supervisor Professor Hans Jansson who believed in the topic we presented to him. Without his guidance during the research this would not have been possible. With feedback and interesting insights he helped us through all possible obstacles. Finally thanks to friends and families who have supported us during this journey. …………………………………… …………………………………… Pär Karlsson Fredrik Skännestig III Table of contents List of Figures ....................................................................................................................... VIII 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Problem discussion ........................................................................................................... 2 1.2.1 Research background ................................................................................................ 2 1.2.2 Research approach ..................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Problem definition ............................................................................................................ 3 1.4 Purpose ............................................................................................................................. 5 1.5 Delimitations .................................................................................................................... 5 1.6 Definition of terms ........................................................................................................... 5 1.7 Thesis outline ................................................................................................................... 7 2. Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Scientific approach ........................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Research strategy .............................................................................................................. 9 2.3 Data Collection ............................................................................................................... 11 2.3.1 Interviews ................................................................................................................ 12 2.3.2 Documentation ........................................................................................................ 14 2.3.3 Primary sources ....................................................................................................... 15 2.3.4 Secondary sources ................................................................................................... 15 2.4 Selection of data sources ................................................................................................ 16 2.5 Quality of Research ........................................................................................................ 16 2.5.1 Construct Validity ................................................................................................... 16 2.5.2 Internal Validity ...................................................................................................... 17 2.5.3 External Validity ..................................................................................................... 17 2.5.4 Reliability ................................................................................................................ 18 3. Theoretical framework ......................................................................................................... 19 3.1 Sport marketing .............................................................................................................. 19 3.1.1 Definition of sport marketing .................................................................................. 19 3.1.2 Customer Relationship Marketing .......................................................................... 22 IV 3.2 Understanding the football market ................................................................................. 22 3.2.1 Revenue model for football clubs in Europe ........................................................... 23 3.3 Understanding the Football stakeholder ......................................................................... 24 3.3.1 Spectators and Fans ................................................................................................. 24 3.3.2 Sponsors .................................................................................................................. 27 3.3.3 Financial supporters ................................................................................................ 28 3.4 Developing football brands ............................................................................................ 29 3.4.1 Brand equity ............................................................................................................ 29 3.4.2 Conceptual Model for Assessing Brand Equity ...................................................... 34 3.5 Marketing tools .............................................................................................................. 36 3.5.1 Football Arena ......................................................................................................... 36 3.5.2 Sponsorship in football ............................................................................................ 37 3.5.3 Merchandising ......................................................................................................... 39 3.6 Sport integrated marketing communication mix ............................................................ 40 3.7 Summery ........................................................................................................................ 44 4. Empirical study .................................................................................................................... 45 4.1 Presentation of respondents ............................................................................................ 45 4.2 Swedish football club‟s sport marketing ........................................................................ 46 4.2.1 Types of marketing .................................................................................................. 46 4.2.2 Players and profiles in marketing ............................................................................ 46 4.2.3 Relationships ........................................................................................................... 47 4.3 Revenue model for clubs within Allsvenskan ................................................................ 49 4.3.1 Sponsors .................................................................................................................