Scientific reflection
The article by Behrens & Uhlrich (2019), illustrates how national fans of sports teams (specifically of the Spanish La Liga and the German Bundesliga) are responding to the expansion of their fan base abroad and the increasing popularity of the team among new international fans. The marketing strategies used to attract new satellite fans from other countries can be well embraced by the local fan community as well as not fully accepted in some cases.
In their article, Behrens & Uhlrich (2019) illustrate the findings of their studies among the two teams. Their conclusion of the experiment illustrated in the paper is that local fans of the two teams, in particular, are well inclined to accept foreign fans but only if they adopt appropriate behavioral measures related to the team's fan culture of origin.
Satellite fans (fans abroad), according to Behrens & Uhlrich (2019), are indeed more likely to group together and show a strong bond and sense of community regarding the team being supported. This concept is well explained in the social identity theory.
Tajifel & Turner (1979) in their article conceive the social identity in groups. Members of a group, such as a team support community in our case, even if they are individuals, will be counted as a group because they can identify themselves as individuals in the collectivity of the group.
The belongingness of individuals to a group it´s not hard to establish because in these cases a sense of membership comes into play. But the meeting and understanding between members of international groups, including satellite fans, is the toughest challenge. This happens because cultures differ from each other according to deeper aspects that are not visible, as depicted in the iceberg model of the culture by Hall (1976). Because of the the intangible cultural differences, it is important to make a deep analysis of the cultures of the target markets the team wants to address, because sometimes putting the focus on superficial cultural aspects is not enough.
Richardson and Turley (2006) in their paper argues the distinction between the local fans and the ´others´. What has been confirmed in this study confirms the argumentations by Behrens and Uhrich. In fact the group formation of the ´others´ meant with satellite foreign tourists, doesn’t have to be accurate but the affirmation of distinction is the core aspect among groups. There is some resistance among fans when in some cases fandom is something that can be superficially bought, without knowing what the real values of the team are.
In fact, in the paper by Behrens and Uhlrich (2019) it is very clearly described in the limitations of their study, that local fan groups appreciate satellite fans only when their behavior is fitting to their culture. To be more specific, huge fans prize when other fans react and behave appropriately authenticity-wise or inappropriately in fandom performance.
All in all, globally popular teams like La Liga and the German Bundesliga have a very heterogeneous fan base, so it is rather unlikely to expect all fans to react and behave in the same way and therefore that there are no inconsistencies and disagreements between local fans and satellite fans.
To conclude, it can be argued that in cultural encounter environments such as the sports environment analyzed in the paper, cultural differences are not always tolerated. The non-acceptance of different cultures may be the consequence of fan groups that are not internationally united.
References:
Behrens, A. & Uhrich, B. (2019): Uniting a sport teams’ global fan community: prototypical behavior of satellite fans enhances local fans’ attitudes and perceptions of groupness, European Sport Management Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/16184742.2019.1643384
Hall, E. T. (1976). Beyond culture. Anchor.
Richardson, B., & Turley, D. (2006). Support Your Local Team: Resistance, Subculture, and the Desire For Distinction. ACR North American Advances.
Tajfel, H., Turner, J. C., Austin, W. G., & Worchel, S. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. Organizational identity: A reader, 56(65), 9780203505984-16.