Knowing the Fans Behaviour in Relation To Love of Football Clubs Brands

ABSTRACT This paper links brand love and sports management, with the intention to identify the relationship of brand love with their constructs antecedents (self-expression, performance satisfaction and relationship satisfaction) and consequent (behavioral loyalty, attitudinal loyalty and positive word of mouth) and see if the soccer team is a moderating factor in these relationships . The theoretical model was based on Santana (2009) used in a survey with 270 fans of soccer rival teams: Sport Club Internacional and Grêmio Football Portoalegrense. The results were analyzed by Structural Equation Modeling. It was identified that the soccer team is a moderating factor in the relations proposals. Thus, it is concluded that the study showed that sports management should be customized, as each team represents something different for their fans. Managers of sports marketing need first to know what image the team presents and what are the feelings involved.