Tangibility of Sports Team Identification and Place Attachment through a Visit to the Stadium

ABSTRACT

The research concentrates on the intangible team identification from the distant fans and tries to explore whether a visit to the stadium serve as tangibility and stabilize their team identification. The relation between the distant fans and the home stadium as well as its impact on team identification is also under consideration. Qualitative research was carried out with 15 Chinese tourists as a sample who have been to their favorite European football club’s stadium and attended a stadium tour or a live game. Twenty elements in the visit that influencing the visitors most  were recorded. Based on the social identity-brand equity research, four patterns of tangibility are found and confirmed to help foster team identification. The research indicated the distant fans show several differences in team identification from the local fans due to the geographical distance. The visit to the stadium for the locals may be a ritual, but for the distant fans, it is more similar to pilgrimage. Also, the distant fans’ attachment to the stadium is mainly stemmed from team identification, while the locals’ attachment intermingles with their association to their community. More studies on non-local fans are required for a better understanding of this special fans group.

摘要

由于异地球迷的球队认同具有无形性, 本研究旨在探索游览球场是否能使该部分球迷的球队认同实体化并使之更稳定。本研究同样关注游览前后异地球迷和球队主场之间的人地关系, 以探究地方依恋是否会影响异地球迷的球队认同。本研究为定性研究, 选取了15位中国游客作为访谈对象, 这些游客均曾以球场参观或观看现场比赛的方式到访他们最喜爱的欧洲足球俱乐部的主场。研究人员在访谈中记录并总结了在游览球场的过程中最能够影响这些游客的20个要素, 并基于社会认同-品牌资产 (social identity-brand equity) 模型, 提出四种球队认同实体化的模式, 分析验证了这四种模式均能够巩固异地球迷的球队认同。游览球场提升了异地球迷对球队主场的地方认同, 同时逐步建立起球迷对球场的地方依赖, 这使得异地球迷对球场的地方依恋得到提高, 带动提升了他们的球队认同。本研究认为, 由于地理距离的存在, 异地球迷和本地球迷的球队认同存在多方面差异。到访球场对本地球迷来说类似于一种仪式, 但对异地球迷来说更接近于朝圣。此外, 异地球迷的球队认同引发了他们对球场的地方依恋, 但本地球迷对球场的地方依恋通常与他们对本地社区的情感相融合。未来还需要更多针对非本地球迷的研究, 以提高对这个特别的球迷群体的认识。

KEYWORDS:

• Team identification
• tangibility
• place attachment
• distant fans
• stadium tour
• live game

关键词:

• 球队认同
• 实体化
• 地方依恋
• 异地球迷
• 球场参观
• 现场比赛

1. Introduction

Football is a popular sport throughout the world. Some football fans enjoy playing football, while more people may love to watch a football match. In the past, limited by geographical issues, people tended to support the local football team, and their identification on the team may be bound with the attachment to the local community (Kim & Kwak, 2015). Supporting a distant football team was uncommon at that time. Technical development made it possible to watch a game through television broadcast or on the internet, offering a chance for people to focus on a team away from home and even become a fan of the distant team (Pu & James, 2017). Compared with the identification on the local team, individual’s identification on a non-local team is less related to the community and lack of geographical proximity, which implicates its intangibility and the difference in antecedent and maintenance (Kerr & Emery, 2011; Wann et al., 2017).

Traveling to the team’s home city and visiting the home stadium may solve the problem of geographical distance. There are two major ways for tourists to closely contact with the stadium: a live game or a stadium tour. A live game with passionate atmosphere and the interaction among fans and players allows spectators to choose the viewpoint in a relatively free-range, compared with the television broadcast. A stadium tour is a tour package that allows visitors to go into the stadium, visit the team museums with guidance and enter the backstage of the field. A stadium tour in Europe generally includes a museum introducing the history of the club and the stadium, and a tour in the field and its backstage. Besides, some of the stadium tours may contain other special events, such as the stadium tour in Old Trafford, the home stadium of Manchester United Football Club, which provides a package including a meal in Red Café, a special dining room in the museum.

Compared with the extensive studies in the local fans’ team identification, the distant fans got less attention from the researchers and more studies are in demand (Wann et al., 2017). The existing studies on the distant fans indicated that these fans perform differently from the locals due to the lack of geographical proximity (Dimmock et al., 2005) and could be an opportunity for future marketing (Kerr & Emery, 2011), but the studies still focus on the condition of ‘non-local’ and might overlook the potential change with the elimination of distance. With the interest in the fans’ identification on a non-local team and the effect of a visit to the team’s home stadium, the research supposed that a visit to the stadium can change the untouchable team identification into some tangible forms and positively influence team identification, due to the elimination of geographical distance between non-local fans and their favorite teams. Thus, the research would first realize the objectives: 1) to learn the elements in the stadium visits, and 2) to understand how the visit realize tangibility of team identification.

Concerning the stadium as a destination, the fans may form an association to the stadium that they have never been to before, which has been widely studied as place attachment in tourism, and their attachment to the stadium might also be influenced by their team identification. Hence, another objective was raised: 3) to analyze the effect of tangibility on fans’ identification to the team and their attachment to the stadium.

After the study on the distant fans, the comparison between the distant fans and the local fans should be summarized for a higher value of the research. So, the research has the final objective: 4) to discuss the difference of team identification and place attachment between the local and non-local fans.

The previous studies about non-local fans’ team identification, tangibility and place attachment would be reviewed, and qualitative research with interviews was carried out. The research tried to learn the elements in the stadium visits for understanding whether the visit can realize tangibility of team identification, the effect of tangibility on fans’ identification to the team and their attachment to the stadium. Finally, the research discussed the difference between local and non-local fans, in both of the team identification and place attachment, and tried to put forwards several theoretical and managerial implication.

2. Team identification: Social identity theory in sport teams

2.1. Social identity theory in sports

Social identity refers to the individual’s belongings to a certain social group and the knowledge about emotional and value significance of being a group member (Jones, 1998). It is also called collective identity, which is widely used in America (Luhtanen & Crocker, 1992) or in the situation to differentiate and eliminate the confusion between social identity and other kinds of identity, such as personal identity and relational identity (Ashmore et al., 2004). Social identity theory suggests that people have to identify themselves in a certain social group, which can be distinguished clearly from other groups they dislike, so that they would be able to dislike an outgroup (Tajfel, 1974; Tajfel & Turner, 1986). To realize social identification, the individuals should firstly set up categorization and comparison among groups, then identify themselves in a certain group that can distinguish themselves and satisfy their self-concept or self-image (Brown, 2000; Tajfel, 1974).

In the research of sports, social identity theory has been widely applied in learning and explaining fan psychology and collective behavior since two decades ago. To understand the development of fandom toward a particular sports team or sports club, Jones (1998) carried out an integrated study on fan identification and fandom based on a case study of Luton Town Football Club. Branscombe and Wann (1992) and Wann et al. (1999) applied the intergroup relationship in the research of aggressive fan behavior, while the intergroup relationship is an important issue of the social identity theory. Social identity in fandom has been learnt as ‘team identification’ or ‘fan identification’. Two concepts are slightly different but both stemmed from social identity theory (Fink et al., 2009). Branscombe and Wann (1992) regarded fan identification in sports as the situation that people perceive themselves with the identity of the fans of a team, with their behavior involving with the team and concerning the team’s performance. Wann (1997) defined team identification as a form of social identification reflecting fans’ psychological association to a certain team. Both of the concepts emphasize the psychological relation and the cognition of identification, so they always interchange when referring to fans’ emotional connection to a team. The following research would concentrate on the fans’ behavior and psychology when they identify with a team, but less focus on their identity as a ‘fan’. Thus, team identification would be more suitable in the research.

Since fandom has been studied for years to understand fans’ collective behavior, there is a discussion about the relationship between the terms ‘fandom’ and ‘team identification’. Jones (1998) suggest that fandom and fan identification or team identification of sports teams share similarities in cognitive and affective aspects, so the concepts can be interchanged. Wann et al. (2017) regarded fandom and team identification as different concepts but believe they correlated with each other. In the research, fandom indicated the extent of fans identifying themselves as the followers of the team, while team identification illustrated the degree of fans’ psychologically identifying the team in the central place of his or her social identity. More research did not clearly distinguish fandom and team identification, interchanging them in the same article. Since team identification concentrates on individual’s psychological connection to the team, the following research will use team identification to stand for the individual’s identification on a certain team.

2.2. Team identification

For a better understanding of the development of team identification, there have been studies tracking the origin and motive of team identification. Dietz-Uhler and Murrell (1999) believed that the various origins of team identification would influence fans’ perceived performance of the team. Jacobson (2003) supposed that the formation and maintenance of team identification can be linked with social and personal identity factors. Underwood et al. (2001), Boyle and Magnusson (2007), and Watkins (2014) suggested that team identification might be caused and enhanced with some service marketplace characteristics, learning from the perspective of brand management.

As an intangible connection between teams and their fans, both of the researchers and sports managers are considering the way of maintaining identification steadily from fans and gaining benefit from them better, thus antecedent and consequence of team identification have been widely studied for years. Wann and Branscombe (1993) learnt the performance of stronger team identification. In their research, spectators with stronger team identification will display more involvement with the team, more ego-enhancing pattern when the team succeeds, more willing to spend more time and money to see the game, and more likely to identify similar qualities within the same fan groups of the team. Fink et al. (2009) studied the impact of athletes’ improper behavior off the play-field on the level of team identification. Merchandising is the main approach for gaining benefit and linked tightly with team identification. For example, Fisher and Wakefield (1998) explored how victory or loss of games influence team identification by observing fans behavior, including game attendance, fans’ game behavior and their purchase of licensed products. Murrell and Dietz (1992) pointed out that students would be more frequently wearing school team apparel on the day of winning. Kwon et al. (2007) confirmed team identification would improve the intention to purchase the team-licensed merchandise mediating by the perceived value, and D. D. Lee et al. (2013) approved that team identification could marginally impact the consumers’ attitude to the brand or the product of athletic team merchandise. S. Lee et al. (2010) suggested that higher team identification can enhance the customers positive feeling of the brand and the frequency of purchase, but cannot promise the same level of brand loyalty. Besides, recent studies focus more on the psychological effect of team identification. For instance, Theodorakis et al. (2012) testified that identification with a local team positively linked with the need to belong, but the link is not significant for a distant team. Wann et al. (2017) kept extending the application of the team identification–social psychological health model and indicated that fandom and team identification may arouse a sense of belonging and meaning in life. In total, team identification has been widely studied in the fields of social identity, sports and marketing.

Compared with the multiple studies on local fans or collegiate fans whose team identification influenced by community identification (Jones, 1998) or university identification (Boyle & Magnusson, 2007; Dietz-Uhler & Murrell, 1999), research on non-local fans’ team identification is still insufficient and can be further explored. Dimmock et al. (2005) put forward a research suggestion in team identification of distant team fan. Lack of geographic proximity, the distant team fans may have different performance in team identification compared to the local team fans. Wann et al. (2017) supposed the different appearance of team identification between the distant fans and the local, and called for more study on team identification of displaced fans. Kerr and Emery (2011) focused on foreign fans of Liverpool Football Club around the world and studied the antecedent and consumption behavior of their team identification. The study regards the satellite supporters as an important opportunity for marketing and called for more concentration and understanding of this special fan group. Pu and James (2017) clarified the segment of non-local fans and demonstrated the different motives arousing team identification to an NBA team between local fans and the Chinese NBA fans, raising the reconsideration of the role of ‘place’ in team identification. They regarded displace fans and distant fans as two different groups, that displace fans are those who have ever lived close to the team but moved away and distant fans always live away from the team. Learning from the research suggestions, there is still an existing gap in the maintenance of non-local fans’ identification on a sports team which is different from the local fans with the geographical proximity, compared with the tensive focus on the local fans’ team identification. The following research will focus on the visitors to the stadium for the first time, so the concept ‘distant place’ will be more suitable according to the definition from Pu and James (2017).

Another gap in the research of non-local fans is that the existing studies about the distant fans focus on the condition of ‘non-local’ (Kerr & Emery, 2011; Pu & James, 2017), but ignore the potential change along with the elimination of the geographical distance. To learn the potential change in detail, this research adopted the qualitative method of collecting and analyzing data to summarize some elements with geographical proximity and tried to understand the changing process.

2.3. Non-local fans’ team identification and its tangibility

With the lack of geographical proximity, the distant fans are difficult in making tangible contact with their favorite team and might behave differently from the local fans (Kerr & Emery, 2011; Wann et al., 2017). The research is interested in the potential effect of breaking of intangibility of the distant fans’ team identification. Learnt from the service industry, Wakefield and Blodgett (1996) emphasized the importance of tangible factors in services, and Underwood et al. (2001) applied social identity theory to the sports industry, trying to give some examples from sports and solve the problem in the service industry of lacking tangible characteristics to connect brands and their customers. Learning deeply from the sports marketplace, a social identity-brand equity model (SIBE model) with four effective themes is suggested for maintaining customers’ identity for the brand. The four themes are history and tradition, physical facility, group experience, and ritual, and the model has been verified by later studies (Boyle & Magnusson, 2007; Heere & James, 2007; Wang & Tang, 2017).

In Underwood’s research, the importance of the physical facility for a sports team and other brands has been emphasized, since the facility can represent a tangible part of the service. Kerr and Emery (2011) also regarded the stadium of a certain football club as one of the primary antecedents of the team identification for foreign fans. The following research supposes that when the distant fans visit the stadium of their favorite team, their team identification will alter from untouchable into tangible, and their experience in the stadium may be able to embody the four themes from the framework of Underwood et al. (2001), not only the physical facility. Their tangible experience may also influence their identification on the team. Thus, for a better organization and analysis, these four themes will be adopted into this research and help explore how the elements in the visit turn the fans’ team identification into tangible and its influence on team identification.

3. Place attachment

3.1. Place attachment and sports tourism

Relph (1976, p. 29) regarded place as ‘a multifaceted phenomenon of experience’, and indicated a characteristic of personal involvement for a place, which reveals that ‘place’ is a concept closely related to human’s experience and affection. Place attachment has been widely used to denote the bonding between people and the environmental setting they emotionally and culturally attach to, correlating with affect, cognition and practice (Altman & Low, 2012), though it has been defined in different ways with its wide application in various research fields (Scannell & Gifford, 2010).

The theory of place attachment tends to be used in the home place in the beginning, with a similar meaning of rootedness (Tuan, 1976). The improvement of mobility decreased the difficulties in arriving more than one place, leading to a higher possibility to attach to a place away from home. Thus, place attachment has been extended into the study of the non-local. More studies on place attachment in recent decades focused on the non-local people besides permanent residences, such as second home, vacation residence immigrant and tourists (Lewicka, 2011). The research on place attachment for tourists and recreationists are increasing, relating to their satisfaction (Ramkissoon et al., 2013; Yuksel et al., 2010), involvement (Gross & Brown, 2008), revisits (Brown et al., 2016) and loyalty (Prayag & Ryan, 2012).

Sports tourism is a relatively new focus in tourism and recreation, discussing the travel with the main aim of sports (Hinch & Higham, 2001). Francis and Murphy (2007) suggested sport tourists include active sport tourists, such as amateur athletes, professional athletes and professional sporting organizations, and passive sport tourists, that are the supporters and spectators. Many of the sports tourism studies pay attention to the amateur athletes or outdoor recreationists, who may choose a sports place for recreation such as skiing (Alexandris et al., 2006) and cycling (Kulczycki & Halpenny, 2014). Place attachment for mega event spectators can also mediate event satisfaction and their loyalty to the hosting destination (J. J. Lee et al., 2012).

Unlike the tourists with the main purpose of spectating sports events or participating in sports, visitors to a special stadium are also discussed as heritage tourists or sport tourists. Stevens (2007) introduced the experience of ‘sport as heritage’ with the background of the stadium as a visitor attraction, indicating that this kind of sport tourists can be learnt as heritage tourists as well. The stadiums are also regarded as cathedrals of sport (Stevens, 2007) and ritual place (Gaffney & Bale, 2004; Gammon & Fear, 2005). At the same time, stadiums are also learnt as the home of certain teams or a particular sport (Gammon & Fear, 2005; S. Lee et al., 2012). As a result, place attachment to a stadium is also compared with the attachment to the home.

Looking into the field of sports, the relations between sports and place attachment has been widely studied, mainly focusing on the local communities and sports fans (Kim & Kwak, 2015; Madgin et al., 2016). Nowadays, radios, televisions, internet, and social media have hugely improved the accessibility for non-local spectators. Traditionally researchers believed that place attachment generally formed after visiting the place (Moore & Graefe, 1994), and research in sports showed that place attachment to the stadium for fans can not only be built with physical contact but can also be founded by seeing it on television (Lee et al., 2012). When the non-local fans travel to the city that their home team located in, they would get the chance to form a physical connection with the home stadium. They can visit the stadium with a live game or a stadium tour instead when a game is absent. The stadium tour emphasized the symbolic feature of the stadium (Gammon, 2010), which shows the dependence on the stadium from the team and their fans.

For the distant visitors, visiting the stadium offers a chance to physically contact with the stadium, which can help shorten the psychological distance between the tourists and the team, and change the tourists’ cognition of the stadium and the team. For the tourists, the stadium would alter from virtual to actual, and the change of place attachment along with the physical contact is interesting to be studied. Therefore, the visit to stadiums will be a suitable case for studying the influence of physical contact on place attachment.

3.2. Framework in place attachment research

Researchers tend to learn place attachment by separating it into several dimensions. The framework with two dimensions recommended by Williams and Roggenbuck (1989) is the most traditional. They regard place attachment as a combination of the functional meanings and emotional or symbolic level of place. The functional meaning of place is called place dependence, while place identity stands for emotional meaning. Moore and Graefe (1994) approved this framework with a case study of the recreation setting, and put more affective meaning toward place identity.

Recent researchers have found more factors that cannot be perfectly covered by the existing dimensions. Ramkissoon et al. (2013) organized a four-dimensional framework by adding place affect and place social bonding into the framework from Williams and Roggenbuck (1989). In the new framework, place affect measures the sense of positive wellbeing in visiting specific places and may strengthen emotional attachment through a high-frequency visit. The affective aspect is separated from place identity to be in line with three attitudinal components (Yuksel et al., 2010), and has been proved its importance for a venue attachment (Brown et al., 2016). Place social bonding refers to the interactions among visitors and between visitors and local, which may contribute to the strength of place attachment (Ramkissoon et al., 2013) and can be regarded as a factor of place identity (J. Lee et al., 2012). Kirkup and Sutherland (2017) addressed this framework into the study of tourism motivation and suggests future research validate the framework.

The four-dimension framework is relatively new and try to separate every dimension quantitatively, but the explanation to each of them remains blurred, that place affect and place social bonding can be regarded as parts of place identity, and social bonding happened in a certain place can be learnt as dependence on the place. The following research tends to understand the continual behavioral and emotional changes in place attachment based on the visitors’ experience in a qualitative way, so the traditional and basic framework for place attachment will be adopted in the analysis. The interrelation between place dependence and place identity will also be explored along with the experience.

4. Research framework

Home stadium is irreplaceable for a team and plays an important role on team identification, and the existing research has noticed that fans would form an attachment to the stadium as well as the team. Lee et al. (2012) suggested that fans of major leagues develop ‘a sense of the stadium as home’ (p. 503) by both watching live game and televised broadcasts, and the sense of home helps improve their team identification. Then the improvement of team identification would affect their attachment to the venue positively. Delia and James (2018) proposed that every scales of place relating to the team would contribute to team identification, among which local fans are likely to identify stadium as a component of the team. Although the existing research seldom directly mentions the interrelation between team identification and place attachment, researchers often pay attention to the value of stadium for the fans in their team identification, which has brought place attachment into the discussion of team identification. Thus, the research on the relation between team identification and place attachment is still absent but valuable.

Visiting the stadium through an in-depth stadium tour or a passionate live game is an opportunity for the distant fans to get in close touch with the venue and the team. Gammon (2010) indicated that the stadium visit provides the chance to pay the fans’ respects to the stadium and enhance their identification on the team. The distance between non-local fans and the venue will be eliminated through the precious visit. Thus, it is a suitable case to understand the process of team identification change from untouchable to tangible and the effect of the visit on both team identification and attachment to the stadium. The classification and analysis of elements in the visit will be mainly based on the social identity-brand equity model from Underwood et al. (2001), and the framework for place attachment with place identity and place dependence from Williams and Roggenbuck (1989) will be adopted in the learning of the attachment to the stadium. The effect of the visit and the difference between the local fans and the distant fans will be cleared up as the main distribution.

5. Method

The following research is defined as interpretive research that emphasizing the complexity of human behavior and thought, and suggests deeper investigation and understanding of social phenomena. Interpretivism encourages researchers to understand and reflect the participants and the researcher’s thought and value in the result. In this case, qualitative approach in collecting and analyzing data are more suitable for tourists to tell the experience by their own words without intermediary or overly constrained by researchers and their research frameworks (Veal, 2017), and also better for the researcher to segment and understand the experience. The researcher would try to understand and interpret the process and the change happened among the visitors, combining with the existing theories.

An in-depth semi-structured interview has been prepared for collecting qualitative data, and snowball sampling is chosen to help the researchers reach more suitable cases effectively and cover a larger fan group. The snowball process stopped when new interviewees could not provide a new viewpoint for the research, indicating existing data can stand for the majority of the population. The sample size is set as 15 to cover the possibility in population. Braun and Clarke (2013) suggested a common sample size of between 15 and 30 of interviews for the research to identify a pattern among participants while Saunders et al. (2015) suggested a sample size of 5–25 for in-depth semi-structured interviews. Researchers tend to focus on a small group of people but have a deeper understanding of them, so 15 available interviews should be suitable for the research and the size was ready to be changed if the existing interviews are not sufficient for the research (Silverman, 2013).

There were 21 interviews by snowball sampling carried out in July 2019 with voice calls by the researcher. The initial set of the snowball sampling is 3, and these interviewees were chosen within researcher’s network. Other eight interviewees were recommended as the first round of snowballing, and the rest of the participants were introduced to the research in the second round. Among the interviews, six of them, including two from the first round and four from the second, are not available for the further study, because these interviewees either were not matched with the visiting ways to the home stadium or were a fan of football but not interested on certain football clubs. Among 15 available interviews, two interviews last for 10 to 15 minutes, while four of them last for 15 to 30 minutes and others are 30-to-60-minutes-long. The quality of interviews tried to be guaranteed with the length of the interview. The interviews are recorded with permission from the participants and then transcribed into Chinese script.

A theoretical thematic analysis guided with the existing theory is adopted in data analysis, and the transcriptions were coded and categorized into different elements with related meanings. Though the interviews were carried out and transcribed in Chinese, the elements after coding has been translated into English for a better linkage with the existing theme. The themes among these elements have been identified and reconstructed depending on existing theory.

An interview guide for tourism experiences had been prepared for the semi-structured interview, following the interview steps from Tung and Ritchie (2011). The question set has been proved available and suitable for the research objectives with the pilot testing concentrating on the stadium tour. The interview first asked the visitors for their memory about the whole visit. The interviewees were invited to describe the visiting process in details. Important elements in the visit would be summarized to meet the first research object. Afterward, for a better understanding of their feeling, several parts that interviewees addressed in high emotions were suggested for more description in detail. These descriptions might provide some clues for the influence of the visit on team identification and place attachment and help realize the second and third research objects. After the description of the process, the interviewees were encouraged to share their psychological changes about the stadium and the team, also for the knowledge about the influence of the visit for team identification and their attachment to the stadium. Learning from interviews and the knowledge from literature, the last objective, that is the difference between local and non-local fans’ identification on the team and the stadium, could be studied after the whole analysis.

In the beginning, the study focused on the stadium tour. However, the pilot testing showed that the fans who chose the football club city as their destination might plan to watch a live game in advance and would not stay in the city for another day. The stadium tour does not open in a matchday normally, preventing these fans from attending the tour. Therefore, the stadium tour is not a representative way for non-local football fans to get in touch with their favorite team and stadium, and watching a live game can be a complementary visiting way. As a result, the population of this research has been extended into the fans who have visited a stadium, either attending a stadium tour or watching a live game.

6. Result

6.1. Research context

Football culture in China developed quickly in recent years. Chinese Super League is growing at a high speed, sending talented players to the international football clubs, such as Lei Wu in Espanyol Barcelona and Yuning Zhang in West Brom before. The higher quality of the League appeals more people’s interest in football, and there is a growing number of football fans in China who get the chance to watch a live game and support their favorite team in Chinese Super League.

The development of football culture in China also encourages the fans to acknowledge more football clubs in the world. They can watch international football matches with telecast away from the stadium, including the world cup and other leagues in Europe or other countries. Compared to the teams in Chinese Super League, the clubs in Europe enjoy a longer history, more professional operating mode and higher athletic skills. Pu and James (2017) confirmed that the Chinese fans of NBA may identify with an NBA team because compared to the local match, they perceived better performance of NBA’s match. The researcher believed that many football fans in China shared this similarity and are eager to observe a higher level of football clubs in the world.

In the meanwhile, the growth of economics offers the Chinese fans a chance to travel to the team city in a foreign country and support their favorite teams, such as watching a live game, visiting the stadium or buying some franchised souvenir. The growing volume of the group makes it possible to sample for the research. Therefore, 15 Chinese fans who have visited their favorite football club’s home stadium in Europe were chosen as the sample through a snowball sampling. The interviews were carried out in Chinese, and all of the valid interviews have been transcribed, with totally 66,880 Chinese characters. The content in the interviews that can support the result has been translated into English and addressed in the related topic.

Based on the activities the visitors attended, 15 interviewees can be divided into three groups: three of them only attended a stadium tour; seven only watched a live game, and five visitors attended both of the activities. For a convenient quotation, every visitor will be given a code respectively, as ST x, LG x and BO x, standing for a stadium tour, a live game and both activities. Table 1 is the basic information about the interviewees, including their given codes, gender, favorite clubs, and the activities they have attended. The home stadiums for the clubs and the located country are also in the table for references.

Table 1. Information of interviewees.

No.	Code	Gender	Favorite club	Visiting Stadium	Country	Stadium tour	A live game
1	Stadium Tour 1 (ST1)	M	Real Madrid	Bernabéu	Spain	+
2	ST2	Female (F)	Manchester United	Old Trafford	The UK	+
3	ST3	M	Real Madrid	Bernabéu	Spain	+
4	Live game 1 (LG1)	Male (M)	Arsenal	Emirates Stadium	The UK		+
5	LG2	F	FC Barcelona	Nou Camp	Spain		+
6	LG3	M	Manchester United	Old Trafford	The UK		+
7	LG4	F	FC Barcelona	Nou Camp	Spain		+
8	LG5	M	Manchester City	the Etihad Stadium	The UK		+
9	LG6	M	Manchester United	Old Trafford	The UK		+
10	LG7	F	FC Barcelona, Arsenal	Nou Camp, Emirates Stadium	Spain, The UK		+
11	Both 1 (BO1)	M	FC Barcelona	Nou Camp	Spain	+	+
12	BO2	M	Arsenal	Emirates Stadium	The UK	+	+
13	BO3	M	FC Barcelona	Nou Camp	Spain	+	+
14	BO4	M	Dortmund	Westfalenstadion	Germany	+	+
15	BO5	M	Real Madrid	Bernabéu	Spain	+	+

Note: the character ‘+’ stands for the activities that the interviewee attended.

6.2. Elements in the visit

After a theoretical thematic analysis from the interview transcription, 20 elements about visiting the stadium has been summed up. They will be categorized with the source of the activities first: the contents in the stadium tours, the elements in the live games, and the factors generating from both visiting ways. Table 2 lists the elements collecting from the interviews. For a deeper insight into the visiting, the elements would be further categorized in the following analysis, so they will be coded from 01 to 20 for convenience.

Table 2. The visiting ways and the elements.

Visiting ways	Themes
Stadium Tour	01	Guide for the stadium
	02	The history of the club
	03	The awards the club won
	04	The locker room
	05	The tunnel
	06	The dugout
Live games	07	The atmosphere of the game
	08	Interaction among fans
	09	Interaction between fans and players
	10	The vision of a live game
	11	Game process
	12	Game result
Both visiting ways	13	The reason for choosing this destination and the activity
	14	The comparison of the image from television and in their own eyes
	15	The impression of the field after the visit
	16	The impression of the stadium after the visit
	17	The souvenir bought in the fan store
	18	Post-trip post in the social media
	19	The meaning of the visit
	20	Compared with other stadiums

6.2.1. Stadium tour

The stadium tours are often a visit to both of the museum and the field. To help the visitors know about the team better, there are three kinds of guide for the stadium (01) throughout the stadium tour, that are human guides, audio guides, and the media guides with pictures or videos in the museum. As three kinds of guidance play a similar role in the stadium tour, they will be considered as a whole. In the museum, the visitors can learn and feel the history of the club (02) and the awards the club won (03). In the football field and its backstage, the participants mentioned the locker room (04), the tunnel (05), and the dugout (06).

6.2.2. Live games

When talking about the live game, the spectators emphasized the atmosphere of the game (07), the interaction among fans (08) and between fans and players (09), the vision of a live game (10), the game process (11), and the game result (12).

6.2.3. Factors influencing both visiting ways

Visitors of either stadium tour or live games share the similarity in the reason of choosing this destination and the activity (13), the comparison of the stadium image from television and in their own eyes (14), the impression of the field (15) and the stadium (16) after the visit, the souvenir bought in the fan store (17), and post-trip post in the social media (18). They were also willing to share the importance of the visit (19), and sometimes they compared their home stadium with others (20).

6.3. Category of the elements into the tangibility of team identification

To organize the elements in a better way, the framework from Underwood et al. (2001) will be adopted here. The elements will be divided into four themes based on the framework, including history and tradition, physical facility, group experience and ritual. Table 3 shows the categories of the elements, and the themes will be analyzed in detail respectively in the following content.

Table 3. Categories of the elements based on the themes.

Themes	Elements
1) History and tradition	01	Guide for the stadium
	02	The history of the club
	03	The awards the club won
2) Physical facility	04	The locker room
	05	The tunnel
	06	The dugout
	14	The comparison of the image from television and in their own eyes
	15	The impression of the field after the visit
	16	The impression of the stadium after the visit
3) Group experience	07	The atmosphere of the game
	08	Interaction among fans
	09	Interaction between fans and players
	10	The vision of a live game
	11	Game process
	12	Game result
4) Ritua	13	The reason for choosing this destination and the activity
	17	The souvenir bought in the fan store
	18	Post-trip post in the social media
	19	The meaning of the visit
	20	Compared with other stadiums

6.3.1. History and tradition

History and tradition are important in helping the fans building an emotional connection to the team (Underwood et al., 2001; Watkins, 2014), and better education on the history and tradition can win the fans’ support (Boyle & Magnusson, 2007). As the previous events happened in the stadium have turned the stadium into a part of the team history (Delia & James, 2018), the stadium is an ideal site to convey the history and tradition for the visitors and enhance their psychological association with the team. The interviewees’ description of the elements in history and tradition theme can be found in Table 4.

Table 4. Description of elements in history and tradition.

Themes	Elements		Description of the Elements
History and tradition	01	Guide for the stadium	BO2: The audio guide and guidance hanging on the wall told me that many details in the stadium were designed by Professor Wenger.
	02	The history of the club	ST1: Bernabéu is a little old, but have a special sense of history. Visiting here felt like keeping the pace with its history. ST3: There are many collections that (former) players of Real Madrid have used, such as the gloves of Casillas, and the shirts of Cristiano Ronaldo. BO1: The stadium tour showed us the history of FC Barcelona since 1876. Many black-and-white photographs introduced some important people in the early history, such as Hans Gamper, and the difficult development in the beginning … FC Barcelona did so well in building their culture and history.
	03	The awards the club won	ST1: When seeing the trophies of Champion League in the museum, I can always recall the situation of the games. BO1: When I saw the trophy of 2011–12 Champion League, I can clearly recall the scenery that Abidal lifted the trophy and other stories behind the victory.

Through the visit and the eyesight of the objects, trophies and the whole stadium, history and tradition of the team become tangible. These elements introduce the history and culture to visitors and help the distant fans understand the team and the stadium better. As an interviewee said:

ST3: I have learnt more culture and history about Real Madrid in the stadium tour, and the facilities in the stadium fulfil my enthusiasm and enhance my love for Real Madrid. I am more expected to watch a live game in Bernabéu after the tour.

With more knowledge and emotional link with the team, the visitors’ identification on the team has been fostered, and the sense of pride also increase their identification.

6.3.2. Physical facility

A stadium with current games denotes the existence of the team (Delia & James, 2018). Higher team identification would improve the fans’ identification on the stadium (Lee et al., 2012), while the physical facility plays an important role in making their team identification tangible (Underwood et al., 2001). Due to the importance of the stadium to the team, the fans extend their team identification to the stadium and result in the interviewees choosing the stadiums as their destination (see the part about ritual and element 13 in this session). Table 5 shows the distant fans’ description of the elements in the theme of physical facility.

Table 5. Description of elements in physical facility.

Themes	Elements		Description of the Elements
Physical facility	04	The locker room	ST2: The players’ activities can always be seen on television. Hence, I felt surprised when I got permission to visit the locker room. It felt like I run into the scene on television. BO1: Visitors can sit in the locker and take pictures with poses. if time permitted, I would take a picture with the Messi’s locker absolutely!
	05	The tunnel	ST1: I shot a video simulating the player rushing out the tunnel before games. BO4: We were told to queue in a line, and the guide played the team anthem. We run into the field in line with the background music, feeling that I was really a player of Dortmund, and will play in the match. The feeling is amazing.
	06	The dugout	ST3: I sat in the dugout pretending myself as the coach of Real Madrid.
	14	The comparison of the image from television and in their own eyes	BO3: It’s quite different when witnessing the stadium. The images from the internet and television are comparably flat and skinny, but when I saw the stadium, it’s more vivid and real. BO5: The view in the stadium is quite different from the one on television. When watching a live game by telecast, both of the views of the professional football field and the unprofessional one are similar. But when watching a live game in the stadium, especially after the players entering the field, I sensed the shorter distance from the players and they just warmed up in front of me. I could saw them closely. The distance among the spectators are also shorter, so I can hear the cheer louder than on television.
	15	The impression of the field after the visit	LG4: The quality of the field is quite good, which shows the huge input from the club, compared with the field in China. In China, the football fields are sometimes used for concert, which will cause damage to the grass.
	16	The impression of the stadium after the visit	ST3: Bernabéu is really large and splendid, compared with the scenery from television. When I looked down from the top, I was shocked and felt like looking down from a steep hill. LG3: I lived in the Hotel Football Old Trafford, established by the Class of 92. The view from my room was wonderful that I could see the Old Trafford from the window. The stadium is splendid from my view.

The non-local fans have learnt much about the facilities in the stadium from the internet and telecast without tangibly contact in the past. When they witnessed and touched the physical environment where players and coaches daily stay and work (element 04,05,06), they quickly recalled how they felt about the facilities before and formed a new impression on them (element 14,15,16). Their rich knowledge about the facilities indicated their strong identification on the team, and their psychological connection to the team turned from intangible into tangible along with their contact with the physical facilities. The visitors’ reflections toward their witness of the facilities show that these tangible elements arouse and stabilize their identification on the stadium and the team, confirming the positive influence of tangibility on their team identification.

As a result, the physical facilities can be a tangible form for the fans to sense their team identification, and the fans’ interaction with the facilities helps foster their team identification.

6.3.3. Group experience

Underwood et al. (2001) believed that sports matches can bring a sense of community and family to fans, which can improve their identification on the team. Boyle and Magnusson (2007) and Watkins (2014) named this kind of group experience as ‘community group experience’, which is different from the ‘salient group experience’, concentrating on the match function of gathering friends. In this research, interviewees mentioned much about the experience through a live game and the comparison between a live game and telecast, but hardly talk about the aims of meeting friends by visiting the stadium, showing that the community group experience is the main attraction of the live game. Thus, ‘group experience’ here mainly stands for the community group experience. The visitors’ description of the elements in group experience are in Table 6.

Table 6. Description of elements in group experience.

Themes	Elements		Description of the Elements
Group experience	07	The atmosphere of the game	LG4: I sat beside a zone filling with radical fans. They kept shouting, singing, applauding all the time, and sometimes made harsh boos. But they led me higher throughout the game. If I can watch a live game next time, I may sit in that zone.
	08	Interaction among fans	LG2: when watching a live game, the vision may be limited. Sometimes I cannot see the situation and asked the fans sitting beside me, and they were willing to tell me what happened from their vision.
	09	Interaction between fans and players	LG2: When the emotion of spectators went up, the players can be brought up as well.
	10	The vision of a live game	LG4: From my vision, I can clearly witness the goal of Messi. That’s the most impressive moment of the game.
	11	Game process	BO1: I got a seat in the front, and Messi almost took the penalty on my face! LG5: I remembered that it was a quarter-final, Manchester City versus Tottenham Hotspur, full of ups and downs … (Details about every goal) … At the last moment, Sterling goal!! Everyone became crazy!! But seconds later, the judge said the goal might be offside and needed VAR to check. Soon he proved that Agüero was offside earlier than the goal, so the goal was canceled. The score went back to 3–4 again, and the match ended. We lost.
	12	Game result	LG1: A last-minute volley shot from Özil helped Arsenal win the game.

The spectators, players, and staffs (element 08,09) generate a temporary community and provide the fantastic community group experience to the visitors. For the distant fans, the temporary in-field community is the core difference from telecast or a live game in other stadiums, which enhance their sense of being a fan of a certain team and help stabilize their emotional connection to the team. Meanwhile, the impressive elements in the live game work together to shape a particular live game environment for the visitors and pull them into the atmosphere of the match.

As the in-field community and the environment turn the fan’s imagination about a live game into an activity to attend, the live game as a whole can be regarded as a tangible event and arouse the distant fans’ team identification. Furthermore, according to the visitors’ reflections of the game, the fans identified with the atmosphere and interaction in the live game during their attendance, indicating their growing identification with the team. Hence, as a kind of tangibility, group experience might improve fans’ identification to the team.

6.3.4. Ritual

Underwood et al. (2001) regarded ritual as an activity with three important characteristics: intense emotions, repeat with awareness, and continuity. For the local fans, watching live games might be a ritual since the frequent live games meet the characteristics. In this research, for the distant fans, it is unlikely to repeat the activity due to the geographical distance, but the intense emotions and the fans’ awareness of the precious visit (element 13) turn the activity into another kind of sacred event. The daily visit as a ritual for local fans might be logically considered as a precious pilgrimage for distant fans. In this part, ritual will be used to stands for the sacred event, and the discussion of ritual and pilgrimage will be addressed in the discussion part. The description in Table 7 might help understand the elements and the theme of ritual.

Table 7. Description of elements in ritual.

Themes	Elements		Description of the Elements
Ritual	13	The reason for choosing this destination and the activity	ST1: My favorite team is Real Madrid, and Bernabéu is the home stadium of my favorite football club. Hence, I must visit Bernabéu when I travel to Madrid. ST2: After I got the visa for the UK, the first destination is Old Trafford … I did not have the idea of visiting other clubs’ stadium when I visit the cities, such as London or Liverpool. LG7: I got a period available around Christmas, so I arranged the time for the live game in Emirates Stadium first and then decided to see the London New Year’s Eve Fireworks. ST1: It’s a pity that I didn’t have the chance to watch a live game. Time did not permit. LG5: The stadium tour is not so interesting, because Manchester City is not a club with affluent history and culture, while the stadium tour will focus on the trophies. For Manchester City, the stadium tour is less important than a live game.
	17	The souvenir bought in the fan store	ST1: Several days after the visit, I found the souvenir in the fan store in Bernabéu is more expensive than buying on the internet. But I think the scarf I bought in Bernabéu has a different meaning with the souvenir being sold in other shops. LG4: I bought a scarf, with red and blue on one side and light yellow on the other side, representing Catalonia. It’s beautiful and eye-catching for taking photos. BO4: Although I seldom use the scarfs, I bought one to memorize the visit and the live game. I hang it at home as a souvenir.
	18	Post-trip post in the social media	ST2: Many friends comments on my post. Some of them asked me for some souvenir, and many of them admired me for my chance of visiting. BO2: My friends admired me for the chance to fulfil my dream in the past 10 years. BO3: I seldom post in social media, but I shared the visit with several photos in my WeChat moment. BO5: I posted on the Instagram Story for sharing to my friends and for my own memory. Some of my friends admire me, and I feel a little proud of it.
	19	The meaning of the visit	LG1: the live game removed the mysterious veil on the stadium. LG3: It’s an interesting and memorable trip to watch the live game of my favorite foreign club, as only a small number of fans in China have this kind of chance. ST2: My dream in the past 10 years has come true. BO4: The stadium tour shortens the distance between the club and me. In China, the stadiums do not belong to the football club, hence there is no such a tour for fans, and the distance between club and fans always exists. The stadium tour here eliminated the gap.
	20	Compared with other stadiums	ST1: I had a higher expectation for the home stadium, and it may not meet my expectation. No matter how ‘shabby’ the stadium is, as a fan of Real Madrid, Bernabéu is the best stadium in my opinion. LG6: Although Emirates Stadium (Arsenal) is much better-equipped than Old Trafford (Manchester United), Old Trafford is still more important to me. I visited Emirate Stadium without emotional changes.

Since the intense emotion makes the visit sacred, the elements filling with visitors’ affective reflection toward the visit and the team are categorized as the components of ritual. The souvenir bought in the stadium shows the fans’ willing of taking several objects back to record the memorable visit, while the post in the social media indicates their desire to keep the visit in mind and share it with their friends. With high identification on the team, the visitors endowed the trip with special meaning and made it deserve to be remembered and shared with friends. Their team identification became tangible with the proof of the souvenir and the post.

Similar to the group experience, the visit as a ritual offers the fans a precious chance to technically contact with the team, so it can be seen as a suitable form of tangibility of the team identification. Learnt from the post-trip reflection (element 19,20), the visitors expressed a tighter relationship between them and their favorite team, indicating their higher team identification gaining from the visit. These elements shows that the ritual, an event participating in person with intensive emotions, may help maintain and improve the fans’ identification to the team.

6.3.5. The visit and team identification

Maintaining the intangible team identification is challenging but crucial for the sports teams, so this research aims to understand the possibility to turn the team identification into some tangible patterns to generate a better experience for the distant fans. The result shows that team identification can be seen as tangibility through a visit to the team’s home stadium, and the four themes from the SIBE model can be regarded as four patterns of tangibility.

For the history and tradition theme, the fans learnt more knowledge and improve their identification of the history and culture of their favorite team. The physical facilities in the stadium displayed the authentic surroundings where their favorite team training and competing to the visitors, and the close contact broke the geographical distance between the distant fans and the arena. The tangible equipment helps the fans sense and stabilize their team identification throughout the visit. The group experience in a live game brought the fans into the nervous atmosphere and the interaction among the spectators and athletes, and the fans display their enjoyment of the atmosphere and the interactions, showing their deeper identification with the team. The ritual theme emphasizes the importance of the visit for the fans. The visitors had desired to eliminate the distance and tangibly interact with the team for years. The visit provided the rare chance to realize their dream, and the fulfillment improves their team identification. Besides the visit, some tangible elements that allow the visitors to take away can remind them about the visit and foster their team identification constantly after they leave the stadium, such as their group experience, souvenirs, and the post.

When considering two different visit ways, the combination of the themes can work together to improve the fans’ team identification. The visitors of stadium tour might be affected by the theme of history and tradition, physical facilities and ritual, while others attending a live game especially influenced by the physical facilities, the group experience and ritual. The tangible contact with the team in the visit improves their physical and psychological link.

In conclusion, both of the stadium tour and a live game can change the distant fans’ team identification into some tangible forms, and these tangible patterns foster their identification in turn. The positive interrelation between team identification and its tangibility can be found in the visit.

6.4. Place attachment and tangibility of team identification

Based on the two-dimensional framework of place attachment from Williams and Roggenbuck (1989), the elements of the stadium visit can be classified into the group reflecting place dependence and the other about place identity, along with the four themes categorizing the tangibility of team identification. The analysis will start from a short introduction of each dimension, and then address the reason for categorizing.

6.4.1. Place dependence

Place dependence has been widely accepted as a functional meaning of the certain place for the users (Moore & Graefe, 1994; Williams & Roggenbuck, 1989), and is vital in the research of the comparison of the certain place to the alternative sites or discussing the match between people’s need and the place’s functions (Farnum et al., 2005; Williams & Roggenbuck, 1989). In this study, place dependence denotes the stadium’s unique function that can hardly be replaced. The elements showing the stadium’s irreplaceable role for the fans will be categorized in the place dependence dimension (see Table 8).

Table 8. Elements and themes of place dependence.

Place Attachment	Themes		Elements
Place dependence	1) History and tradition	01	Guide for the stadium
		02	The history of the club
		03	The awards the club won
	2) Physical facility	04	The locker room
		05	The tunnel
		06	The dugout
		14	The comparison of the image from television and in their own eyes
		15	The impression of the field after the visit
		16	The impression of the stadium after the visit
	3) Group experience	07	The atmosphere of the game
		08	Interaction among fans
		09	Interaction between fans and players
		10	The vision of a live game
		11	Game process
		12	Game result

In the history and tradition theme, the guidance and collections in the museum turn the legend of the club into reality, which allows the visitors to sense the history of the team tangibly. The museum of the club in the stadium tour extends the stadium’s function, and the collections can only be displayed in a certain stadium, so they improve the specificity of the stadium.

The physical facilities and the group experience of a live game stand for the basic job of the stadium and allow the visitors to sense the authenticity of the team and a match (Gammon, 2010). For the physical facilities, though the stadiums are equipped standardly, the facilities in the home stadium are linked tightly to the team because of the certain players or coaches, the special design and the events happened in this stadium before, so the stadium has been endowed with special meaning by fans. The perception and comparison of the facilities could only be formed after visiting the specific stadium in person as well. Thus, the facilities and the visitors’ emotional reflection indicate the functional uniqueness of the stadium.

In the theme of group experience, the special in-field community cannot be generated in other stadiums, and the atmosphere and culture of games in the particular stadium are less likely to be replicated. These elements in a live game are linked tightly with the specific stadium, so they should be categorized as the specificity of the stadium.

The visit allows the distant fans to tangibly experience multiple elements that functionally linked with the specific stadium and forms a physical association between the fans and the certain stadium, which shows the irreplaceable role of the stadium for the visitors. Hence, the theme of history and tradition, physical facility, and group experience can improve the fans’ dependence on their favorite team’s stadium.

6.4.2. Place identity

Proshansky et al. (1983) regarded place identity as a sub-structure of self-identity, defining it as ‘individual’s strong emotional attachment to particular places or settings’ (p. 61). Based on this definition, Williams and Roggenbuck (1989) indicated that place identity can be accepted as the emotional or symbolic level of meaning of a place for a person. Following the definition, the research regards place identity as the emotional-related experience in a certain place and the individuals’ emotional connection to the place (see Table 9).

Table 9. Elements and themes of place identity.

Place Attachment	Themes		Elements
Place identity	4) Ritual	13	The reason for choosing this destination and the activity
		17	The souvenir bought in the fan store
		18	Post-trip post in the social media
		19	The meaning of the visit
		20	Compared with other stadiums

Lee et al. (2012) proposed that the fans’ team identification might increase their identification on the stadium, and the interviews could justify this opinion. When the visitors talk about the meaning of the stadium before their visit (element 13), they linked it with the team directly, showing that these fans have raised a sense of identity on the stadium due to their identification on the team before their visit:

ST1: My favourite team is Real Madrid, and Bernabéu is the home stadium of my favourite football club. Hence, I must visit Bernabéu when I travel to Madrid.

Several interviewees also expressed their unwillingness to visit the club’s competitor’s stadium, also directly linked with their identification to the favorite team:

ST3: When I travelled to Spain, of course I should visit Bernabéu. But I won’t visit Nou Camp absolutely, because I will not contribute even a ticket to our main competitor.

The analysis of ritual theme shows that the visit has been seen as a ritual because of the visitors’ awareness of the special meaning of the visit to the stadium, so the elements in the ritual theme can also stand for the visitors’ emotional link with the stadium. The souvenir bought in the stadium is technically similar and even have a higher price than those selling in other places, but the fans are willing to afford more for it because they identify with the memorable value attached in the one bought in the stadium. Most of the visitors are voluntary to share their visiting experience on their social media because they regarded the stadium as a meaningful and important destination in their journey.

Other elements after the visits confirmed that besides the visitors’ identity on the stadium which stemmed from the identification on the team, they might develop a new recognition of the stadium after tangibly contact with the stadium. For example, although several visitors felt disappointed at the facilities in the stadium, they can still sense the high status of the stadium (element 19). They could not be satisfied mainly because of the existing perfect but not accurate imagination of the stadium generating from their strong team identification and the comparison with other stadiums:

ST1: I had a higher expectation for the home stadium, thus it may not meet my high expectation. But no matter how “shabby” the stadium is, as a fan of Real Madrid, Bernabéu is always the best stadium in my opinion.

BO1: Though I am a fan of Barcelona, I visited Bernabéu before Nou Camp, and I found the facilities in Nou Camp is in a worse condition compared with Bernabéu. Though the visit did not shorten the distance between the club and me, I really want to watch more live games and provide some cash for the club to improve their home stadium.

Others might raise positive recognition of the stadium, and regarded the visit as meaningful:

BO3: I was shocked by the splendid stadium and felt fascinated to experience the intensive live game. Overall, I got excited about the visit because it realized my childhood dream.

The affective descriptions in the ritual theme display the visitors’ affection to the stadium, as place identity emphasizes the emotional association between people and the place. Thus, the ritual theme can be seen as the proof of the fan’s identity on the stadium. The fans might consider the stadium functionally worse than other stadiums, but their identification on the stadium didn’t decrease after visiting. Mixing up with the team’s need on the stadium and their understanding of the stadium, the visits help kept or improve their identity on the stadium.

6.4.3. Place attachment

With the increase of both dimensions in place attachment, the distant fans’ attachment to the stadium has been improved along with the visit. Lee et al. (2012) believed that by watching games on the telecast can arouse place attachment to the stadium due to their team identification, and this opinion has been approved in this research. Before the visit, place identity has been formed without physical contact with the stadium, but place dependence was absent. A visit to the stadium provided the opportunity for these sports team fans to tangibly connect with the stadium, and the specialty of the stadium proved itself irreplaceable by other stadiums or destinations, so the visitors’ dependence on the stadium is steadily formed after the visit. Meanwhile, with more contact with the stadium, the fans formed a stronger preference for the stadium. The visit improves both of two aspects of place attachment, thus it can bring up the fans’ attachment to the stadium.

When looking into place attachment in the framework, the result shows that place identity and place dependence can influence each other. Place dependence can be seen as a performance or a result of place identity. For the interviewees, the stadium cannot be replaced by other stadiums and destinations because they identify with the team and then the stadium:

ST1: My favourite team is Real Madrid, and Bernabéu is the home stadium of my favourite football club. Hence, I must visit Bernabéu when I travel to Madrid.

BO4: When I choose the stadium to visit in Germany, I considered the stadium of Bayer Munich or Dortmund. Finally, I choose Westfalenstadion, because I prefer Dortmund and Westfalenstadion is the home stadium of Dortmund.

The research also showed that the visiting experience in the stadium causes emotional reflection on the stadium, arousing the visitors’ place identity. Thus, the behavior standing for place dependence may influence the individual’s identity on the place:

ST3: Bernabéu is better than my imagination. When you looked at it on the television, you may be limited by the vision of the broadcast. But when I saw it in my eye, I found it really large and splendid. The witness makes the stadium better and I appreciate it greater.

BO2: The visiting improved my understanding of the stadium and made me feel closer to the stadium. When I saw the stadium and stepped into the field, I was so excited and shocked because the object on the television or in the imagination came true at the moment.

In summary, learnt from the interviewees, place identity and place dependence can influence each other, and the interaction between the dimensions can positively influence the fans’ integral attachment to the stadium.

6.5. Influence between team identification and place attachment

Through the tangibility of team identification and two dimensions of place attachment, team identification’s influence on the place attachment and how the place attachment impact on the team identification can be more understandable.

The fans’ attachment to the stadium is associated tightly with team identification. Before the visit, the visitors’ identity on the stadium has stemmed from team identification. With a visit to the home stadium of their favorite team, the tangible elements in the certain stadium are endowed with special meaning generating from the visitors’ existing identification on the team, and helps the distant fans form their dependence on the specific stadium. Afterward, the contacts in short distance improve their emotional association with the stadium. Thus, the visit can help increase the visitors’ attachment to the stadium.

Meanwhile, the tangible interaction with the certain stadium arouse and stabilize the visitors’ affection toward the team, and this effect cannot be replaced by visiting other stadiums or destination. Therefore, the increasing place attachment helps foster and improve the visitors’ team identification. Team identification and place attachment can influence each other positively through a visit to the team’s home stadium.

7. Conclusion and discussion

The research aims to learn the possibility of altering the distant fans’ team identification into some tangible patterns for better maintenance, through a visit to the home stadium of their favorite teams. Team identification and place attachment, as the link with the team and the stadium respectively, has been introduced for a better analysis, and qualitative research with the cases of Chinese visitors to European football clubs’ stadiums was carried out.

Learning from fifteen interviewees’ visiting experience, twenty elements in the visit have been looked up and categorized. The result shows that four themes in the social identity-brand equity model, that are history and tradition, physical facility, group experience, and ritual, are suitable to be regarded as the patterns of tangibility of team identification. The elements in the visit make the team identification tangible to sense and experience for the distant fans, and the stadiums and the visit can be seen as a concentration of the tangibility of team identification. The tangible elements in the visit help foster the visitors’ team identification, and the visit improves the distant fans’ attachment to the stadium. Through the visit, the visitors’ association with the team and the stadium influence each other positively.

The discussion on the team identification and place attachment between local fans and the distant fans will be addressed respectfully.

7.1. Difference of the tangibility of team identification between local and distant fans

Kerr and Emery (2011) tried to learn the antecedents of the distant fans’ team identification of a certain football club of Premier League all around the world, and Pu and James (2017) have been learnt deeply into Chinese NBA fans to understand the difference of team identification between these group of fans and the local groups. This research focused on the effect of eliminating the geographical distance of distant fans on their team identification and tried to understand the process as the tangibility of team identification.

The stadium, as a physical facility for the team, is an important part of the tangibility of team identification. Besides the stadium as a whole, when looking into its equipment and the visit, it can provide more tangible elements to support team identification. The research confirmed that the themes in the SIBE model can classify the types of tangibility and generalize the characteristic of each theme. For the distant fans, history and tradition can be sensed in the visit, and the physical facility stands for the perpetual tangible part of the team.

As for the group experience, Boyle and Magnusson (2007) and Watkins (2014) supposed that besides community group experience, there is another kind of group experience, called salient group experience, concentrating on the match functions of gathering friends for socialization. In this research, tourists plan to watch the live game because they are eager to experience a match in a certain stadium rather than watching the games by telecast or in other stadiums. Interviewees mentioned much about the community group experience but hardly talk about the aims of meeting friends by visiting the stadium. Hence, salient group experience might play a less important role in reason of choosing the destination and activities.

However, it does not presume that salient group experience cannot be found from the distant fans. Kerr and Emery (2011) found the media play an important role as an agent in the distant fans’ socialization. Pu and James (2017) also found the distant fans’ socialization through sport participation, friends and media. Wann et al. (2017) mentioned the distant fan’ social connection through social media. The previous studies have proved the media playing an important role for the distant fans instead of the close contact with the team and other fans, which happens in a place away from the stadium. The behavior of socializing with friends to watch a telecast together at home or a bar may also be regarded as a kind of salient group experience, though it does not be mentioned in this research because the research focused on a tour overseas. Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that the distant fans can also enjoy the salient group experience, and this kind of experience can link them with other team fans and foster their team identification. Further research can focus more on the effect of the socialization on a media for distant fans, comparing with the lively interaction in the stadium among local fans.

Another difference is the meaning of the visit. Underwood et al. (2001) believed in the importance of ritual in maintaining customers identification on the brand, thus suggested team marketers should craft several events into rituals to stabilize fans’ identification. Due to the different regularity of visiting the stadium, the research regarded the frequent visit for the local fans as a ritual but for the distant fans as a pilgrimage. The main difference between ritual and pilgrimage is the frequency of the interaction with the team and the stadium. For the distant fans, the visiting experience could be regarded as a kind of ritual, because tourism itself has been seen as a ritual event compared to daily life (Franklin, 2003). The certain stadiums are regarded as a ritual place for football fans (Gaffney & Bale, 2004; Gammon & Fear, 2005), and a stadium visit is proposed to be a kind of secular pilgrimage for fans (Gammon, 2010). Interviewees also mentioned ‘pilgrimage’ when talking about the meaning of the visit:

BO2: Arsenal is my favourite team, so the visit to Emirates Stadium feels like a pilgrimage. The trips to other stadiums were just like checking a list of tourist spots.

LG2: For Europeans, they may choose Barcelona as a destination because of the nice weather or the wonderful scenery. But for me and some other Asian, we may go there for a team as a pilgrimage.

As a result, for the distant fans, the meaning of the visit is more likely to be pilgrimage than a ritual, though they share the similarity in the role of maintaining the fans’ identification. For further studies, the comparison of the meaning of the visit between local and distant fans can be performed in both angles of team identification and the research on sports pilgrimage.

After all, the themes in the model are ideal in understanding and practising when a team or a club explores the way to turn the fans’ identification tangible and stabilize their team identification. These themes should be effective as well in establishing tangibility for the local fans and can be further studied.

7.2. The difference of place attachment between local and non-local fans

The empirical research verified that the distant fans’ identity with the stadium stemmed from their identification to the team, which shows the difference compared with the local fans’ place identity. Kim and Kwak (2015) proposed that the development of local fans’ team identification is full of interaction with place identity, and Delia and James (2018) suggest that the local fans to a team can sense the various scale of place such as the city scale, and the fans may sense place identity specifically on the certain stadium. For the local fans, team identification and place identity may intermingle, because the stadium more or less plays a role in their daily lives. In other words, they may already depend on the stadium in their daily lives, such as being accustomed to the townscape with the stadium. But for the distant fans, the stadium is far away from them and less likely to form place dependence before visiting, so the team is the only connection between the fans and the stadium and their place identity cannot enhance team identification in turn. This can be seen as a difference in the dependence on the stadium between local and non-local fans.

Lacking the place dependence, the distant fans cannot form a concrete place attachment to the stadium until they visited the stadium in person. Due to the influence from place dependence to the team identification, a closed-loop between team identification and place attachment can be formed after the visit and the establishment of place dependence. The result revealed a difference in the consequence of team identification between two groups of fans, and more comparative studies are needed to find out other differences between two groups of fans.

7.3. The interrelation in place attachment

The research demonstrated the influence of place identity on place dependence and suggests that two dimensions of place attachment always impact on each other. Looking into the research of place attachment, the influence from place dependence to place identity has been learnt before. Moore and Graefe (1994) proposed that place identity took a longer time to build with repeating visiting and reinforcing the place dependence, and regarded place identity as an indicator for the level of dependence from the visitors. This empirical research presented that the behavior linked with place dependence may influence place identity. Therefore, in the theoretical aspect, when looking into place attachment, place identity, and place dependence may influence each other, showing that they are not two independent part in presenting place attachment, but can overlap and have shared effect on place attachment.

Due to the multiple quantitative research in place attachment, two dimensions of place attachment tend to be separated, and the internal interaction of place attachment is seldom explained. For example, the symbolic meaning used to be explained as place identity, because it shows an emotional link between people and the place (Moore & Graefe, 1994; Williams et al., 1992). However, the symbolic meaning can also represent the uniqueness and irreplaceable of the stadium, which is an emphasis on the dependence on the place as well. The factors of symbolic meaning might be functional and meaningful simultaneously, and researchers try to set new general dimensions to cover the overlapping field and fit them in universal situations. Moreover, the fixed dimensions can test people’s condition to a place at a specific time, but may fail to explain the process of establishing place attachment. Scannell and Gifford (2010) emphasized three important parties in defining place attachment, that are people, place, and process. The process includes affective, cognitive, and behavioral process, yet less research has linked the behavioral process with the establishment of place attachment. More qualitative research about place attachment can be carried out to help researchers understand the interacting and the forming process of place attachment.

7.4. Managerial implications

The managerial implication can be developed for the football club or other organizations and industries that need to maintain an intangible, untouchable relation with customers. Learnt from the research, the tangibility can stabilize and benefit the team identification for the distant fans, while higher tangibility of team identification and closer attachment to the stadium can reinforce each other constantly during the tangible contact. As an important dimension of place attachment, the improvement of place dependence can enhance people’s attachment to a certain place. Having good experience in a highly dependent stadium can enhance team identification, according to the research. Thus, gathering more relevant functions in one place is suggested for increasing the functional meaning of the place. More elements about the team can be added into the stadium and a better experience of visiting the stadium can be prepared to develop the visitors’ identification of the team.

With a better understanding of the distant fans, more approaches could be adopted in maintaining a solid relationship between the fans and the team. The tangible aspects of team identification can be arranged to foster the relation with the fans. For example, in this research, the visit to the home stadium is regarded as the core activities gathering the tangible elements of the team and beneficial to improve the distant fans’ identification on the team. Thus, for those team without a series of activity for visit but desire to develop and maintain the connection with the distant fans, organizing a trip with a live game or setting up a club museum would be a choice. For the clubs with these activities, other events could be added to the visit package to improve the visitors’ experience and foster their identification of the team. Besides, as the souvenir standing for the tangibility of the visiting, various souvenirs should be provided to attract more visitors to obtain their favorite style and prolong the effect of the trip in team identification. The research also emphasizes the importance of group experience, though the distant fans are less likely to sense the community group experience in the live games. Hence, the club should consider setting up the fan community and organizing activities regularly for the distant fans. Compared with the international friendly games that the whole club travel abroad for matches and the distant fans may watch the live games, the distant fan community could provide more chances for the fans to sense the community group experience. The club might play an important role in the official community to share more updated information for the fans and insight into the distant fans’ emotional demand. After all, with the tangible elements in the study, the abstract emotional connections can be better transferred into the tangible, visible, and touchable form and help both the team and the fans to sense and preserve.

In the post-covid-19 era, the maintenance of team identification through tangible contact for both local and distant fans become more difficult. For the distant fans, if they have planned to visit the stadium in recent years, the pandemic might have prevented them from the travel plans. However, for the distant fans, the plan of the visit had to take the arrangement of a long vacation and the visa application into consideration, thus the visit plan always long-lasted. The interviews were carried out before the pandemic, and the interviewees showed their continuous strong willing of visiting before the trip for years:

ST2: My dream in the past ten years has come true.

BO2: My friends admired me for the chance to fulfil my dream in the past ten years.

Therefore, the researcher believes that though the visiting plan would be delayed for several years, it would be in the bucket list for the distant fans as long as they keep their identification of the team. So the pandemic would influence less on the distant fans’ team identification.

Compared with the delayed plan of the distant fans, the pandemic strongly interfered with the local fans’ habitual tangible contact with the team. The research might also contribute to the maintenance of the relationship with the local fans. Before the pandemic, the frequent matches had formed a ritual for the local fans to gather and entertain, but it has to be interrupted due to the restriction of the audience attendance. Only a small number of spectators are allowed to watch a live game, which influencing the continuity of the ritual. It seems that the social distance arouses the geographical distance to the local fans that they could not go to the stadium regularly. The locals are facing a similar problem of geographical distance with the distant fans.

The club temporarily lost the chance of gathering their local fans to tangibly contact the stadium and maintain their tangible team identification. The tangible contact with physical facilities in the stadium has to stop, but other elements of history and tradition, group experience and ritual can also foster the fans’ identification on the team. In this situation, the other three aspects should play a more important role in keeping the team identification. For example, from the view of history and tradition, more exhibitions about the team’s history on the internet can improve the fans’ understanding of the club, which has been adopted in some online museums. To help the local fans tangibly sense the history, some exhibits can be designed into models and delivered to the fans. For the group experience and the ritual, organizing the online events to gather the fans for a match can simulate the live game atmosphere and the community experience, which can help to keep the group experience and the habit of attending the live game. Souvenir of the attendance in the remote live game, such as a paper ticket for the online event, can also be delivered to the fans to tangibly memorize the special participation and interaction between the fans and the team. Although these remote experience would perform better if the participants can sense them lively in a stadium, these activities can increase the sense of participation and team identification, and help reduce the loss in pandemic during the difficult time. In summary, the study on the distant fans could be applied to the local fans during the pandemic, because the social distance brings the geographical distance for the local fans.

7.5. Limitations and suggestion for future research

Some limitations exist in this research. First of all, the research focuses on Chinese football fans whose favorite club is in Europe. The finding may not suitable for the fans from other countries or of other sports, as the countries are in different period of football culture. Another potential problem is the availability of the interviews, as they were carried out before the covid-19. Though the researcher believes that the research result would not be influenced by the pandemic, it needs to be tested with further studies. Besides, the sampling technique may prevent this research from reaching a wider range of data. Though the saturation of the data is relatively high, snowball sampling may stop the researcher from contacting people in a further relationship, and this may weaken the sample coverage. Moreover, Tung et al. (2018) indicated that the mode of storytelling in the interviews might lead to the capitalization of the memory for the interviewees, thus the researcher might acquire exaggerative affection from the visitors. Other methods of collecting data might be adopted to avoid this problem. In addition, the generalization of the relations between team identification and place attachment has been concluded, but still need further testified.

Several suggestions can be put forward for future research. First of all, the study has notified the local and distant fans’ difference in the relations between the stadium and the team, showing the existing distinction between the two fan groups. Researchers can pay more attention to the difference, trying to compare the distant fans group with the existing knowledge about local fans and find out more distinctions. Also, the scale of the place that non-local fans attached to might be extended. Place attachment has been studied for many years, and researchers have found the attachment to various scales of ‘place’. Besides the attachment to the stadium, the possible attachment to the city and even the whole country relating to a certain team for non-local and satellite fans can be explored. Is that possible for an exotic fan to develop place attachment to a relatively large scale of place because of team identification? This question is remained to be solved. Last but not least, the understanding of place attachment needs to move on by adding qualitative research on this topic. Several frameworks in deconstructing place attachment have been developed, while recent studies still tend to follow the existing framework quantitatively. Modern understanding can be combined with the traditional frameworks in the future to increase and extend the knowledge of place attachment.

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my appreciation to Professor Gang Li for his invitation and patient guide in this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jiaming Weng

Jiaming Weng is a post-graduate student of School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom. Her research interests are in sports tourism and event tourism (E-mail: [email protected]).