Can Football Wash Away Foul Play? : A Quantitative Study on How Awareness of Sportswashing in Club Ownership Influences the Brand Attitudes and Purchase Intentions of Distant Fans

Sammanfattning

Background: Sportswashing is a term of growing relevance and importance, both within academic research and the general society, where nations, organizations, or individuals use sport to improve their reputation and divert attention from unethical or controversial actions. The 2021 acquisition of the English Premier League club Newcastle United by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund attracted substantial media attention and criticism with human rights organizations opposing the takeover, and media describing it as a part of Saudi Arabia’s sportswashing strategy. While many local supporters were seen celebrating the takeover, others opposed the new ownership due to ethical concerns, particularly regarding Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses. This raises questions about how awareness of sportswashing influences fans’ attitudes toward football clubs and their owners, especially among distant fans whose support is not tied to the local community. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how awareness of sportswashing in football club ownership influences distant fans’ attitudes toward the club and its owner, as well as their intentions to purchase club-related products. By focusing on distant fans, the study aims to examine how supporters without ties to the club’s local community respond to ownership by sportswashers. Method: The study adopts a positivist research design and deductive research approach, collecting quantitative data through an online, cross-sectional survey. The data collection generated 112 usable responses from distant fans of English professional football clubs through the survey where respondents were exposed to a fictional club ownership scenario associated with sportswashing. Reliability, correlation, and regression were assessed to present the data and examine the relationships between awareness of sportswashing, brand attitudes, and purchase intentions. Conclusion: The findings suggest that awareness of sportswashing negatively influences distant fans’ attitudes toward both the football club and its owner. Meanwhile, purchase intentions are primarily influenced by distant fans’ attitudes toward the club itself. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that while awareness of sportswashing matters, its impact on distant fans’ emotional and behavioral intentions is not straightforward. Instead, the effect of awareness of sportswashing on brand attitudes and purchase intentions strongly depends on the relationship that distant fans have with the club they support, where positive attitudes toward the club may work to reduce any negative evaluations associated with the owner.