The Mattress Makers: Emotions and value proposal in Atlético de Madrid

2

The Mattress Makers: Emotions and value proposal in Atlético de Madrid

Atlético de Madrid (ATM) Football Club has a single-hearted fan base regardless of the

sport results, unlike megaclub’s fandoms (like Real Madrid, from the same city) that

demand a steady stream of sporting triumphs. Literature is sparse about how second line

clubs that must compete with megaclubs from the same city for a fan base, develop a

sustainable value proposal based on their fans’ emotions. We analyze the content of

interviews with followers, TV-ads, and financial statements to deal with ATM’s

emotional base comprised of eleven emotions. Emotions like pride secure a fandom

base loyal to ATM even in the absence of wins. Findings suggest that ATM’s value

proposal (based on fandom satisfaction) focuses on a niche of fierce modern-style

supporters with emotions attuned to the club’s performance.

Keywords: emotions; value proposal; soccer; Atlético de Madrid

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Introduction

Emotion is the lever of business in the sports industry. Sharing emotions about their

club is a strong link between supporters. And that link develops the social networks that

support actual business models (the designs used by the sport clubs to develop its

activities). The actions and sentiments of the rest of the followers can affect each

individual. Thus, followers’ decisions are conditioned to other followers’ behavior,

which is derived from their emotions. If followers’ behavior (including purchasing

decisions) is mediated by their emotions, and if these emotions are linked to the other

network members’, then sport clubs business models must carefully manage peoples’

emotions. It is intriguing how longstanding clubs can align the supporters’ emotions

with the club’s performance in absence of wins; this is, how the club can gather a

fandom loyal enough to support it even in the bad times. This problem remains

unsolved in the literature, and it is related to the dominant type of supporters.

Emotions have cognitive, neurobiological, psychological, cultural, and social

dimensions1. Still, in sports business there are few analysis of emotions from a strategic

management perspective2, even when sport is an interesting context in which to study

relevant organizational issues3. In this field, studies on emotions are mainly focused on

marketing issues4, social psychology5, sociology6, and sport psychology7

Our aim is to cover the emotion-strategic management gap developing a

rationale for how soccer (or association football) clubs should offer a value proposal

contained in their business models that addresses emotions as a key issue in order to

attain sustainability. To do so, we have studied a historic club that lacks of a record

similar to the big European clubs, but is compelled to compete for a sound financial and

.

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fan base with a megaclub settled in the same city. As a matter of fact, both of them

(ATM and Real Madrid) have endured for over a century.

Emotions have a central role within soccer business models, and its absence bans

the gathering of a set of supporters large enough to obtain profits from it—in the scale

needed to act as a global club—. But melting emotions is only one necessary condition

to get the top positions in leagues and in financial scoring. Clubs must implement the

sufficient condition: to develop certain supporters’ social networks that boost the value

proposal, and allow for the value capture. That key element to join value proposal and

value capture is a solid professional management team. This team should carry on a

balanced stakeholder management with spectators, partners (sponsors, media, leagues),

and government agencies.

We argue that, through its long history (it was established in 1903), Atlético de

Madrid Football Club has developed a specific set of emotions that cement supporters’

social networks (which “consists of a finite set or sets of actors and the relation or

relations defined on them”8; this is a concept wider than the common idea of social

networks as set of actors linked only by Internet-based devices). We explore the

specific emotions existing within ATM fandom, in order to elucidate the following

research question: How can the gathering of specific emotions within the value proposal

(the first part of the business model) aimed to ATM fandom be explained? Our

rationale starts with the analysis of the business models adopted by a successful soccer

megaclub from the same city, like Real Madrid. Then we deal with the role of emotions

within business models. Afterwards, we explain the method and findings about ATM

value proposal. In the last section appear the implications, limitations, and suggested

further research.

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Business Models in Soccer Clubs: Real Madrid Football Club Case

The soccer business system gathers the football business medium (clubs, associations),

the income sources’ structure (media, global networks, trade, corporations, capital,

spectators, players), and the expenditure structure (competitors, groups of interest,

suppliers, infrastructure)9. These elements, combined with the club’s strategy, integrate

the football network value. In this network, crossing six “football package elements”

(team, sporting competition, club, event, arena, players, and merchandise) with five

“customers/consumer elements” (fan base, club members, media, sponsors, and local

communities), thirty relationships susceptible to offer value appear10

Megaclubs’ business models gather two elements: value proposal and value

capture. With the value proposal, the club assembles some concepts that allow to offer

an appealing item set for the potential consumers. The value capture tries to retain the

more income as possible from the real consumers. As a result, the club obtains a

sustained surplus when income captures exceeds the costs. Megaclubs like Manchester

United

. Value

relationships coalesce around four main financial sources: media, corporations,

merchandising, and markets. Successful football megaclubs (like Real Madrid, or

Manchester United) obtain flows of money from those sources by implementing

specific value drivers, like a strong brand, huge fan loyalty, or extraordinary

effectiveness of play, as we argue in the following section.

11 (Szymanski 1998) or Real Madrid have been pioneers in the industry. In the

case of Real Madrid, the management of people’s emotions derives in a unique

character based on its legend (it has won the European Champions League nine

times).The club stimulates a dynamic interaction between its history (it is the World’s

Best 20th Century Soccer Club for the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football

Association), reputation, corporate values, and followers’ emotions.

6

Income providers, such as sponsors, spectators, members, media, and institutions,

buy different items developed by Real Madrid: matches, media contents, TV rights, and

other business activities (merchandising, joint ventures with partners,…). In order to

pay for those merchandises and services, they must be compelled by the club’s value

proposal12

How do these elements interact? Starting with some extraordinary players, the club

can win trophies that nurture its reputation. Then organizational dynamic capabilities

allow a proper management of those networks that will attract different income

providers (like the sponsors are). The quality of the links within the networks, as well as

their size, magnetizes supporters. Sponsors, media, and business partners see the

opportunity to make money using those networks that the club had generated for their

own interest. Afterwards, the club needs a value capture system to benefit from the

value proposal. With different mechanisms the club retains some value: contracts and

agreements with partners (sponsors, media, professional associations like the Liga de

Fútbol Profesional, or Spanish Professional Soccer League), ticketing, merchandising,

etc. Actually, European clubs compete at different levels: national league, UEFA

(Union des Associations Européennes de Football) League and UEFA Champions

League. Those clubs that succeed at national level go to the European competitions.

There, glory and income attain a higher level, and winners can then build their

sustainability. For Real Madrid, financial success is certified by its 2012 top position in

the Deloitte Money Football League, for the seventh successive year

. Therefore, the club’s strategic management develops some appealing

elements to assemble the value proposal. Those elements are sport professionalism,

dynamic capabilities (like communities’ building), reputation, corporate values, and

emotions.

13, i.e., it is the

football club with the highest revenues in the world. Considering the scores in the

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Spanish League, Real Madrid won the 2011-12 season, and ATM attained the fifth

place. Then, emotions are the key for building the club’s value proposal. How are

emotions configured and developed by the club’s management?

Emotions and Soccer Business Models

Nowadays, few experiences are comparable to the emotion derived from affiliation with

a sport club14, since it offers a specific meaning to the follower’s life15. Specifically in

soccer, fans experience strong emotions from happiness to disappointment16. Those

emotions feed a passion that can affect to the follower’s emotional life, their self-

esteem, and personal satisfaction17. Indeed, fans and their clubs are linked strongly18

From a business perspective it is interesting to note that followers attachment to

their clubs is twofold: they obtain intangible benefits (emotions) as well as tangible ones

(merchandise)

.

19. Emotion development is a condition to consume club-related issues,

because spectator fervor produces an irrational way for consuming football, rather than

a rational economic one20

The follower has certain expectations about the satisfaction (or dissatisfaction)

of her desires from real world events. So, the fitting process provokes a mental state

called “emotion”

. What the origin of emotion is?

21. Emotions affect followers’ attitudes, biasing their perceptions (and

the subsequent analysis) of the events22

But this mental comfort converges with other people’s judgment to induce a

self-image in the follower’s mind. And the follower tries to be associated (in the eyes of

other people) with the success of her team, because for herself is the same as if she has

obtained the success. This is the so-called BIRG (Basked In Reflected Glory) effect,

. In sum, the supporter anxiously searches for

some events in order to satisfy her desires, because her mental comfort is based on a

series of satisfactions.

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which appears even when the contribution of the follower to the success of her team

was irrelevant23. In opposition, followers abandon their attachment to the team when it

reflects a negative image after failures (the CORF, Cutting Off Reflected Failure,

effect24). The follower’s response to her team’s results is mediated by the level of

identification with it, i.e., higher identification promotes BIRG behavior, and reduces

the odds of CORF25

Having considered the origin and evolution of emotion within soccer fandom,

we deal now with its effects on the club’s businesses. Fink, Trail, and Anderson

.

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consider that the follower’s feelings towards a group (her ingroup identification27)

affect her emotions, but also her associated action tendencies. This is, the follower’s

emotional attachment to her club has a relevant impact, among other behavioral

dimensions, on her decision to purchase the different goods and services

commercialized by (or originated in) her soccer club. Besides these effects on behavior,

ingroup identification also modifies followers’ emotions: after a match loss, lower

identifiers felt sad but not angry, exactly the opposite for higher identifiers28

Lastly, supporters do not assess the club performance in an objective manner.

Their previous expectations about performance, their former cognitive schemes, and

mainly their identification with the club transform the appraisal of their satisfaction

through emotions that blur more objective evaluations

.

29. As a consequence, club’s

supporters voluntarily abandon any try for objective evaluation of their club

performance when they enjoy certain emotions developed within a scheme of shared

expectations and cognitions. This is the idea that club managers could use to break the

link between the team’s results and the follower’s attachment to them. In other words,

match successes are not strictly needed to gain a permanent adherence to the club from

the committed follower if her compromise is strong enough. From this rationale, we

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consider that, in ATM case, even in absence of wins, supporters maintain their

compromise to the club if they share a strong commitment based on the emotion of

pride.

Social networks can reinforce the supporters’ emotions because they see their

reflection in the behavior of others. When the supporter is identified with the

club’s fan base, she feels comfortable in the social network. Thus, the supporter is prone

to behave as expected by their fellows. But the supporter’s set is far from a

homogeneous group. There are four main categories of football spectators: supporters,

followers, fans, and flâneurs, considering their degree of compromise with the club30

In contrast to supporters, flâneurs are volatile, predominantly audiovisual

spectators. They are high-tech-oriented people that usually are linked through internet-

mediated social networks. Spectators’ emotion and their attachment to the club co-

evolve. As a consequence, the club must align the value proposal with the dominant

type of spectators. If this type is the modernist supporter, the club will not be able to

.

Supporters are those spectators with the strongest identification with the club; they

usually attend to the matches in the stadium because they feel a perpetual link with the

club. They have inherited the excitement for the club from their ancestors; then, they

proudly exhibit their longer-than-life affiliation regardless of sport triumphs. In sport

settings, victory is the overall competitors’ aim. So, when they do not obtain a sustained

flow of triumphs, their followers only can maintain their attachment if they develop a

specific emotional complex. Within this complex, fans combine the subjacent victory

quest with emotions that rationalize their adherence even when failures come

repeatedly. From here, we consider that ATM supporters underline the values of

endurance and resiliency when they explain their commitment to the club.

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gain huge profit from technologically advanced offers (like Internet contents, pay-per-

view and cable television, etc.). But if the dominant is the postmodernist flâneur, then

out-of-date proposals (like stadium attendance, and membership fees) will represent a

small slide of its total income. So, ATM’s income structure could be related to the

dominant kind of follower. If the modernist supporter type dominates, then match day

income, together with membership fees, will be the more relevant.

For this reason, it is interesting to analyze the typology of ATM spectators, even

when no group of fans has a pure identity31

. Their significant emotions can suggest

what would be the club’s value proposal. In the following sections, we deal with

empirical work that can contribute to the characterization (emotions and soccer-related

purchasing behavior) of ATM fandom.

Method

We have carried out a qualitative analysis of different sources: interviews with

followers, ATM 2009/10 and 2010/11 financial statements, and TV-ads. First, we have

analyzed the content of ten interviews with ATM followers. Trying to gain a deeper

insight of the huge ATM set of followers, we have addressed our research towards a

specific subset of them that are better informed about the club. These are eight coaches

of ATM Player’s School located at Alcobendas (Madrid). One of them is also the

coordinator of the School. The group was completed with one player of ATM third level

team (ATM “C”, a subsidiary of ATM which plays in the Spanish Third National

Division), and one member of the club.

The interviews took place between November 2011 and February 2012. Transcripts

were analyzed and coded with QDA Miner 3.2. Following on from the research

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conducted by Miles and Huberman32, the themes concerned are derived from words and

concepts common to different participants’ statements. Themes consist of the specific

codes found in these statements. After an exploratory analysis of the interviews’

transcripts (based on a frequency count of the words contained), a number of keywords

were identified. Key-word-in-context (KWIC) analysis allowed us to observe

concordances33, and to gain an understanding of the ways the codes are used within the

documents. Proximity plots help to refine the keyword set. Then, these keywords were

associated to our coding scheme, previously derived from relevant literature34

To conduct the analysis, we made a list of eleven codes (emotional diversity,

difficulty, distinction, perpetual fidelity, importance, impotence, uncertainty, ineffable,

pride, privilege, and sadness). Then, each of the authors applied independently the list to

the transcripts, obtaining a matrix which gathers the presence (marked 1) or absence

(marked 0) of the code within each of the transcripts. Following the approach used by

Neuendorf

.

35, we calculated the intercoder reliability coefficients. These coefficients

appear in Table 1. A literature review on the theme of reliability shows that the

percentage of agreement, and the presence of reliability coefficients above .90 are

“acceptable to all”36

Table 1

, i.e. an excellent agreement beyond the possibility of mere chance.

Interviews’ Interrater agreement

Code Average pairwise Cohen’s kappa Krippendorff’s alpha

__________ % agreement ____________ _________________

Emotional diversity 99.721 .981 .981

Difficulty 99.442 .863 .873

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Distinction 98.605 .749 .743

Perpetual fidelity 98.884 .884 .883

Importance 99.442 .818 .815

Impotence 99.884 .843 .846

Uncertainty 99.163 .753 .746

Ineffable 99.442 .752 .747

Pride 99.442 .962 .962

Privilege 98.605 .859 .857

Sadness 98.326 .827 .829

Source: Own elaboration

These results show a high reliability in the assignation of the codes to the texts

and the importance of these concepts to ATM. The codification provides the basis for

obtaining the findings from the analysis of the transcripts of the interviews, as we argue

in the following section. Then, we deal with an analysis of ATM financial evolution

from 2009 to 2011 (this is, the seasons 2009/10 and 2010/11). The analysis reveals the

changes in the main income sources (in absolute terms, and also in percentages) as they

appear in the club’s profit and loss account. The results are gathered in Table 2. In order

to compare them with the income top performer37

, we also offer data from the Real

Madrid (Table 3).

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Table 2

ATM income evolution from 2009/10 to 2010/11 (in millions of euros)

Item 2009/10 2010/11

Amount % Amount %

Turnover 94.6 100 122.9 100

From which

Revenue from…

Competitions 10.6 11.2 36.7 30

Membership fees 22.2 23.5 20.5 16.6

TV rights 38.4 40.6 40.7 33.1

Marketing and

Merchandising 23.4 24.7 25 20.3

Source: ATM Loss and Profit Account, season 2010/11.

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Table 3

Real Madrid income evolution from 2009/10 to 2010/11 (in millions of euros)

Item 2009/10 2010/11

Amount % Amount %

Turnover 442.3 100 480.1 100

From which

Revenue from…

Competitions 22.6 5.1 27.5 5.7

Membership fees 148.6 33.6 146.6 30.5

TV rights 136.1 30.8 156 32.5

Marketing and

Merchandising 135 30.5 150 31.3

Source: Real Madrid Annual Report, 2009-10 and 2010-11.

Finally, we have analyzed some TV-ads from ATM advertising campaigns

looking for the main messages underlined by the club’s management when it addresses

to the fandom base. Focus and messages (related to emotions) appear in Table 4, and

intercoder agreement appears in Table 5. We draw a set of findings after the three types

of analysis reflected in the following section.

Table 4

Main emotions in ATM commercials

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Commercial Season Main emotion

Papá, ¿por qué somos del Atleti? 2001/02 Ineffable

(Daddy, why are we ATM fans?)

Ya estamos aquí 2002/03 Pride

(We’re here)

Esa extraña conexión 2003/04 Emotional diversity

(That strange connection)

Me mata, me da la vida… 2004/05 Perpetual fidelity

(It kills me, it brings me to life…)

Fe 2006/07 Distinction

(Faith)

Eternamente grandes 2007/08 Perpetual fidelity

(Eternally great)

Vuelve mi Atleti 2008/09 Emotional diversity

(My Atleti is back)

Sueños 2008/09 Importance

(Dreams)

Vuelta al cole 2009/10 Proud

(Back to school)

Somos un equipo 2011/12 Distinction

(We are a team)

Sources: Youtube (www.youtube.com), Sra. Rushmore (http://srarushmore.com),Colchonero (www.colchonero.com), Quienentravuelve (http://quienentravuelve.blogspot.com.es)

Table 5

TV commercials’ Interrater agreement

TV Commercial/ Average pairwise Cohen’s kappa Krippendorff’s alpha

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(emotion) % agreement ____________ _________________

Daddy, why are… 93.939 .747 .724

(Ineffable)

We’re here 99.939 .747 .771

(Pride)

This strange ... 100 1 1

(Emotional div.)

It kills me, it … 87.879 .614 .543

(Perpetual fidelity)

Faith 99.939 .747 .771

(Distinction)

Eternally great 99.939 .747 .72

(Perpetual fidelity)

Becomes my… 99.939 .747 .771

(Emotional div.)

Dreams 87.879 .543 .543

(Importance)

Back to school 100 1 1

(Pride)

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We are a team 81.818 .425 .407

(Distinction)

Source: Own elaboration

Findings

From the interviews, the adaptation of the supporter’s emotions to the club’s

performance in the last decades emerges clearly: in the last sixteen years, ATM only

won five trophies (2 UEFA League, 1 Spanish Cup, and 2 UEFA Super Cup). ATM

trophy cabinet appears in Table 6. So, the interviewees found difficult (an ineffable

emotion) to explain why they have perpetual fidelity to a club that generates sadness

with its performance. When defeats come, interviewees feel impotence to change the

situation. But they feel an emotional diversity because sometimes the team shows an

effective playing. This is, uncertainty is always present (champions usually win, the

worst team always are defeated, but ATM has an erratic behavior). So, at the same time,

it is difficult to be an ATM supporter, and this is a very distinctive affiliation. As a

consequence, they experience themselves as important people. In sum, interviewees are

proud of their ATM affiliation because not so much people can afford the privilege of

being a mattress maker, that is, a follower of the ATM (carrying this name because the

club's shirt has red and white vertical stripes, similar to the usual covers of the

mattresses of the beds in Spain a long time ago).

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Table 6

ATM trophy cabinet

Trophy Number of wins Seasons

Spanish League 9 1939/40; 1940/41; 1949/50; 1950/51;

1965/66; 1969/70; 1972/73; 1976/77;

1995/96

Spanish Cup 10 1960; 1961; 1965; 1972; 1976; 1985; 1991;

1992; 1996; 2013

Spanish Super Cup 1 1985

EUSA Cup 1 1975

UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup 1 1961/62

UEFA League 2 2009/10; 2011/12

UEFA Super Cup 2 2010; 2012

Sources: UEFA, (www.uefa.com); Liga de Fútbol Profesional (Spanish Professional Soccer League, www.lfp.es); Real Federación Española de Fútbol (Royal Spanish Football Federation, www.rfef.es)

The more relevant statements from the interviewees are as follows:

On the emotional diversity

Yes, I go to the Calderón stadium because I love the atmosphere, I like to see my

team’s victory, or, rather than winning, to see my team’s play for two hours and

stay happy there, eating my sandwich, talking, crying, singing. This is, living the

experience in its entirety (Interviewee 2).

Usually, the team is defeated (Interviewee 5).

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Real Madrid supporters are accustomed to victory; for them, football is

spectacle instead of passion (Id.).

[During the season] you feel happiness, sadness, deception: with this team,

things have large changes from day to day (Interviewee 5).

On the difficulty

It is difficult to be an ATM supporter (…). ATM has no self-confidence

(Interviewee 5).

On the distinction

[ATM fandom] It is one of the best fandoms in the world (Interviewee 9).

On the perpetual fidelity to the ATM:

It is impossible to abandon ATM, because those who belong to ATM are

supporters from their birth, it is an inner feeling that is part of their life

(Interviewee 8).

Abandoning ATM, that’s impossible even if I die (Id.).

I think I’ll never leave ATM, because it is like marriage: even when you break it,

it isn’t possible to delete it (Interviewee 6).

Absorbs like a drug (Interviewee 4).

On the importance

[When you are an ATM team coach] you feel important because you are an ATM

member (Interviewee 6).

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If you are an ATM supporter, you feel important because in this club the

supporters are a big part of the team’s credit (Id.).

On the uncertainty

[ATM] it is not a sport success model (Interviewee 3).

On the ineffable emotion:

It is very hard to know what our feelings are about ATM (Interviewee 4).

[To belong to ATM fandom] it can’t be explained, but it is very similar to

ecstasy: you have done the best of your effort [to support the team], and this

implies a high satisfaction (Interviewee 6).

On the pride

[A supporter] feels proud of belonging to this large family [ATM]. (Interviewee

8).

[When the team is defeated] the supporters are proud of their team, because the

players did a good job, even if they did not attain the victory (Id.).

[the most characteristic moment of ATM fandom] was in the final match for the

Spanish Cup [la Copa del Rey] in the 2009-10 season, because, even when the

team was defeated, proud ATM fans acclaimed their players louder that the

winner’s. That was a lesson: a real single-hearted ATM fandom explained that

knowing how to lose is much more important that knowing how to win

(Interviewee 3).

On the privilege

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[To belong to ATM fandom] is a privilege that only a few can afford

(Interviewee 1).

On the sadness

You feel sadness [during the season] (Interviewee 9).

As our research shows, when a fandom is so closely connected like the ATM’s,

other people’s behavior affects the self-image of the supporter. So, they understand as a

privilege to be part of that selected group, because the mass goes to clubs with higher

scores. But some interviewees reported sadness about ATM performance. This would

be a signal of low identification levels38. We propose another explanation for the

twinning of sadness and high identification. Loyal ATM supporters cannot maintain an

emotion of anger because their mental comfort would be damaged. So, they have

evolved from anger to sadness through the implementation of their emotions as a

distinction mark. Endurance is a virtue only if supporters must face bad times. The

Mattress Makers are proud of their affiliation because they consider that they constitute

a very special group: only resilient people maintain their compromise after the bitterness

of failure. They share a cognitive framework, as well as the psychological benefits

derived from it (ingroup identification), that dissociates the sport results from fans’

adherence to the club. Emotional diversity, distinction, perpetual fidelity, importance,

and pride are some of the emotional bases of ATM advertising, because the club sees

them as the keys of a cohesive fan group, even when it is an ineffable emotion. When

supporters are submitted to an emotional roller-coaster (large expectations when the

season starts, some wins and defeats in it, and trophies only at a three-year pace) they

must enjoy themselves at a level higher than the mere wins-defeats succession. In that

level they proudly share a larger-than-life compromise with selected people. This is not

22

a poetic interpretation of the strength of the supporters’ compromise: in the ATM

Vicente Calderón stadium there is a columbarium for funeral urns where real fans can

rest after they die.

Considering how ATM configures the value proposal of its business model, the

income structure offers some clues. ATM supporters love to attend Vicente Calderón

stadium and socialize there. A lot of them also belong to a local grouping called peña.

The peñas organize trips for its affiliates when ATM plays in other stadium (in Spain

and abroad), fellowship meals, and other social events. ATM has over six hundred

peñas. These groupings have a huge relevance for the cohesiveness of ATM fandom, as

the interviews transcriptions’ words proximities show (Table 7). These proximities offer

information about the terms co-occurrence within the analyzed texts, useful for

exploring their potential relationships from a conceptual point of view.

Table 7

Some words’ proximities

Concept Main words related to the concept (and their proximities)

You live Lost Match Plays Bad Derby Important Team

(.47) (.43) (.36) (.33) (.33) (.28) (.17)

Value Mass You To belong Supporters Has I feel It was

(.84) (.77) (.59) (.57) (.41) (.09) (.09)

Source: Own elaboration

Analyzing the proximity between words in those transcriptions, interviewees

express that conceptually the nearest words are the couples lost and match with you live;

23

and mass, you, and to belong, with value. These results (together with previous ones)

suggest that the supporter type predominates within ATM fandom. We can check this

statement with the considered soccer clubs’ income structure. So, ATM one could be

matched with a fandom distribution where the supporters’ set dominates. Collected

financial data show that match day income (competitions) and membership fees

represent more than 46% of ATM total income in the 2010/11 season. As a contrast, in

Real Madrid data of the same season, competitions and membership fees have roughly a

third of total income, similar to those incomes from TV rights (32.5%), and marketing

and merchandising (31.3%).

The main differences between Real Madrid and ATM business models are

depicted in Figure 1.While Real Madrid has always tried to attain a financial and sports

critical mass that would nurture its legend, ATM has not been capable of obtaining that

performance. So, the starting point is to gather a fandom loyal even in the bad times.

That result needs to underline some specific emotions linked to a somewhat erratic sport

scoring; for instance, emotional diversity (wins and defeats), and the value of resilience

(it is difficult to maintain fidelity when the team is defeated). Those fans that consider

that the pride of being affiliated to ATM community is greater than a mere succession

of wins, adores to be identified as ATM strongly committed supporter. They need to

see, and interact with, their peers in the stadium, and in other organizational settings

(like the peñas). Indeed when RM value proposal is aimed to huge postmodern fandom

(loosely coupled with its club), ATM’s points towards a “fandom niche” of fierce

modern supporters. Differences on fandom target between two historical clubs located

in the city of Madrid (RM and ATM) are related to fandom rivalry. Each rivalry in

football fandom has its specific characteristics; these characteristics can be the subject

of qualitative methods designed to interprete fans’ perceptions39.

24

We have two main empirical results: a set of emotions in ATM fandom, and a

somewhat problematic characterization of ATM fandom type. Considering our research

question, it seems clear that those specific emotions are gathered within ATM’s value

proposal because a sustainable one must consider what ATM sport results are. So, there

is a quest for emotions consistent with the ups and downs of ATM’s trajectory. The

strategic implication is related to the fandom type towards which the value proposal is

aimed. In ATM case, the main fandom type (supporters) obliges to adopt a niche

strategy, because it is an outdated fandom type. Megaclubs align the fandom emotions

present in their value proposal with larger fan types. Only large sets of supporters can

offer the money that the megaclub needs to build a successful business model.

Therefore, the megaclub builds a value proposal based on those emotions that result

more appealing for postmodern fandom types (especially, flâneurs). Henceforth, those

clubs can harvest their fandom behavior through the value capture included in their

business model.

Figure 1

Differences between the Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid Emotions’ Management

Real Madrid (As an example of megaclub)

Atlético de Madrid (As an example of historial club without big trophies)

Large budget

*Stadium size

* Debt

* TV rights

Superstars hiring

*Superb players want to come to big clubs

Sports performance

*Trophies create the club’s legend

Social networks

*Growth in TV rights

* Attract more fans

Income

*Partners & Sponsors

* Members & Fans

*Success

*Spectacle

The emotions’ realm

The emotions’ realm

25

Implications, Limitations, and Future Research

Our research offers an exploratory view of how fandom emotions in a historical soccer

club like ATM interact with some elements of its business model. This view suggests

that fans are grouped around a set of emotions attuned with ATM trajectory. So, the

club adapts the value proposal included in its business model to gain sustainability.

These are interesting implications for clubs similar to ATM (a long history with less

trophies than leading clubs, and some financial difficulties), because they can learn how

to align fandom emotions and value proposal. It is a must to consider what the

predominant type of followers within its fandom is. In ATM, strongly committed

supporters dominate; as a consequence, their behaviors and interaction modes condition

all the management action on ATM business model. Supporters are connected to ATM

not only on a sporting identity basis, but also on a social and regional one. So, their

support for ATM does not only derives from on-field performance.1

1 We are indebted to Referee # 1 for this idea.

Ineffable affiliation

*Emotional diversity

*Distinction

*Privilege

*Perpetual fidelity

Community

*Ever proud

*Social groupings that emphasize the physical closeness between fans

Compromise

*Resilience

Income

*Members & Fans

*Partners & Sponsors

*Commitment

26

As other exploratory research, ours lacks of a wide sample of ATM supporters.

Another relevant limitation is the shortage of financial data (only for the last two years);

with an expanded set of financial data it would be possible to test the sustainability of

the income pattern detected. Content analysis of TV commercials is not completely

satisfactory, because interrater agreement attains low scores. Lastly, a semiotic analysis

of TV commercials could offer a deeper insight into the messages sent to the fandom. It

is difficult to draw clear conclusions about fans’ emotions because, if sport teams are

considered “fan texts”, then different fans interpreted their team differently40

Future research could drive along three avenues: comparing the obtained results

from ATM with other soccer clubs to know if their business models have

interchangeable elements, investigating how ATM designs and redesigns itself (and,

consequently, its business model) in order to improve its change processes, and going

deeper into the links between emotions and other elements of the ATM business model.

.

Considering the growing importance of soccer within sports business worldwide, a

sound understanding of the more efficient business models developed by prominent

clubs will be a towering goal in sports business research during the next years.

Acknowledgements: We thank our research assistants Iván Sánchez and María Villar

for their work with interviews’ transcriptions and edition.

We thank two anonymous referees (as well as the Editor) for their insightful comments.

27

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35

Different Sports’. Wann, Royalty, and Rochelle, ‘Using Motivation and Team Identification to Predict Sport Fans’ Emotional Responses to Team Performance’. 5 Madrigal, ‘Cognitive and Affective Determinants of Fan Satisfaction with Sporting Event Attendance’. Madrigal, ‘Investigating an Evolving Leisure Experience: Antecedents and Consequences of Spectator Affect During a Live Sport Event’. 6 Giulianotti, ‘Supporters, Followers, Fans, and Flaneurs: A Taxonomy of Spectator Identities in Football’. Giulianotti, Football: A Sociology of the Global Game. 7 Hanin (ed.), Emotions in Sport. Hanin, ‘Performance Related Emotional States in Sport: A Qualitative Analysis’. Spaaij, ‘Men Like Us, Boys Like Them: Violence, Masculinity, and Collective Identity in Football Hooliganism’. Vallerand and Blanchard, ‘The Study of Emotion in Sport and Exercise. Historical, Definitional, and Conceptual Perspectives’. Vallerand et al., ‘On passion and sport fans: A look at football’. 8 Wasserman and Faust, Social Network Analysis. Methods and Applications, 20. 9 Dolles and Söderman, Ahead of the Game –The Network of Value Captures in Professional Football. Karpavicius and Jucevicius, ‘The Application of the Business System Concept to the Analysis of Football Business’. 10 Dolles and Söderman, Ahead of the Game –The Network of Value Captures in Professional Football. 11 Szymanski, ‘Why is Manchester United So Successful?’. 12 Blanco and Forcadell, ‘Real Madrid Football Club: A New Model of Business Organization for Sports Clubs in Spain’. Boscá et al., ‘The Spanish Football Crisis’. Kase et al. Real Madrid-Barcelona: Business Strategy v. Sports Strategy, 2000-2006. 13 Deloitte, Sports Business Group, Fan Power. Football Money League. 14 Underwood, Bond, and Baer, ‘Building Service Brands Via Social Identity: Lessons from the sports marketplace’. 15 Tapp, ‘The loyalty of football fans –we’ll support you evermore?’ 16 Hay and McDonald, ‘Victory for the fans? Melbourne’s new football club in recent historical perspectives’. 17 Vallerand et al. ‘On passion and sport fans: A look at football’. 18 Koenigstorfer, Groeppel-Klein, and Schmitt, ‘’You’ll Never Walk Alone’ –How Loyal Are Soccer Fans to Their Clubs When They Are Struggling Against Regulation?’ 19 Storm, ‘The rational emotions of FC København: A lesson on generating profit in professional soccer’. 20 Hamil and Chadwick, ‘Introduction and market overview’. 21 Wollheim, On the emotions. 22 Griffiths, ‘III. Basic Emotions, Complex Emotions, Machiavellian Emotions’ 23 Cialdini et al. ‘Basking in Reflected Glory: Three (Football) Field Studies’, 24 Snyder, Lassegard, and Ford, ‘Distancing after group success and failure: Basking in reflected glory off reflected failure’. 25 Wann and Branscombe, ‘Die-Hard and Fair-Weather Fans: Effects of Identification on BIRGing and CORFing Tendencies’. 26 Fink, Trail and Anderson, ‘An Examination of Team Identification: Which Motives are More Salient to its Existence?’ 27 Spears, Doosje, and Ellemers, ‘Commitment and context in the social perceptions’. 28 Crisp, et al., ‘Seeing Red or Feeling Blue: Differentiated Intergrouup Emotions and Ingroup Identification in Soccer Fans’.

36

29 Madrigal, ‘Cognitive and Affective Determinants of Fan Satisfaction with Sporting Event Attendance’. Madrigal, ‘Investigating an Evolving Leisure Experience: Antecedents and Consequences of Spectator Affect During a Live Sport Event’. 30 Giulianotti, ‘Supporters, Followers, Fans, and Flaneurs: A Taxonomy of Spectator Identities in Football’ 31 Bernache-Assollant et al.,’Crossbreeding in Soccer Fan Groups: A Social Approach. The Case of Marseille (France). 32 Miles and Huberman, Qualitative Data Analysis. A Sourcebook of New Methods. 33 Ryan and Russell Bernard, ‘Data Management and Analysis Methods’. 34 Enjolras and Holmen Waldahl, ‘Democratic Governance and Oligarchy in Voluntary Sport Organizations: The Case of the Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sports’. 35 Neuendorf, The Content Analysis Guidebook. 36 Neuendorf, The Content Analysis Guidebook. 37 Deloitte, Sports Business Group, Fan Power. Football Money League. 38 Crisp, et al., ‘Seeing Red or Feeling Blue: Differentiated Intergrouup Emotions and Ingroup Identification in Soccer Fans’. 39 Benkwitz and Molnar, ‘Interpreting and Exploring Football Fan Rivalries: An Overview’. 40 Sandvoss, A game of two halves: football, television and globalization. Sandvoss, ‘One-Dimensional Fan: Toward an Aesthetic of Fan Texts’.