Fifteenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

Established as a critical strategic tool, branding serves to differentiate organisations from competitors and create added value for consumers. Brand equity, the foundation for establishing the value derived from branded products or services, encompasses constructs like awareness, associations, perceived quality, and loyalty. Prior research affirms the positive impact of both athletic success and brand equity on revenue. Despite a wealth of literature on sport brands and events, a research gap persists, particularly in the exploration of non-fan-related sport experiences and recurring sport events with regard to brand equity. This paper investigates the value creation process from a consumer perspective for participative, recurring sport events. The research objective was addressed through quantitative data collected from an online questionnaire (N = 344) and analysed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis to ensure an appropriate model fit. Results indicate that several sport-specific elements, including the quality of the route layout and event safety standards, alongside traditional brand equity factors such as brand exclusivity and preference, significantly contribute to the brand equity of recurring, participative events. Notably, event sustainability and environmental awareness emerged as new dimensions influencing the brand equity of sport events. The study’s findings provide a compelling argument that participative sport consumers require a different approach to value creation, resulting in a revised brand equity model, as compared to their spectating counterparts. Furthermore, recurring sports events should consider the value generated by contributing to society and local infrastructure, as indicated by the identified value drivers in the collected data.