A Study On The Brand Image Construction And Brand Performance Path Of Chinese Super League Football Clubs

With the introduction of a series of national policies,the development of soccer industry has become an important part of building a "strong sports nation" in China.As the core of the soccer industry,the State General Administration of Sports has put forward the goal of creating a professional soccer club brand in China and cultivating 2-3 top-class and worldrenowned soccer clubs in Asia.However,due to the weak professional sports culture in China and the lack of localized brand management theory guidance,how to build China’s professional club brand and develop professional sports club brand theory become urgent problems.Therefore,the study takes the brand image as the entry point,based on the perceptual characteristics of Chinese fans,the brand image of Chinese Super League(CSL)clubs is studied,the composition of the brand image of CSL clubs is explored,the performance path of the brand image is dissected,and theoretical references are provided for the brand building of CSL clubs.First,the study focused on the theme of brand image and performance path of CSL clubs,conducted in-depth interviews with senior fans of CSL clubs,and applied the procedural rooting theory method to conduct an exploratory study on the composition of CSL club brand image.After three-level theoretical coding analysis,a model of Chinese Super League club brand image consisting of three dimensions,namely club team image,club operation image and club personality image,was constructed.Second,combining the coding results of S-O-R theory and rooting theory,the study constructs and empirically proves the performance path model of Chinese Super League club brand image based on the line of "fan experience → club brand image → club brand performance",and clarifies the path of brand image on brand performance and the source of club brand image.The results show that club brand image is the direct driver of brand performance,fan experience is the direct source of club brand image,and the influence of fan experience on brand performance needs to be realized through the mediating role of club brand image.Different dimensions of club brand image have significantly different paths of contribution to brand performance.Finally,this paper proposes a performance enhancement strategy for the brand image of CSL clubs in response to the model of CSL club brand image constructed by the study and the research results of the performance path of CSL club brand image.The research not only has certain practical significance for the branding of Chinese Super League clubs,but also the research results have theoretical value for the research exploration of fan behavior and branding theory in the context of sports consumption in China.