Detroit Tigers fans are a loyal group.
The team's fans ranked fourth in this year's baseball fan support index.
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The study conducted by Brand Keys looks at key factors such as authenticity, fan bonding, history, tradition and pure entertainment.
The top five teams for loyal fans:
1) St. Louis
2) Los Angeles Dodgers
3) San Francisco
4) Detroit
5) Washington
The survey consists of a telephone survey with 250 fans of each MLB team.
“Yogi Berra said, ‘If the fans don’t want to come out to the ballpark, no one can stop them,’” noted
Robert Passikoff, founder and president of Brand Keys, “Teams may not be able to manage that,
but they can manage fan loyalty. Our survey was designed to help the managers of sports teams
identify precise fan loyalty rankings in their home and national markets and provide metrics that
correlate very highly with TV viewership and the purchase of licensed merchandise.”
The drivers of fan loyalty include:
Authenticity:
How well they play as a team, offensively or defensively. Sometimes a new stadium or new
manager can help lift loyalty when it comes to this driver.
Fan Bonding:
Are the players particularly respected and admired on and off the baseball diamond?
History and Tradition:
Is the game and the team part of fans' and community rituals, institutions and beliefs? No matter
how you feel about them, the Yankees (#9, down from #7 last year) have the highest rating when it
comes to this driver and, for what it’s worth, it’s what has kept the Cubs going for years!
Pure Entertainment:
This has always been the most important driver when it comes to reinforcing or building fan
loyalty. But more important than a win-loss ratio is how exciting is a team’s play.
“Because overall league and team rankings correlate very highly with game viewership and
merchandise sales,” said Passikoff, “and since rankings can be influenced depending upon how
loyalty drivers are managed, it's critical that team marketers do accurate scouting regarding the
strategic ball they intend to pitch to fans. All teams benefit from increased fan loyalty levels,
particularly America's 'National Pastime.' Teams need to create strong emotional connections to
succeed with their fans.”
The Tigers start the regular season on Tuesday -- but the home opener is Friday against the New York Yankees.