2022 Volume 28 Pages 56-65
The purpose of this study was to clarify the process by which attachment to the team and attachment to the community are related among core fans of Fighters. An interview and written questionnaire surveys were conducted among the fans, and Kinoshita’s (2020) modified grounded theory approach (M-GTA) was used to analyze their responses. As a result, two findings were obtained: First, there was a process by which local residents’ attachment to the community provided them an impetus to become core fans of the team and enhanced their team attachment. Second, there was a process by which the Fighters has become a symbol of the local community, leading to the increase in fans’ attachment to the team. These results point to the importance of enhancing the reputation of the team among local residents in the management practices of a professional sports team and suggest that building good relationships with the media and the team’s community contribution activities may be necessary to enhance local residents’ attachment to the team.
