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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The Biz of Baseball: MLB Now Tied with the NFL in Fan Loyalty

Hip hip hoo…gives a friggin’ rat-tail comb!

After years in the #2 spot, Major League Baseball is now tied with the National Football League with the “most loyal fans,” according to the 15th annual 2010 Brand Keys Sports Loyalty Index, a survey which helps professional sports teams increase broadcast, ticket and merchandise revenues by providing loyalty rankings and fan diagnostics in their home and national markets.

2010 League Rankings

1. NFL/MLB

2. NBA

3. NHL

“The Sports Loyalty Engagement Index gives an apples-to-apples comparison of the intensity with which fans support professional sport leagues and their home team vs. the corresponding values for the fans of other teams in the market,” said Robert Passikoff, president of New York- based Brand Keys, Inc.

“These insights allow leagues and teams to identify areas that need strategic reinforcement. Done correctly, an increase in broadcast viewership, merchandise purchase, and ticket revenue will follow, and happier fans. Everybody loves a winner, but it’s important to note that win/loss ratios do not entirely govern fan loyalty,” noted Brand Keys’ Passikoff.

Repoz Posted: March 30, 2010 at 06:09 PM | 19 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: business, community, media, special topics

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1. Home Run Teal & Black Black Black Gone! Posted: March 30, 2010 at 07:01 PM (#3488862)

WE SHALL HAVE NO EQUAL. THE NFL BARBARIANS WILL BE GROUND SLOWLY UNDER THE HEELS OF OUR CLEATS. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE. VENGEANCE, THY NAME IS DOUBLEDAY.

2. RJ in TO Posted: March 30, 2010 at 07:04 PM (#3488866)

How big is the gap between MLB/NFL and the NBA, and between the NBA and NFL?

3. Balkroth Posted: March 30, 2010 at 07:14 PM (#3488872)

How does this compare to college sports?

4. Tim Stauffer, Trot Nixon's Coming (Dan Lee) Posted: March 30, 2010 at 07:28 PM (#3488886)

It's probably safe to assume MLB will pass the NFL next year after Laborgeddon.

5. Jolly Old St. Neck Wound, Moral Idiot

Posted: March 30, 2010 at 07:30 PM (#3488887)

All four Boston teams are in the top five within their respective sports. Pretty impressive. Nice to see that the Deadskins don't make the cut in the NFL list. Maybe there aren't as many suckers here as I think.

6. phredbird

Posted: March 30, 2010 at 07:30 PM (#3488888)

but ... but ... baseball is boring and games are too long and they all take steriods!

7. Walt Davis Posted: March 30, 2010 at 07:35 PM (#3488894)

The Sports Loyalty Engagement Index

Snicker.

8. Hang down your head, Tom Foley Posted: March 30, 2010 at 07:37 PM (#3488897)

1. Boston Red Sox
2. New York Yankees
3. Philadelphia Phillies
4. Anaheim Angels/Los Angeles Dodgers
5. Minnesota Twins/Milwaukee Brewers

Bottom Five
17. Arizona Diadmondbacks
18. Washington Nationals
19. Kansas City Royals
20. Baltimore Orioles
21. Pittsburgh Pirates

The Twins and Brewers should be tied for sixth, and whoever is after them should be eighth, or else it messes everything up.

9. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: March 30, 2010 at 07:40 PM (#3488900)

Bottom Five
17. Arizona Diadmondbacks
18. Washington Nationals
19. Kansas City Royals
20. Baltimore Orioles
21. Pittsburgh Pirates

The Twins and Brewers should be tied for sixth, and whoever is after them should be eighth, or else it messes everything up.

There must be a lot of that going on. Have to have 9 ties to have last place in a 30 team league be #21.

10. TerpNats Posted: March 30, 2010 at 09:40 PM (#3488998)

I'd like to see the scoring on the teams' rankings. I'd bet there would be a substantially larger gap between top and bottom in MLB than for the NFL. (That might also hold true for the NBA vs. the NHL.)

11. Zipperholes Posted: March 30, 2010 at 09:48 PM (#3489003)

Interviews are conducted by telephone and in-person (to account for cell phone-only fans) includes 150+ local fans for each professional sports team in the four major leagues. Participants self- select a preference for a particular league and then indicate an allegiance to the local team being evaluated. The methodology identifies the four drivers of fan loyalty and rates each team on each of the drivers. The respondents are also asked to rate the sports leagues that they're interested in on an overall basis.

This makes no sense.

12. tfbg9 Posted: March 30, 2010 at 10:48 PM (#3489038)

The top-5 teams in each league in terms of fan loyalty for 2010:

National Basketball Association:

1. San Antonio Spurs

2. Boston Celtics

3. Phoenix Suns

4. Dallas Mavericks/Detroit Pistons

5. Utah Jazz

National Football League:

1. Indianapolis Colts

2. New England Patriots

3. Pittsburgh Steelers

4. Tennessee Titans

5. New York Jets

National Hockey League:

1. Detroit Red Wings

2. Philadelphia Flyers

3. San Jose Sharks

4. New Jersey Devils

5. Boston Bruins

Major League Baseball:

1. Boston Red Sox

2. New York Yankees

3. Philadelphia Phillies

4. Anaheim Angels/Los Angeles Dodgers

5. Minnesota Twins/Milwaukee Brewers

Boston is the best sports town in the country.

13. Vaux, A.B.D. Posted: March 30, 2010 at 10:54 PM (#3489042)

I'm sure the Phillies didn't have the 3rd most loyal fans 10 years ago. I suspect the Angels didn't, either. In what time scale are we measuring loyalty?

14. Bernal Diaz has an angel on his shoulder. Posted: March 30, 2010 at 11:24 PM (#3489053)

Boston is the best sports town in the country.

Or people in Boston are just a bunch of front-running jackholes.

15. RB in NYC (Now with New iPhone!) Posted: March 30, 2010 at 11:30 PM (#3489056)

Boston is the best sports town in the country.

They should lose points for sticking with the NHL

16. AndrewJ Posted: March 31, 2010 at 12:19 AM (#3489086)

I'm sure the Phillies didn't have the 3rd most loyal fans 10 years ago.

From around the time Lurie bought the Eagles to their Super Bowl appearance, Philly was very much a football town. I think the Phils dominate the city now -- Citizens Bank Park opening in '04 and the September '07 comeback each did a lot. And given the city's role in the history of pro, college and prep basketball, it's amazing how irrelevant the Sixers have become.

17. Downtown Bookie

Posted: March 31, 2010 at 12:56 AM (#3489104)

"Everybody loves a winner, but it’s important to note that win/loss ratios do not entirely govern fan loyalty."

The rankings quoted in Post #8 seem to indicate otherwise.

DB

18. TerpNats Posted: March 31, 2010 at 01:08 AM (#3489112)

One wonders where the Red Sox would have ranked had this survey been taken in 1965 or so, when it was a chronic second-division team.

19. ValueArbitrageur Posted: March 31, 2010 at 10:48 PM (#3490048)

How the NFL has fallen...

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The Biz of Baseball: MLB Now Tied with the NFL in Fan Loyalty

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