Abstract
In the context of football’s globalisation, some of the most important football clubs (FCs) can currently be classified as ‘entertainment multinationals’. Sport hospitality provides opportunities to maximise club stadiums’ use so that they can increase clubs’ annual turnover and function as branding platforms. This study sought to identify the main narratives shared online about—and the dimensions of—visitors’ experiences with top football brands in stadium tours. The data collected for this research comprised 400 text reviews for 10 European FCs’ stadiums (i.e., 4000 reviews) written by visitors in the post-experience phase. Content analysis of these Web reviews was conducted using Leximancer software. The results confirm the existence of 15 themes: fan, tour, stadium, team, museum, room, staff, game, (best) place, ticket, seating, recommend(ation), food, shop and attraction. Most researchers have examined stadium tours from a supply-side perspective. The present study’s aim was, therefore, to contribute to the existing literature by analysing stadium tours’ dimensions from the visitors’ point of view. Stadium tours and museum visits are important sources of revenue that contribute to FCs’ economic sustainability. Offering outstanding customer experiences is thus of utmost importance to maximise club stadiums’ usage and strengthen fans’ engagement.
Highlights
Football— known as soccer—is one of the world’s most popular and engaging sports [1,2]
The analyses revealed the existence of 15 themes: fan, tour, stadium, team, museum, room, staff, game, place, ticket, seating, recommend(ation), food, shop and attraction (Figure 1 and Table 3)
This study sought to answer one research question: What are the main narratives shared online about—and the dimensions of—visitors’ experiences of top football brands in stadium tours? The research was based on a content analysis of Web reviews posted by 4000 guests of 10 top European football stadiums
Summary
Football— known as soccer—is one of the world’s most popular and engaging sports [1,2]. 404), but, according to Pritchard et al [4], the cited definition does not cover all of football stadiums’ current uses These facilities offer more products and services than just sport [5]. Stadiums offer diverse complementary services, such as stadium tours [5] combined with other facilities including club museums, merchandising shops and restaurants and/or cafés that create retail experiences [7] These tours are an important component of stadiums’. The present study’s aim was, to contribute to the existing literature by analysing stadium tours’ dimensions from visitors’ point of view Visitors evaluate their experiences online for everyone to see [11]. The fourth section presents the results, and the final section comprises the discussion, implications and limitations
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