The effect of star player's brand image in sport teams and fan identification on sponsor's products purchase intention

Sport is an activity and people's common language that is perceived in the same way by all the people in the World. Sports marketing is all the activities aimed at meeting the wishes and needs of the sports consumers. Sports marketing can take place in three ways. These are; marketing the sport as a product, sports tools marketing and using sports figures (team, player, coach, etc.) for the promotion and marketing of industrial products. One of the most used activity to promote industrial products is sports sponsorship. More and more sponsorships are being invested day after day and sports sponsorship has been the most invested area among the sponsorship types for years. For this reason, the main aim of the study is to examine the formation of buying intentions towards consumers and the variables that are thought to have the power to influence that intention. In this study, it has been surveyed that the influence of the star players in the sports teams on the formation and development of the fan identification in those who support the team or those who do not support it yet. In addition to this, the influence of the fan identification on the intention to purchase of sponsor products, has been surveyed. Also, the influence of star players on sport teams 'intention to purchase sponsors' products is studied. In line with all these aims, while the 2016-2017 season is going on in Spor Toto Super League; Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray supporters were selected and data were gathered by questionnaire method from them. The structural equation model was used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the study, it has been seen that the brand image of star players in sports teams has an effect on the intention of purchasing both fan ID and sponsor products. In addition, while the influence of supporters' intention to purchase sponsored products was also supported by other studies in the literature, strong influences were found among the variables constituting the research model of the study. It has also been determined that the star player's brand image has indirect effects on the intention of purchasing sponsor products both directly and through fan identification.