Brand New: A Longitudinal Investigation of Brand Associations as Drivers of Team Identity Among Fans of a New Sport Team

The role of brand associations and team identity in the sport management literature has received significant attention; however, there exists opportunities to investigate the way they impact one another over time. The authors examined the development of brand associations and team identification among fans of a new team to measure the impact the team's brand held in the development of new fans. Longitudinal quantitative data were collected from fans of a new professional baseball team (N= 119) across three points during the team's inaugural season. Using multilevel growth curve modeling, unconditional growth curve models provided evidence of the development and change of brand associations and team identification, while conditional growth curve models evaluated the percentage of change in team identity explained by the changes in each brand association. The findings provide evidence of brand associations as drivers in the development of team identification among fans of a new team.