The Influence of Brand Equity and Fan's Team Identification on Brand Extension of Esteghlal and Persepolis Football Teams

The aim of this research was to examine the influence of brand equity and fan's team identification on the brand extension of Esteghlal and Persepolis Football teams. This research was a kind of descriptive and survey. The statistical population consisted of fans of Esteghlal and Persepolis football teams. The statistical sample consisted of spectators of matches between two teams on 23 November 2014. Sampling was random and based on the Morgan table, 400 questionnaires were distributed between spectators and 340 complete questionnaires were gathered. The research tool was a questionnaire with 3 parts: Brand equity, Fan's Team Identification, and Brand extension. Before performing, the reliability and validity of the questionnaire were reviewed and approved. Confirmatory factor analysis was used for construct validity and the structural equations Model in Lisrel software was used for examining the relationships and offering the research model. The model test results showed that the Model fit with data was good and the Impact coefficients of brand equity on fan's team identification (0.74), brand equity on brand extension (0.54), and fan's team identification on a brand extension of Esteghlal and Persepolis football teams (0.46) was significant. Totally it can be said that brand equity and fan's team identification are two important factors influence brand extension that club managers should have tried to improve for the success of brand extension.