Sports Teams and Their Communities: Examining the Influence of External Group Identities on Team Identity

Group identity theory suggests that fans of sports teams see themselves as members of an organization, not just consumers of a product. To foster greater loyalty toward a sports team, managers should concentrate on strengthening fans’ team identity. One way to accomplish this goal is to recognize that a team identity is more than an association with a collection of athletes and coaches or an association with other fans. A team identity can also be symbolic of other types of group identities. Two main types of external group identities are demographic categories and membership organizations. Identifying the external group identities that a sports team is believed to represent and then aligning more closely with key external group identities provides managers with an opportunity to strengthen fans’ team identity and, consequently, their loyalty to a team.