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New league, new market and newsponsorship: an exploratory study ofattitudes towards shirt sponsorship inMajor League SoccerRic Jensen a , Nick Bowman b , Yawei Wang c & Brian Larson da Department of Communication Studies, Ashland University,Ashland, OH, USAb Department of Communication Studies, West Virginia University,Morgantown, WV, USAc Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, USAd Widener University, Wilmington, DE, USA

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To cite this article: Ric Jensen, Nick Bowman, Yawei Wang & Brian Larson (2012): New league, newmarket and new sponsorship: an exploratory study of attitudes towards shirt sponsorship in MajorLeague Soccer, Soccer & Society, DOI:10.1080/14660970.2012.677227

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New league, new market and new sponsorship: an exploratorystudy of attitudes towards shirt sponsorship in Major LeagueSoccer

Ric Jensena*, Nick Bowmanb, Yawei Wangc and Brian Larsond

aDepartment of Communication Studies, Ashland University, Ashland, OH, USA;bDepartment of Communication Studies, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA;cMontclair State University, Montclair, NJ, USA; dWidener University, Wilmington, DE, USA

In 2007, Major League Soccer (MLS) became the first major professional sportsleague in the USA to allow individual franchises to sell advertising space ontheir game jerseys. While these shirt sponsorships are considered the norm ininternational soccer, in the US game uniforms are considered ‘sacred space’ freefrom the increasingly commercialized American sports landscape. Team ownersand sports writers have given their opinions – the former arguing they are anecessity for increasing revenue, the latter arguing they represent a dangerouscommoditization of sports – yet, little attention has been paid to the opinions ofsports fans. To address this, an exploratory survey was conducted to assess fanreactions to shirt sponsorships in MLS, how these ads are affecting fan behav-iours, and whether or not fans believe these ads to be starting a trend for othersports to follow. Preliminary results found no strong negative opinions about thepresence of jersey advertisements, and respondents – soccer fans, sports fansand non-fans – showed support for shirt sponsorship if it helped keep gamesaffordable and/or helped teams stay competitive. These results are discussed ingreater detail, along with implications for more theoretical approaches to under-standing the effect of shirt sponsorships on sports fans.

Introduction

Historically, outside of NASCAR (National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing)fans would never see an advertisement on the uniform of a top-level professionalsports team in the USA. All that changed in 2007, when Major League Soccer(MLS) allowed teams to begin selling large ads on the front of jerseys (shirt spon-sorships). MLS shirt sponsorship has been perceived to be a solid strategy for spon-sors to build awareness and generate publicity that generates significant returns oninvestment.1 Moreover, shirt sponsorships generate $1–$5 million annually for indi-vidual MLS teams.2 While shirt sponsorship contributes to team revenues, whataffect does it have on the fan? Lukas contends that advertisements on uniforms vio-late a ‘sacred’ space in American sport that should be kept uncluttered by commer-cialism.3 While shirt sponsorships provide economic help to pro sports teams, howdo they affect the fan experience? The intent of this study is to examine attitudes ofsoccer fans, sports fans and non-fans about the extent to which they approve ofshirt sponsorships in MLS. It seeks to understand if attitudes about shirt

*Corresponding author. Email: rjensen@ashland.edu

Soccer & Society2012, 1–19, iFirst Article

ISSN 1466-0970 print/ISSN 1743-9590 online� 2012 Taylor & Francishttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2012.677227http://www.tandfonline.com

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sponsorship are correlated with fan avidity, the amount and type of sports mediapeople consume, and the extent to which they attend sports events and buy teammerchandise. We first explore a brief history of shirt sponsorship. Next, we estab-lish the study’s research questions (RQ). Then we conduct a study, report the resultsand discuss findings.

Shirt sponsorships and MLS

In 2007, MLS challenged a long-standing American tradition that did not allow forprofessional sports teams to use shirt sponsorships on jerseys worn during games.4

Since the league was founded in 1996, MLS had been selling small ads and thebacks of jerseys and shorts to such sponsors as Sierra Mist and Budweiser anddivided the revenue from these ads equally among the teams. However, in the 2007season MLS empowered each club to sell large advertisements on the front of jer-seys worn during games (see Table 1 for complete list of MLS shirt advertisers).Corporations have paid as much as $20 million for the jersey rights to SeattleSounders FC5 and as high as $25 million to sponsor the Toronto FC jersey.6

For the MLS, ads on jerseys not only expand the league’s revenue portfolio, butalso serves as a heuristic that professional soccer in the USA is becoming more likeits prestigious international counterparts. In England, for example, the practice ofselling large ads on uniforms dates back to the 1970s when the Kettering FootballClub began wearing jerseys that were sponsored by Kettering Tyres.7 Since thatteam, nearly every international football league encourages shirt sponsorships as asign of prestige and as a significant revenue source8 MLS marketing official DavidWright said

I can’t speak as to whether or not (ads on uniforms) will become something acceptedin other sports, but I can speak to the global nature of (soccer) and to the history thatbrands had with some of the world class teams. It makes sense for us.9

Along a similar line, Doug Quinn of MLS’ Soccer United Marketing said that shirtsponsorships are ‘the industry standard in the soccer business’ and that the USA is‘the only market in the world where sports marketing doesn’t include jersey spon-sorships’.10

Table 1. Current MLS teams and their shirt advertisers, as of 2009–2010 season.

Team Shirt sponsor

Chicago Fire Best BuyChivas USA Comex, ExtraColumbus Crew GliddenDC United VolkswagenHouston Dynamo Amigo EnergyLos Angeles Galaxy HerbalifeReal Salt Lake XanGoNew York Red Bulls Red BullSan Jose Earthquakes Amway GlobalSeattle Sounders X-Box 360Toronto FC BMOColorado Rapids [No sponsor]Kansas City Wizards [No sponsor]

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Shirt sponsorships allow MLS corporate partners an attractive media platform toreach MLS fans. Within this growing fan base, specific target audiences have beenidentified as particularly attractive to advertisers. One example of this fan base isHispanics, which have been targeted by MLS teams as a specific audience of inter-est. Electronics megastore Best Buy sponsors the Chicago Fire jersey to build tieswith Hispanics, and replicas of the jersey worn by Mexican legend CuauhtemocBlanco are best-sellers.11 Volkswagen sponsors the DC United jersey because manyof team’s fans are Hispanic and the automaker has a strong presence in markets inLatin America.12

MLS franchises have also used shirt sponsorships to develop broader partner-ships. For the New York franchise, corporate shirt sponsorship is a logical extensionof how the club is organized and branded – Red Bull owns the team and the sta-dium (Red Bulls Arena), and its logo adorns the front of the club’s jersey.13 AmigoEnergy, the Houston Dynamos shirt sponsor, supports a training academy in SouthTexas to develop new talent,14 while Xango, which sponsors the jersey front ofReal Salt Lake, built the team’s practice field near the company headquarters.15

Perhaps the primary reason for these shirt sponsorships – and their greatest mar-keting appeal – is that the corporate name and logo are visible every time a fan fol-lows the action. Real Salt Lake Chief Executive Officer Dave Checketts explainsthat the value of the shirt advertisement is that ‘you can’t stop the action in soc-cer’.16 Shirts sponsorships are front and centre not only during MLS game action(which includes watching a game live in person or on television, but also duringMLS game recaps and other sports shows in replay), but also on MLS replica shirtsand other merchandise. This product placement – often times, the corporate logosare larger than the actual team logos or crests – is specifically designed to make iteasier for fans to associate teams with sponsors.

Shirt sponsorship in other American team sports

Corporate advertising on jerseys has a historical precedence in professional soccer,but it is not a widespread phenomenon in other US leagues. However, smaller andupstart professional leagues have looked to shirt sponsorship as a viable revenuestream, and have found an audience with corporations willing to invest in theirproduct. The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) put the McDonald’sgolden arches logo on team jerseys for 15 games in 2008,17 and has since allowedindividual teams to sell sponsorships; three WNBA franchises have done so.18

Shirt sponsorship has tentatively caught on with the more popular, traditionalAmerican professional sports leagues, although these advertisements have yet to befeatured during in-season competition. Nine teams in the National Football Lea-gue19 and four teams in the National Basketball Association20 sell large ads on theirjerseys used in practices open to the public. Major League Baseball allowed theBoston Red Sox to wear the logo of EMC (a global computing company) onbatting helmets when they opened the 2008 season in games played in Japan –Japanese baseball teams feature advertising conspicuously on their uniforms – andconsidered selling ads on the bases to promote a Spiderman movie before fansvoiced their frustration and the plan was scrapped.21 In 2008, the National HockeyLeague (NHL) considered selling large ads on the jerseys of goaltenders worn dur-ing games, but the plan was never enacted despite having support from prominentNHL players such as New Jersey Devil’s goaltender Martin Brodeur.22

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For many American sports purists, the idea that professional sports teams areresorting to featuring ads on uniforms is a sign that commercialism is making fur-ther unwanted inroads into the sports landscape. This viewpoint is expanded on byJanoff23 who explains that for many sports fans, the team or city name on the frontof a jersey is sacred ground. Historically, American professional sports teams havefeatured the name of the club and/or the city or state the team is located in on itsjerseys. Lukas24 explains that this tradition stems from sports franchises as ‘civicentities’ that represent our hometowns. Brennan25 commented that when the Phoe-nix Mercury of the WNBA sold their shirt sponsorship to Lifelock, the team wasessentially selling its local identity. A sportswriter in Seattle warned that the WNBAwas setting a trend that might spread to other sports, and wrote:

I shudder to think the Seahawks jersey could someday bear Honda across the front.I’m not eager to see the Mariners become billboards for Bank of America … The lastadvertising frontier is the front of the jersey.26

Deford followed up on this line of reasoning, commenting:

We knew it was going to happen someday in the United States – the dam has beenbroken and a team in the WNBA, the Phoenix Mercury, is going to wear uniformsthat don’t say Phoenix or Mercury but tout a commercial product. So only expectmore clutter down on the American field.27

Central RQ

It is apparent that corporate commercialism is making further inroads into Americanteam sports, but an unresolved issue is whether selling shirt sponsorships will affectfans’ attitudes about professional soccer in the USA. While anecdotal argumentshave been presented for (in the case of sports marketers, professional sports owners,and others on the business side of sports including the players) or against (in thecase of sports pundits and historians) the increased convergence of sports and mar-keting, surprisingly little empirical attention has been given to perhaps the largeststakeholder: the fans. To this end, our study is designed to take an exploratory lookand how soccer fans, sports fans and non-fans might react to shirt sponsorships.

Five RQ are proposed that look at fan’s general response to MLS shirt sponsor-ships, conditions under which fans might support such sponsorships, the perceivedinfluences of shirt sponsorships on fan behaviours and sponsor dispositions and theassertion that MLS is starting a trend to be followed by other sports. All of thesequestions were further studied with regard to different types of sports fans. Eachresearch question is outlined below:

RQ1: Are there differences in how respondents (who self-identified as soccer fans,sports fans who are not soccer fans, and non-sports fans) view the effect of MLSjersey ads?

While many sports writers and owners have opinions about the MLS shirt sponsor-ship, it is illogical to assume that fans share a homogeneous set of attitudes, beliefsand behaviours with regard to MLS shirt sponsorship. For example, it makes sensethat soccer fans28 – as they are accustomed to the placement of shirt ads on jerseysin other soccer leagues – would respond favourably to MLS jersey ads asrepresentative of the international game. In contrast, typical US sports fans who are

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accustomed to seeing traditional uniforms of American sports teams that are unclut-tered by advertisements, might well view shirt sponsorships as looking tacky and/orunprofessional.29 Leagues with a long history of commercial-free jerseys and a rela-tionship with passionate fans might have to further consider fan expectations, whilethis might not be a concern for newer leagues and teams.30 We also feel it is criti-cally important to see how non-sports fans view this issue.31 Obtaining the point ofview of non-fans will enable us to see how the population at large views the issueof sports sponsorship. If leagues like MLS are to grown in popularity, they willlikely have to win over many people who are not currently interested in soccer32

and/or other sports endeavours.

RQ2: Are there some conditions in which different types of sports fans might supportMLS jersey ads?

One aspect of shirt sponsorship that has not received much attention from pun-dits, owners, marketers or researchers is whether or not fans would approve of jer-sey ads under certain conditions. There is reason to believe that fans who wouldotherwise not be in favour of shirt ads would give their cautioned support to thepractice if it benefitted their favourite team.33 Traditionally in soccer, shirt sponsor-ship is the most valuable piece of inventory that a team can sell to an advertiserand is one of the primary sources of revenue for teams. While increased revenuesfrom shirt sponsorships do not necessarily get passed onto fans, teams could usethe revenues from such ads to counterbalance rising ticket prices, attract and retaintop-quality players and avoid requesting public funds for team facilities. To theextent that fans were made aware of the end product of shirt advertising, they mightbe more (or less) supportive of the practice.

RQ3: Do different types of sports fans feel that the presence of MLS jersey ads influ-enced their fan behaviours?

Another aspect of this study was to identify the extent to which people followsports media and how this may affect behaviours: if they attend games and/or pur-chase merchandise. There is a history of research showing that advertising affects dif-ferent groups’ behaviours. Earnhardt investigated the extent to which fans watchedsports on television could be correlated with their mimicking the antisocial behaviourshown by many athletes.34 He found that there may be significant differencesbetween casual sports spectators and rabid fans in the types of media they access towatch sports, including purchasing a greater number of sports specific TV channels.Pritchard and Funk studied the extent to which the consumption of sports mediainfluenced several aspects of fan behaviour, including whether people went togame.35 Their findings suggest that media consumption can often affect the extent towhich people attend games and the team merchandise they purchase. Dalakas andLevin suggest that fans are more likely to purchase the products and services offeredby sponsors of their favourite teams and may avoid buying items from sponsors ofrival clubs.36 Trail and James developed the Motivational Scale for Sport Consump-tion that can be used to understand the relationships between sports fans and theamount and type of mass media they regularly follow.37

RQ4: Do different types of sports fans feel that MLS jersey ads influence theirattitudes about sponsors?

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Next, this study also sought to identify the extent to which sports fans relate tosponsors. When studying advertising effects in stock car racing, Gwinner, Larsonand Swanson examined how the perceived fit between the sponsor and the sportsevent affected fan attitudes regarding sponsored brands.38 Their study found thathighly identified fans, who believe the team’s failures and successes are importantin their lives, are more likely to incorporate the brand of a sponsor that is the bestfit with the franchise. In a study of NASCAR fans, Dalakas and Levin found thatcorporate sponsorships have the potential to attract and alienate fans based on thedrivers fans support and the nature of the products that each racer endorses.39 Whileit makes sense that these patterns of identification and influence might replicate withMLS fans and sponsors, the question has not yet been examined.

RQ5: Do different types of sports fans feel that MLS is setting a trend other pro sportsleagues in the USA might soon follow?

The final question of our study seeks to investigate the proclamations made bythe ‘50-year-old white male sports-talk radio hosts’ about whether or not the MLSis indeed setting a trend that other American professional sports might be follow-ing.40 This question is extremely important because, while the average sports fanmay not have a significant emotional investment in such fringe sports as MLS,these sports fans may well be angered when sponsors’ ads adorn such hallowed jer-seys as the New York Yankees or the Pittsburgh Steelers. But if MLS is seen as set-ting a trend other major sports leagues will follow, then this issue may become verycontroversial and high profile. We wanted to determine the extent to which soccerfans, sports fans and non-fans believe that shirt sponsorships might spread to othermore mainstream professional sports in the USA.

Method

An online survey was developed and distributed to college students who self-identified as non-sports fans, sports fans (but not soccer fans) and soccer fans.Respondents were asked questions about their knowledge and fandom of MLS aswell as a series of Likert-scaled items related to their attitudes about MLS shirtsponsorship, advertising in other US professional leagues, fan behaviours (attendinggames, buying merchandise, etc.) and attitudes about sports sponsors.

College students were chosen as a sample of interest for our study because –while of course representing a convenience sample – they are indeed a target audi-ence for sports in general and MLS franchises specifically. For instance, male stu-dents at the University of Michigan reported spending eight watch hours during atypical week watching sports on television.41 This time commitment to watchingsporting events on TV was much greater than the amount of sports televisionviewed by female college students in this study. The need to attract college studentsto MLS matches is evident in the marketing programmes of several clubs, such asReal Salt Lake which offers discounted tickets to college students in the region.42

Major League Baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies make it a priority to reach out to col-lege students as part of their strategic marketing programme.43

Participants

After preparing and cleaning the data file for any missing data, a total of n= 533participants completed our online survey. About 43% of the respondents (n= 229)

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were male, and almost half of the respondents (47.8%) were freshmen or sopho-more college students in South Dakota, New Jersey, Georgia, Pennsylvania andTexas. Most of the respondents (62.5%) were from middle-income families (annualhousehold income ranges from $25,000 to 150,000). A majority of the respondents(84.5%) were Caucasian. More than 45% (45.9%) of the respondents had one TVset in their college dorms or apartments, while 49.8% of respondents had two ormore TV sets. More than two-thirds of the respondents (71.9%) subscribed to cableor satellite TV services; among them, <10% (8.1%) paid extra to subscribe to sportsevents. Less than one-third of participants (32.1%) still played organized sports incollege, although about half of the respondents (49.9%) played in a soccer leagueas a youth. More than a half of the respondents (52.5%) thought that soccer wasexciting in general, but only 35.4% of the respondents described MLS as exciting;49.8% had no opinion about MLS. Table 2 shows the self-reported fan statusamong respondents, this measure was used to create three groups of fans in dataanalysis regarding the relative influence of fandom on our dependent measures.

Procedure

Participants were solicited via email with an invitation to respond to a surveydesigned to ‘determine the attitudes of college students about large advertisementson Major League Soccer uniforms’. After reading an informed consent form, partic-ipants responded to a set of demographic questions regarding basic socio-economicdata as well as questions about their media consumption behaviours (both in generaland related to sports). Following this, participants self-selected into three categoriesof sports fandom and completed a series of measures related to our RQ. After thelast question, participants were invited to enter a drawing for a free MLS teamjersey of their choice.

Measures

Socio-economic measures

Basic self-report questions measuring participant gender, geographic location,education, income and ethnicity were asked, along with one question abouttelevision ownership.

Experience with sports

Respondents were asked binary-response questions regarding their involvement inorganized sports as well as whether or not they played soccer as a youth.

Sports fandom

Sports fandom questions were asked in a variety of formats. First, a filter questionasked respondents to self-identify as non-sports fans, sports fans but not soccer fans

Table 2. Fan status (n= 533).

Frequency %

Not a sports fan 83 15.57A sports fan, but not a fan of soccer 256 48.03A soccer fan 194 36.40

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or soccer fans; this was used for mean comparisons when investigating our RQ.Respondents were also asked an abbreviated version of the Trail and James sportsconsumption scale, with three response items tailored for soccer in general (socceris boring, no opinion or soccer is exciting) as well as MLS specifically.44 Five ques-tions were asked about interest in different soccer leagues, including college andinternational soccer using a six-point Likert-type scale.

Fan behaviours

Fan behaviours such as attending soccer games, watching games on television (orfollowing soccer using other media outlets such as magazines, newspapers or theInternet) and purchasing soccer-related merchandise were measured using categori-cal responses. In addition to these self-reported behavioural measures, a series offive-item Likert-style questions were asked regarding whether or not respondentsfelt that the presence of shirt sponsorships on MLS jerseys would affect their will-ingness to attend games, follow MLS teams or discuss teams and league action withfriends.

Opinions of/approval of MLS shirt sponsorship

Perhaps the most central questions to our study, respondents were asked a series ofquestions related to their response to MLS shirt sponsorships. These questionsrelated to general impression of MLS jersey ads (are ugly, make the league lookunprofessional, look more like the jerseys worn by international soccer clubs, showme that corporations think the teams are valuable and set a trend other professionalsports in the USA will follow), conditional acceptance of MLS shirt sponsorships(if it lowers ticket prices, if it helps my team attract or retain the best players and ifit prevents my team from seeking public funds) and sponsor attitudes (allow me toidentify a team with a product/product with a team, make me more likely to pur-chase the sponsor’s products or services, make me want to avoid buying the spon-sor’s products or services and make me want to learn more about the sponsor, are awaste of money).

Results

Sports fandom associations

Before examining the relationship between self-reported fan status and opinionsabout shirt advertising, we wanted to look at how fan status might influence varioussports behaviours, such as playing organized sports, past experience playing soccer,sports media consumption trends and attitudes regarding soccer and MLS. Table 3shows the results of a series of χ2 tests. While there were no significant associationsbetween the self-reported fan status and respondents’ demographic characteristics,such as gender, race and family income, significant associations were foundbetween fan status and paid sports TV programme subscriptions (p= .04), currentsports participation (p< .001), past experience playing soccer, (p< .001) and atti-tudes toward both soccer in general (p< .001) and MLS (p< .001).

We proposed five RQ designed to gain an understanding of how different setsof individuals – soccer fans, general sports fans and non-sports fans – mightrespond to the presence of shirt advertising on MLS game jerseys. Each of these

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Table 3. χ2 Tests of independence of fan status.

Fan status χ2 Statistics

Non-sportsfan %

Sports fan%

Soccerfan %

Totalsample % df

χ2

value Prob.

Gender 2 5.83 0.05Male 4.88 20.8 17.1 42.8Female 10.7 27.2 19.3 57.2

Education 6 3.00 0.81Frosh/soph. 7.50 22.0 18.2 47.7Junior/senior 6.38 19.5 13.7 39.6Graduateschool

1.69 6.57 4.32 12.6

Law/medicalschool

n/a n/a 0.19 0.19

Householdincome

8 8.81 0.36

<$25,000 2.26 4.32 3.95 10.53$25,001–$75,000

5.83 17.3 11.7 34.8

$75,001–$150,000

2.63 13.4 11.8 27.8

>$150,000 1.69 4.89 3.20 9.77No answer 3.20 8.27 5.64 17.1

Race 10 7.96 0.63African-American

0.76 3.40 2.27 6.43

Caucasian 13.4 40.8 30.3 84.5Hispanic orLatin

0.38 0.95 1.89 3.21

Asian 0.95 1.32 0.95 3.21NativeAmerican

n/a 0.57 0.38 0.95

Other 0.19 0.95 0.57 1.70

Number of TVsets

8 14.51 0.07

1 1.13 0.56 2.63 4.322 7.50 21.6 16.7 45.83 1.88 8.82 6.57 17.34 1.88 6.57 3.94 12.45 or more 3.19 10.5 6.57 20.3

Paid sports programmesubscription

2 6.38 0.04

No 15.6 44.5 34.2 94.2Yes n/a 3.56 2.25 5.82

Currently play organizedsports

2 14.3 .008

No 13.4 31.4 23.1 67.9Yes 2.26 16.5 13.3 32.1

(Continued)

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RQ was examined using analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques to test forsignificant mean differences across fan groupings on our dependent variables. Forall analyses, scores of 3.00 (no opinion) were removed, thus the degrees of free-dom vary from one test to the next; these are footnotes in each ANOVA table.

Effect of shirt advertising on perceptions of MLS

Our first research question examined the effect of shirt advertising on perceptionsof the league as a function of fan group. Overall, answers revealed a positiveresponse toward shirt sponsorship. Respondents did not think that shirt advertise-ments were ugly (M= 2.26, SD= .838) or unprofessional (M = 2.21, SD= .870), andreported that the presence of shirt advertisements made the teams look more liketheir international counterparts (M= 2.68, SD= .845) and appear more valuable tocorporations (M= 2.90, SD= .765).

Further analysis of the fan groups revealed expected group differences. Soccerfans were the least likely to perceive the presence of shirts advertisements as unpro-fessional (M= 2.08, SD= .873) as compared to the other fan groups. Both soccerfans and general sports fans also felt most strongly that the presence of ads on jer-seys made the MLS teams look more like their international counterparts; all ofthese differences were significant. No significant difference was found between dif-ferent fan groups on opinions of the advertisements as being ugly, F(2, 350) = 1.16,ns or making the teams appear more valuable, F(2, 359) = 1.78, ns. Table 4 containsthe means, standard deviations, F-test and observed power statistics for each ofthese analyses.

Benefits of MLS shirt advertisements

Our second research question examined different conditions under which differentsports fans might approve of MLS shirt advertisements. Overall, we see thatrespondents supported the presence of shirt advertisements if it resulted in lower

Table 3. (Continued).

Fan status χ2 Statistics

Non-sportsfan %

Sports fan%

Soccerfan %

Totalsample % df

χ2

value Prob.

Used to play in a Soccer League as ayouth 2 59.2 < .001

No 10.4 29.4 10.4 50.2Yes 5.09 18.5 26.2 49.8

Attitude to soccer in general 4 183.2 < .001Boring 1.32 9.26 0.19 10.8No opinion 7.75 25.5 3.40 36.7Exciting 6.62 13.0 32.9 52.6

Opinion aboutMLS

4 128.4 < .001

Boring 1.14 9.49 3.98 14.6No opinion 10.8 30.4 8.73 49.9Exciting 3.61 7.97 23.9 35.5

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ticket prices (M= 3.04, SD= .784), attracting and/or retaining top players (M = 3.04,SD= .852) and prevented teams from seeking public funds (M= 2.98, SD= .910).However, only soccer fans felt significantly more strongly about each of the threemeasures than sports fans and non-fans. Table 5 contains the means, standarddeviations, F-test and observed power statistics for each of these analyses.

Effect of shirt advertising on fan behaviours

Our third research question examined the effect of MLS shirt advertisements on fanbehaviours, such as attending MLS games and watching games on television. Over-all, respondents did not feel as if the presence of advertising on MLS jerseys wouldentice them to watch games on television (M= 1.68, SD= .745), attend games inperson (M= 1.59, SD= .705), purchase team merchandise (M= 1.85, SD= .830), fol-low MLS teams in the mainstream media (M= 1.79, SD= .816) or discuss MLSteams with friends (M = 1.92, SD= .850). Thus, it does not look like the presence ofjersey advertisements has any positive effects on these behaviours. However, itshould be noted that participants in our study did not seem heavily engaged in theseactivities; 91% of respondents do not attend MLS games (n= 485), 59% of respon-dents do not watch games on TV (n= 315), 95% of respondents do not purchaseMLS merchandise (n= 505) and 76% of respondents do not follow MLS in main-stream mass media (n= 406). Finally, although the overall effects are not strong, wefind that across all five fan behaviour measures in our study, soccer fans were morelikely to engage in them as a result of shirt advertisements as compared to sportsfans and non-fans. Table 6 contains the means, standard deviations, F-test andobserved power statistics for each of these analyses.

Table 4. ANOVA results for the effect of shirt advertising on perceptions of MLS.

M SD F p η2

Ads on MLS shirts are ugly1 1.16 .314 .007Soccer fans 2.20a .866Sports fans 2.34a .840Non-fans 2.24a .699Ads on MLS shirts are unprofessional2 3.44 .033 .017Soccer fans 2.08a .873Sports fans 2.32b .865Non-fans 2.25b .838Ads on MLS jerseys are more like international soccer3 5.19 .006 .031Soccer fans 2.78a .870Sports fans 2.67a .801Non-fans 2.28b .815Ads on MLS jerseys imply corporations see value inteams4

1.78 .170 .010

Soccer fans 2.97a .739Sports fans 2.87a .753Non-fans 2.74a .871

Note: Different subscripts within groups indicate honest significant difference at the p < .05 level orhigher using Tukey HSD method.1Degrees of freedom are (2, 350).2Degrees of freedom are (2, 390).3Degrees of freedom are (2, 329).4Degrees of freedom are (2, 359).

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Table 5. ANOVA results for the effect of sports fandom on conditional acceptance of MLSshirt advertising.

M SD F p η2

Lower ticket prices1 6.35 .002 .032Soccer fans 3.21a .697Sports fans 2.92b .824Non-fans 2.96b .815Attract and retain top players2 9.30 �.001 .049Soccer fans 3.25a .737Sports fans 2.85b .907Non-fans 3.00a,b .877Prevent from seeking public funds3 7.63 .001 .045Soccer fans 3.20a .833Sports fans 2.80b .974Non-fans 2.85b .760

Note: Different subscripts within groups indicate honest significant difference at the p < .05 level orhigher using Tukey HSD method.1Degrees of freedom are (2, 387).2Degrees of freedom are (2, 390).3Degrees of freedom are (2, 329).

Table 6. ANOVA results for the effect of sports fandom on fan behaviours.

M SD F p η2

Watch games on TV1 5.80 .003 .032Soccer fans 1.84a .781Sports fans 1.56b .692Non-fans 1.67b .753Go to games in person2 8.63 �.001 .047Soccer fans 1.78a .730Sports fans 1.45b .642Non-fans 1.54b .743Buy team merchandise3 8.15 �.001 .043Soccer fans 2.07a .861Sports fans 1.71b .767Non-fans 1.78b .848Follow team in the mass media4 10.4 �.001 .056Soccer fans 2.04a .864Sports fans 1.64b .752Non-fans 1.62b .741Discuss MLS team with friends5 5.61 .004 .031Soccer fans 2.10a .860Sports fans 1.77b .803Non-fans 1.94a,b .909

Note: Different subscripts within groups indicate significant difference at the p< .05 level or higherusing Tukey HSD method.1Degrees of freedom are (2, 357).2Degrees of freedom are (2, 353).3Degrees of freedom are (2, 364).4Degrees of freedom are (2, 356).5Degrees of freedom are (2, 356).

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Effect of MLS shirt advertisements on fan’s attitudes toward sponsors

Our fourth research question examined the effect of shirt advertisements on fan’sattitude toward sponsors, including offering support for the advertiser’s business,connecting teams with products (and vice versa) and purchasing the advertisedproducts or services. Overall, respondents felt that MLS jersey advertisementshelped to establish goodwill with the corporate sponsor (M = 2.94, SD= .851) wereslightly more likely to connect a product with a team (M= 2.76, SD= .732) andconnect a team with a product (M = 2.72, SD= .771); however, there did not seemto be an effect of advertising on purchasing a sponsor’s product or services(M= 2.27, SD= .860), and respondents disagreed slightly that the presence of adswould prevent purchasing products or services (M= 1.99, SD= .817). Respondentsfelt slightly that ads on MLS jerseys would increase information-seeking behav-iours about sponsors (M = 2.37, SD= .824). However, none of these opinionsdiffered significantly as a result of sports fandom groupings. Table 7 contains themeans, standard deviations, F-test and observed power statistics for each of theseanalyses.

Table 7. ANOVA results for the effect of sports fandom on fan behaviors.

M SD F p η2

Advertiser goodwill1 2.56 .079 .015Soccer fans 3.05a .834Sports fans 2.83a .893Non-fans 2.96a .721Identify a product with a team2 .550 .577 .003Soccer fans 2.78a .726Sports fans 2.73a .752Non-fans 2.84a .682Identify a team with a product3 1.27 .283 .006Soccer fans 2.67a .777Sports fans 2.72a .772Non-fans 2.86a .749Purchase advertised products/services4 1.94 .145 .011Soccer fans 2.36a .844Sports fans 2.17a .845Non-fans 2.35a .926Avoid purchasing products/services5 .048 .953 �.000Soccer fans 1.97a .839Sports fans 2.00a .801Non-fans 1.98a .821Information seeking about sponsors6 1.85 .158 .011Soccer fans 2.44a .811Sports fans 2.28a .834Non-fans 2.48a .809

Note: Different subscripts within groups indicate honest significant difference at the p < .05 level orhigher using Tukey HSD method.1Degrees of freedom are (2, 347).2Degrees of freedom are (2, 404).3Degrees of freedom are (2, 406).4Degrees of freedom are (2, 349).5Degrees of freedom are (2, 347).6Degrees of freedom are (2, 348).

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Effect of MLS shirt advertisements on acceptance of shirt advertising in otherprofessional sports

Our final research question examined whether or not the presence of shirt advertise-ments in MLS might affect people’s perceptions of allowing such ads on othermajor professional sports in the USA. Overall, respondents agreed slightly thatMLS jersey advertisements were setting a trend for other professionals to follow,M= 2.61, SD= .877; moreover, a significant difference was found between differenttypes of fans, F(2, 357) = 3.22, p= .041 and η2 = .018. Non-sport fans were mostlikely to think that a trend was being set (M = 2.85, SD= .85) followed in order bysoccer fans (M = 2.65, SD= .877) and sports fans (M= 2.51, SD= .884), althoughthe latter two groups did not differ significantly from one another.

Discussion

Our study was designed to take an exploratory look at how different self-reportedclassifications of sports fans felt about the emergence of shirt sponsorship inAmerican professional sports. We examined how fans and non-fans alike wereresponding to the presence of jersey advertisements in MLS, and whether or notfans felt these ads would influence their perceptions of MLS and its advertisers.

Shirt sponsorship’s effects on perceptions of sport(s)

Despite the warnings of sports pundits, there does not seem to be a perception thatMLS shirt sponsorships are having a negative impact on the league’s public percep-tion. Respondents in our study did not agree that soccer jersey ads made the MLSlook ugly or unprofessional. In fact, respondents were more likely to have a favour-able opinion of shirt advertisements if they resulted in lower ticket prices andhelped MLS teams attract and/or retain top players, and they thought that the adsmade MLS teams look more like their international counterparts. For all of thesemeasures, soccer fans felt most strongly about each.

In terms of specific fan behaviours, respondents did not feel that shirt advertis-ing would have any positive effect on their willingness to attend MLS games orwatch them on television, purchasing team merchandise or discuss MLS news andevents with friends. At the same time, few of our respondents actually engaged inthese behaviours as is so we caution against any generalizations about these results.The majority of our respondents came from areas of the USA that do not currentlyhave an MLS franchise. As team proximity is known to be a major element ofestablishing fandom, it is not surprising that even our most fervent sports and soc-cer fans were not engaging in many of the fan behaviours measured in this study.45

We also wanted to investigate whether or not respondents felt that MLS wasstarting a trend that other US sports leagues might follow as has been suggested bymany sports writers. In fact, there did seem to be a slight perception that MLS shirtsponsorships might catch on with other leagues; non-sports fans felt most stronglyabout this. However, it should be noted that our question did not investigate specificUS sports leagues, nor did we obtain data about respondents’ fandom associatedwith different sports.

Shirt sponsorship’s effects on perceptions of MLS sponsors

Beyond fan reactions to MLS shirt sponsorships, our study was also interested inwhether or not these sponsorships would affect how fans perceived MLS sponsors

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themselves. Overall, respondents expressed feelings that the presence of shirt adver-tisements made the league and its teams appear to be more valuable to corporations.Respondents also felt that shirt sponsors help them establish goodwill with corpo-rate sponsors, and helped them connect products to teams and vice versa. However,it remains unclear as to whether or not the presence of shirt ads has a perceptibleinfluence on actual purchasing behaviour. While respondents did not feel that shirtads would prevent them from purchasing advertised products or services, theyexpress some agreement that the ads would result in more information-seekingabout sponsors.

Limitations

While our data provide some exploratory insights into how sports fans and non-fansare responding to the presence of shirt sponsorships in MLS, the study has somelimitations that should be noted and addressed in future research. These limitationsare related to theoretical and measurement issues as well as sample demographics;each is outlined below.

Theoretical limitations

As an exploratory study, this survey was designed as a ‘litmus test’ in hopes thatemergent patterns and relationships could be identified in our sample. For example,the fact that we observed many significant differences between self-identified fangroups leads us to believe that fan identification plays a major role in how fansmight respond to shirt sponsorships. In fact, measures of sports fandom46 and teamidentity47 as well as sport interest inventories48 might be employed to provide amore intimate look into the specific mechanics of sports fandom, and how shirtsponsorship might play a role in this process. In terms of effects on advertisers, onemight employ the literature related to how fans tend to ‘bask in the reflectedglory’49 when their teams wins or ‘cut off the reflected failure’ when their teamloses.50 One area of particular interest to us is the construct of fan avidity, explainedby DeSarbo as ‘the level of interest, involvement, passion, and loyalty a fan exhib-its to a particular sports entity’.51 DeSarbo suggests that understanding avidity isessential for sports organizations because avid fans are passionate follows of a teamand its sponsors and often spend more money, time and effort in following theirfavourite clubs.52 Moreover, the fan avidity approach differs somewhat from otherapproaches on sports fandom in that it is specifically designed to explain how sportsfans show their fandom more so than how they become fans. This distinction isapplicable to our research interests because it suggests that avid sports fans mightexpress their fandom of MLS teams by purchasing sponsors’ products, such is thecase in NASCAR.53 Thus, future research should include more sophisticatedmeasures of sports fandom so that hypothetical relationships between fandom andshirt sponsors can be tested.

Sample limitations

Respondents for this survey were a convenience sample comprised largely ofcollege-aged students, and some of whom were not located in or near major MLSmarkets. While we are confident that our study still contained a large cross-section

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of sports and soccer fans as represented by our descriptive statistics, weacknowledge that this sample is but a small portion of the larger US sport fan base.However, the lack of representation from MLS markets in our sample confirms theMLS Commissioner Don Garber’s comments, that is, ‘We’re not trying to createsoccer fans. We’re trying to convert soccer fans into fans of MLS’.54 This low prev-alence of fan behaviours (i.e. about 10% of our sample attended MLS games andonly about 40% watched MLS games on television) suggests that our respondents –while many self-identified as soccer fans – were not necessarily fans of a particularMLS franchise. Replication of this research should carefully consider a broadercross-section of sports fans and make careful efforts to include respondents fromMLS markets.

Conclusion

This exploratory study is one of the first efforts to examine the attitudes of theAmerican public related to advertising and sponsorship on the uniforms of profes-sional sports teams. Despite its limitations, the study provides insights regarding theextent to which different fan groups accept (or not) large ads on the game jerseysof a major professional sports league, The study offers new perspectives about hownon-fans, soccer fans and sports fans view these concerns. This survey provides astarting point to explore and discuss shirt sponsorship in American team profes-sional sports – an issue that will be more prominently discussed as commercialismcreeps further in the sports landscape.

Notes1. Peter Schwartz and Kurt Badenhausen, ‘Major League Soccer’s Most Valuable Teams’,

Forbes, September 1, 2008, http://www.forbes.com/2008/09/09/mls-soccer-beckham-biz-sports-cz_kb_0909mlsvalues.html.

2. Liberman, ‘Jersey Deals Spread’.3. Paul Lukas, ‘Is This the Slippery Slope of Uniforms?’, ESPN, June 2, 2009, http://

sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lukas/090602&sportCat=wnba.4. Jack Bell, ‘MLS Wants Your Advertising’, The New York Times, December 25, 2006,

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/25/sports/soccer/25soccer.html.5. Jose Romero, ‘Microsoft Launches Deal with MLS, Sounders FC’, The Seattle Times,

May 28, 2009, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sounders/2004444715_sound-ersfc29.html.

6. Lance Hornby, ‘Toronto FC has been A Model of How to Make a Sports Business Prof-itable’, The Toronto Sun, April 3, 2009, http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2009/04/03/8986256-sun.html.

7. Dave Moor, ‘A Brief History of Football Kid Design in England and Scotland’, Histor-alkits.com.uk. 2009, http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Articles/History.htm.

8. Richard Gillis, ‘Football Sponsorship: Soccer’s Treasure Chest’, The Independent (UK),August 11, 2008, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/football-sponsorship-soc-cers-treasure-chest-890009.html.

9. Barry Janoff, ‘Questions and Answers with David Wright’, New York Sports Journalism,June 25, 2009, http://www.nysportsjournalism.com/david-wright-qa-6–25-09/.

10. Jon Weinbach, ‘Major League Soccer Teams Will Sell Ad Space on Players’ Jerseys’,The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 28, 2006, http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06271/725842–28.stm.

11. Lorene Yue, ‘New Chicago Fire Jerseys Unveiled’, The Chicago Business Journal, Janu-ary 15, 2008, http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20080115/NEWS07/200027770/new-chicago-fire-jerseys-unveiled.

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12. Ken Greenberg, ‘VW Signs Multi-Year Major League Soccer Deal.’ Media Post Market-ing Daily, March 16, 2009, http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showAr-ticle&art_aid=102223.

13. Melanie Ho, ‘For Red Bull, It’s Here, There and Everywhere’, The Washington Post,August 23, 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/22/AR2006082201516.html; Jensen and Wang, ‘How Do Fans React’.

14. Barr, ‘Dynamo Sports Soccer Sombreros as Amigo Energy Sponsors Team’.15. Cathy Allred, ‘Xango Brings RSL Home’, The Provo Daily Herald, June 15, 2007,

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/article_718f4311-cc74–51c4–931cc77e8e40c620.html?mode=story.

16. ESPN, ‘Real Salt Lake to Wear’.17. Lombardo, ‘WNBA Tips Off Season’.18. Brennan, ‘Advertising on Team Jerseys’.19. Lefton, ‘Many NFL Clubs’.20. A.J. Perez and Michael McCarthy, ‘NBA, NHL, Soften Stance on Jersey Ads’, USA

Today, July 28, 2009, http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2009–07-28-jersey-ads_N.htm.21. Darren Rovell, ‘The Tangled Web of Sports and Advertising’, ESPN, May 6, 2004,

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportsbusiness/news/story?id=1795742.22. Rick Westhead, ‘Is This the NHL’s New Look?’ The Toronto Star, February 17, 2008,

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/304287.23. Barry Janoff, ‘Sacred Territory for Sale’, Marketing Sports, May 12, 2009, http://www.

mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=105827.24. Paul Lukas, ‘Is This the Slippery Slope of Uniforms?’ ESPN, June 2, 2009, http://sports.

espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lukas/090602&sportCat=wnba.25. Christine Brennan, ‘Advertising on Team Jerseys is Just the Latest in Sports Marketing’,

USA Today, June 3, 2009, http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/brennan/2009–06-03-wnba-marketing-sponsorship_N.htm.

26. Johns, ‘Are You Willing to Sell?’27. Frank Deford, ‘Sports Is Overtaken with Clutter’, Sports Illustrated, June 10, 2009,

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/frank_deford/06/10/clutter/index.html.28. Martin, ‘The Globalization of Soccer’.29. Greg Wyshynski, ‘Moving Forever Closer to Advertising on NHL Jerseys’, Yahoo

Sports, July 29, 2010, http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Moving-forever-closer-to-advertising-on-NHL-jers?urn=nhl-179465.

30. Richard Sandomir, ‘In WNBA, Jersey Sponsorship Could Set New Standard’, The NewYork Times. June 1, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/sports/basketball/01wnba.html.

31. Ashish, ‘Sports Fan Psychology’.32. Richard Farley, ‘Anchoring the Casual Fan: Major League Soccer’s Parity Paradox’, The

World Soccer Reader, August 9, 2010, http://worldsoccerreader.com/2010/08/anchoring-the-casual-fan-major-league-soccers-parity-paradox/.

33. Fullerton, Morgan, and Garland, ‘A Contemporary Snapshot’.34. Earnhardt, ‘Exploring Sports Television Viewers’.35. Pritchard and Funk, ‘Symbiosis and Substitution in Sport’.36. Dalakas and Levin, ‘The Balance Theory Domino’.37. Trail and James, ‘Motivational Scale for Sport Consumption’.38. Gwinner, Larson, and Swanson, ‘Image Transfer in Corporate Events’.39. Dalakas and Levin, ‘The Balance Theory Domino’.40. Greg Johns, ‘Are You Willing to Sell Your Soul … err, Jersey?’ The Seattle Post-Intelli-

gencer, June 2, 2009, http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlesports/archives/170115.asp.41. Markovits and Smith, ‘Sports Culture Among Undergraduates’.42. Jason Davis, ‘MLS Marketing: Impressionable Youth’, MatchFit USA, March 23, 2010,

http://www.matchfitusa.com/2010/03/mls-marketing-impressionable-youth.html.43. Amy Rosenberg, ‘Phillies A Big Hit with Women Fans’. The Philadelphia Inquirer.

October 19, 2010, http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/20101019_Female_fans_turne-d_on_by_the_Phils.html.

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44. Mark P. Pritchard and Daniel C. Funk, ‘Real Salt Lake to Wear Sponsor Name Across Jer-sey’, ESPN, November 16, 2006, http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=392246&cc=5901.

45. Jones, ‘A Further Explanation of Factors’.46. Wann, ‘Preliminary Validation of a Measure’.47. Heere and James, ‘Sports Teams and Communities’.48. Heere and James, ‘Stepping Outside the Lines’.49. Bernache-Assolant, Lacassangne, and Braddock, ‘Basking in Reflected Glory’.50. Stelzl, Janes, and Seligman, ‘Champ or Chump’.51. DeSarbo, ‘A Spatial Unfolding Choice Model’.52. Wayne DeSarbo, ‘Measuring Fan Avidity Can Help Marketers Narrow Their Focus’, The

Sports Business Journal, December 21, 2009, http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/arti-cle/64438.

53. Gwinner, Larson, and Swanson, ‘Image Transfer in Corporate Events’.54. Jeffrey Marcus, ‘U.S. Soccer Fans Outpacing MLS’, The New York Times, April 23,

2009, http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/us-soccer-fans-outpacing-mls/.

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Barr, Greg. ‘Dynamo Sports Soccer Sombreros as Amigo Energy Sponsors Team’. TheHouston Business Journal. August 27, 2007. http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/sto-ries/2007/08/27/story6.html

Bernache-Assolant, Iouri, Marie-Francoise Lacassangne, and Jomills H. Braddock. ‘Baskingin Reflected Glory’. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 26, no. 4 (2010):381–8.

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