'Ultimate' sponsorship: fan identity, brand congruence, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship
by Michael B. Devlin; Natalie A. Brown; Andrew C. Billings; Stacy Bishop
International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing (IJSMM), Vol. 14, No. 1/2/3/4, 2013

Abstract: This study examines how one's fan identification to a sport, in this case, mixed martial arts (MMA) and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), impacts the evaluations of congruent and incongruent sponsors. An online questionnaire surveyed 911 participants, revealing that highly identified fans evaluated all sponsors of the UFC more favourably than those who were not highly identified. Results also showed that highly identified fans evaluated sport-congruent sponsors more favourably than incongruent sponsors, and less-identified fans evaluated incongruent sponsors more favourably, suggesting that fan identification and sponsor congruency is a critical factor to consider when examining the effectiveness of sport sponsorship.

Online publication date: Sat, 05-Jul-2014

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