Examination of the correlation between the team image, team loyalty and the audience drives in football: The case of Erzurumspor

The aim of this study is to examine comparatively the correlation between the team image, team loyalty, and the audience drives of the supporters of Erzurumspor in terms of some variables. A questionnaire consisting of five parts was used as a data collection tool in the research. In the first part, Personal Information Form was used; Team Image Scale developed by Jung (2008) and adapted into Turkish by Sönmezoğlu, Çoknaz and Polat (2016) was in the second part; in the third part Team Loyalty Scale developed by Jung (2021) and adapted into Turkish by Polat, Sönmezoğlu, Yıldız, and Çoknaz (2019); The Extrinsic Motivation Scale for Sports Spectators, developed by Polat and Yalçın (2014) in the fourth section and made short and useful by Polat and Yalçın (2020), and in the fifth section, developed by Polat and Yalçın (2014) and made concise and useful by Polat and Yalçın (2020). The Intrinsic Motivation Scale for Sports Spectators was introduced. The SPSS package was used in the data analysis. Reliability coefficients of measurement tools were figured and besides descriptive statistics; the normalcy of the distributions was examined through kurtosis and skewness tests. As a result of the comparison of the normal distribution structures, the parametric test was decided for all hypothesis testings. Pearson Correlation test was used for comparisons of binary variables for hypothesis testing. In addition, the z-score was calculated in the comparison of the r values obtained in the pairwise correlation analysis performed by dividing the groups, and the differences between the groups were examined. As a result of the findings, it can be seen that there are low and moderate correlation between the gender, marital status, watching football on TV, passolig membership, watching the matches in the stadium, purchasing licensed products, and being licensed athletes, and team image, team loyalty, extrinsic motivation for sports spectators and intrinsic motivation for sports spectators. In addition, it is seen that there are negative low-level relationships between age and monthly income level variables and the scales of team image, team loyalty, extrinsic motivation for sports spectators, and intrinsic motivation for sports spectators. In addition, no relationship was found between the education variable and the scales of team image, team loyalty, extrinsic motivation for sports spectators, and intrinsic motivation for sports spectators. Keywords: Football, Fans, Team Image, Team Loyalty, Audience Drives