Abstract

Football is one of the most popular sports in the UAE as well as in the world. Football league and clubs rely heavily upon the spectators’ turnout for the creation of the much-needed revenue to cater for their operational costs. The UAE seems to be quite involved in football as evident by the million dollar sponsorship of English Premier League clubs like Arsenal and Manchester City. Despite such massive investments, the UAE domestic league attendance has remained a significant challenge to the organizers of football matches continue to struggle with the problem of low spectator attendance at stadiums during match days which consequently translates to low revenue collection making it difficult to run the clubs. This paper points out that the answers to the low spectator attendance have remained vague to date. As a consequence, the study presented an analysis of football promotion strategies in the UAE so as to understand the underlying problem. The study used a quantitative research method where sample survey technique was used to gather the required data for the research process. Analysis of the data was done using modern statistical tools such as SPSS and Excel to ease the process and produce neat and accurate results. The study concluded that the gender, age, education, changing the name of the Pro League and hiring of well-known foreign players in the clubs had a significant impact on the marketing of the UAE football pro league if jointly assessed. However, if individually evaluated, changing the official name of the UAE football pro league was found to influence the marketing outcome insignificantly. The rest of the factors, gender, age, education and hiring of well-known foreign players in the clubs, individually affected the marketing outcome of the UAE football pro league.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Introduction. 5

1.1 Overview.. 5

1.2 Background to the study. 6

1.3 Problem statement 7

1.4 Research objectives. 9

1.5 Research hypothesis. 9

1.6 Significance of the study. 9

1.7 Scope of the study. 10

1.8 Limitations and delimitations. 10

Chapter two: Literature Review.. 12

2.0 Overview.. 12

2.1 The UAE Football League. 12

2.2 The UAE Football League Attendance Problem.. 13

2.2.1 Spectator Motivations. 14

2.2.2 Football Demand and the Turnout Problem.. 15

2.2.3 Promotion of the UAE Football League. 16

2.2.4 Marketing Mix Strategies. 19

2.2.5 The Quality of the Matches. 21

2.2.6 Age Variation. 22

2.2.6 Spectator Attitudes. 22

2.2.7 The Stadium and its Facilities. 23

Chapter Three: Research Methodology. 25

3.1 Overview.. 25

3.2 Research Design. 25

3.2.1 Descriptive and analytical research. 25

3.2.2 Applied and Fundamental Research Designs. 26

3.2.3 Qualitative and Quantitative Research Designs. 26

3.2.4 Conceptual and Empirical Types of Research. 27

3.3 Research Method. 27

3.3.1 Quantitative Research Methodology. 28

3.3.2 Qualitative Research Methodology. 28

3.3.3 Mixed Research Methodology. 29

3.4 Target Population. 29

3.4 Sampling Techniques and Sample Size Determination. 30

3.4.1 Sampling Procedures. 30

3.4.2 Sample Size. 31

3.4.3 Participation. 32

3.6 Ethical Considerations. 32

3.6.1 Discussion of Intellectual Property. 33

3.6.2 Conscious of Multiple Roles. 33

3.6.3 Informed-Consent Rules. 34

3.6.4 Confidentiality and Privacy. 35

3.6.5 Tap into Ethical Resources. 35

3.7 Systematic Presentation of the Data. 35

3.7.1 Primary methods of data collection. 36

3.7.2 Secondary Methods of Data Collection. 39

3.7.3 Independent Variables. 39

3.7.4 Dependent Variables. 39

3.7.5 Questionnaire Design. 40

3.8 Data Analysis Plan. 40

Chapter Four: Discussion, Analysis and Interpretation of the Data. 43

4.1 Demographic background. 43

4.2 Analysis of the Survey Questions. 47

Chapter Five: Conclusions and Recommendations. 65

5.1 Conclusions. 65

5.2 Recommendations. 67

5.2.1 Recommendations to the Governments. 67

5.2.2 Recommendations to the Stakeholders. 68

5.2.3 Recommendations for Future Research. 68

1.1 Overview

The institution responsible for the promotion and marketing of football in the UAE is the United Arabs Emirates Football Association (UAEFA) (Moreno & Lozano, 2014). It is tasked with the responsibility of promoting the football games, organizing and coordinating youth programmes along with improvement of not only the talents of its players, but also the trainers involved with the association’s both regional and national teams. The UAE Football league (UFL) was formed in 1973. However, UFL attained professional status almost 35 years later during the 2008-09 season. For all that period, UFL used to be the most famous league in the UAE. UFL was a 12-member owned association mostly constituting the individual clubs distributed across the country. The twelve clubs include the following: Bani Yas, Al Jazira, Alwas, Sharjah FC, Al Shabab, Al Nasr, Al Wahda, Al Ahli, Al Ain, Dubai, Ajman, and Emirates Club (Douglas, 2015).

The clubs’ membership usually depended on the performance of their football teams in the league. There are four football tournaments that fall under the UFL management. They include the Etisalat Super Cup; the Etisalat Pro-League; the Etisalat Reserve League and the Etisalat Cup. Etisalat pro-league is the UAE’s professional league consisting of twelve football clubs which compete against each other twice throughout the tournament period. One tournament period or season normally lasts for about ten months. Etisalat pro league is quite a young league as its first edition was launched in the 2008-09 season (Hutchinson, 2013). Etisalat super cup is usually the tournament which opens up the UFL season. Etisalat super cup usually gets played between the prior season’s pro-league champions and the defenders of the president’s cup. This league is also relatively new as its first edition was held towards the end of 2008. The Etisilat cup-also known as the “roud-robin tournament,” cosists of two categories of six teams each who compete against each other throughout the year. Finally, the etisalalt reserve league incorporates the reserve teams of each of the twelve professional football clubs.

This section highlights the background to the research and details the nature of the problem that was studied. Other items discussed in this chapter include the objectives of the study, research hypothesis, the scope and finally the limitations and delimitations of the study.
1.2 Background to the study

Football is arguably the top professional sporting activity widely practiced in the United Arab Emirates. Though UAE is not the football champion of Asia, its teams both at club and international platform are some of the most remarkable worldwide. The sports’ governing institution in the UAE is referred to as the United Arab Emirates Football Association (UAEFA). UAEFA was set up in 1971 and got affiliated to FIFA in 1974 (Dobson & Goddard, 2011). A pilot league was conducted by the newly established institution-UAEFA, during the season of 1973-74 so as to define a competitive football strategy in the country.

The league is divided into two categories namely division 1group A and division 1 group 2 where teams compete in the preliminaries. Several types of competition are held in the UAE league with the UAE presidential cup being the most famous contest which got initiated back in 1978 season. Other contests that have been introduced in to the league include the UAE Super Cup and the Etisalat Emirates Cup.

The UAE has a national football team popularly known as Al Abyad, and was formed in 1972. Ever since then, just like other national teams across the world, Al Abyad has been experiencing both high and low moments. It qualified for the FIFA world cup one time during the 1990 contest where it lost all the group matches to the Yugoslavia, Colombia and West Germany. UAE is a member state to the Union of Arab Football Association (UAFA) and participate in their contests. The UAFA platform provided UAE with an international recognition when it hosted and won the 2007 Gulf Cup of Nations. UAE has several clubs that participates in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions league that takes place every year. Al Ain won the AFC champions league in 2002-04 season becoming the only UAE team to have ever won the contest (Bridgewater, 2012). However, a number of UAE clubs are popular for scooping the Gulf Cup for Clubs (GCC) champion’s league- a contest for the leading Arab clubs from the Persian Gulf’s states. For instance, the 1992, 2001, 2007, and 2010 tournaments were won by Alshabab Al Arabi Club, Al Ain, Al Jazira Club, and Al Wasl FC respectively.

Having highlighted the overview of the football industry in the UAE, it was critical to review the factors that influenced people to attend sporting events. It was expected that by understanding such factors the sports marketers would be in a better position to understand the industry. Moreover, it would help in the improvement of marketing efficiency so as to cultivate good communication between the service consumers and the providers. Marketing football league refers to the forecasting, organization and fulfilment of consumers’ demands and preferences through the application of marketing principles (Bridgewater, 2013). A better understanding of the factors affecting the sport services’ consumption could perhaps influence the football marketing organization in totality. The primary role of marketing a football league is to popularize the sport so as more people can watch it via the various media channels or attract more spectators to the stadiums all of which results in increased revenues. Other supplementary revenue sources associated with large spectators’ attendance included refreshment stands, merchandise, and parking fees.
1.3 Problem statement

The high number of spectators at various stadiums in both local and international football matches as well as the amount of viewership from people watching the matches via numerous media channels across worldwide makes it one of the most favorable sport in the world. In UAE, football is one of the sports with the highest number of spectators when compared with other sports such as athletics (Palmer, 2014). Football is regarded as a fundamental intellectual experience that footballers and spectators share and hence its assessment is quite important. A football match attendance or consumption of the service via media channels such as TV is one of the most significant aspects of sporting events. Majority of the football club managers structure their plans with the aim of generating enough resources to cater for the operational costs of their clubs.

The ability to attract large number of spectators to football stadiums or being able to command a large viewership is a sensible solution for many clubs in increasing their income along with ensuring they remain competitive (Khan, 2015). Therefore, the aim of marketing football league is to ensure that football clubs realize and apply information about consumers along with understanding their attitudinal and behavioral variations. It is important for the football league marketers to be aware of the factors that affect the spectators’ preferences so as to increase the number of people visiting stadiums and consuming the services via the mass media. A proper understanding of such factors enables the sport marketers to effectively utilize them by targeting the appropriate consumer groups.

With such a great significance being placed on the need to understand the football fan behavior, it is somewhat unfortunate that most of the studies carried out before concerning this topic only focused on the theoretical perspective alone. Several football clubs in the UFL are struggling with revenue deficiencies as they are not able to sustain their operational costs. Due to the difficulty of generating their own incomes, some professional clubs in the league including Sharjah FC are currently borrowing the ideas of other international leagues such as the Europe so as to learn ways of managing their operations (May, Morse, & Palmer, 2014). Therefore, this study focused on studying the factors the affect football services’ consumption among people so as to understand their preferences and behavioral variations concerning football.
1.4 Research objectives

To evaluate the effect of football marketing strategies on the league performance
To evaluate the effect of players’ skills on the product consumers

To determine the effect of the day allotted for tournament on the spectator turnout

1.5 Research hypothesis

The research hypotheses for the study were:

There is no relationship between the allotted day for the tournament and the spectator turnout.
Hiring renowned foreign players did not help to market the league to off sea fans

The UAE Pro League Committee is not responsible for the marketing of Pro League.

1.6 Significance of the study

This study sought to investigate the factors affecting the marketing of the UAE football league. Understanding the preferences and behaviors of the targeted product consumers was crucial in ensuring efficient marketing of the football league. The success of any football league depends on the marketing strategies employed so as to promote its clubs to the various supporters spread across the country and as well as across the borders. The primary source of revenue for any football club is the charges collected on the entry points to the stadiums along with the packing fees. Only a few pieces of research have been conducted concerning the football league marketing in the UAE and majority of such researches only concentrated on theoretical perspective of the topic. It is hoped that the results of this study will provide an effective marketing structure necessary for the promotion football league in UAE.
1.7 Scope of the study

The research covered the area of football league marketing in UAE with particularly focusing on the spectators’ attitudinal behaviors and preferences concerning their support and turnout to the sporting events. The study investigated the marketing strategies employed by UAEFA in promoting the nation’s leagues to its spectators alongside evaluating some of the factors that influence product consumption. Additionally the study outlined both the descriptive and historical information in an attempt to describe the factors affecting the marketing of football leagues in UAE.
1.8 Limitations and delimitations

The study concentrated on the factors affecting the football league marketing in UAE. Therefore, the research was limited to a sample of football clubs in UAE football league. Future research can thus be done to determine the impact of marketing football leagues in Asia as a whole. Further, the concept of marketing football leagues is wide and this study only focused on the consumer aspect of it. Hence, there is need for further research to be conducted on other marketing factors affecting the performance of the football clubs in the EAU league.

2.0 Overview

This study was built on a body of research focusing on factors that promote marketing of football league in the UAE. This section started by focusing the UAE football league in general. Further, several factors were identified and explanation given on how they affected the football league marketing.
2.1 The UAE Football League

The UAEFA is the national body mandated with the responsibility of marketing the football league, organization, and coordination of the youth programs along with improvement of the players’ skills as well as those of the coaches at both regional and national platforms (Madichie, 2010). The UAEFA was founded in 1971 and since then it has not relented in executing the above mandate. The association has made tremendous achievements ever since its inception both at the national, continental as well as global levels. The national football team popularly known as Al Abyad, came in to the international limelight when it made its first appearance at the world cup in 1990 hosted in Italy (Knop, Hocke, & Bosscher, 2010). Several UAE football clubs have as well made an impact in the Arabian Gulf League, which is the most famous professional league in the UAE. The league was formed in 1973, as UAE Football League (UFL), just two years after the establishment of UAEFA. Several UAE football clubs have won the Arabian Gulf League, with Al-Sharjah being the first team to win the match. AlAin made an outstanding record by winning a total of twelve titles of the Arabian Gulf League. The UAE football league is grouped into two categories- the division 1 and the Pro League. Currently, a total of ten football clubs participate in the league that runs by promotion and demotion with the UAE Division 1.In 2007, a Pro League Committee was constituted whose mandate included organizing and coordinating all the functions of the UFL. The Committee was renamed as the UAE Pro League and later on to the UAE Gulf League during the 2013-14 football tournaments.
2.2 The UAE Football League Attendance Problem

There are several football stadiums in UAE where local matches are held. Some of these include Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi and Hazza Bin Zayed stadium in Al Ain. The UAE has invested in football primarily through sponsorship programs and public relations. For instance, the UK-based premier league – Manchester City was acquired by Abu Dhabi at an estimated amount of £101 million (Hophood, 2013). Also, the UAE national carrier – the Etihad Airways; reportedly into a sponsorship contract with Chelsea Football club in 2007 a move that entitled the carrier to advertise its products in the club’s stadium, Stamford Bridge. Similarly, in what was seen as competition strategy, the Dubai-based Emirates Airlines made considerably large investments of about US $195 million becoming the biggest official FIFA partner between 2007 and 2008 (Moriarty, 2010). The investment was a top up on an earlier investment approximated at US $30 million in 2006. The Emirates Airline has also been involved other key sponsorship programs Arsenal Football Club at an estimated amount of US 67 million, which is the largest funding deal in the history of English football, along with the Paris Saint-German ( PSG) – a French based football club (Chawick & Thwaites, 2010). Emirates also sponsored Hamburg as well as AC Milan. All these massive sponsorship indeed confirm that Arab countries are undoubtedly the biggest football fanatics in the world. The efforts of the Arabian states towards football have been recognized even by FIFA through dedicating one of its official websites fully in Arabic language. In spite of the mega investments in football, it is ridiculous to observe that spectator turnout at local league has remained an important challenge facing the UAE marches.

However, some domestic matches in the country are on record for having recorded a considerable large number of spectators at the stadiums. One such tournament was the super cup contested between Al Ahli and Al Ain, an event that was organized by the Pro League Committee. The UAE Pro league committee seemed to have an influence in mobilizing fans attendances at various tournaments. However, in another scenario when Al Ain got its second major defeat in the Gulf Club Cup, the turnout was quite low whereby the total number of spectators was about 15000 in a 42000-capacity Mohammed Bin Stadium (Bernthal & Graham, 2013). To understand the factors that were perceived to be responsible for such happenings, literature on several aspects that influence spectators’ turnout was discussed as shown below.
2.2.1 Spectator Motivations

As indicated earlier, football is ranked among the top sporting activities with a considerable large number of spectators across the world particularly in the UAE. The UAE football league has molded some of the leading clubs and players both at domestic and global levels (Madichie, 2010). Marketing football leagues has for the past decade begun to draw a lot of interests among researchers as they attempt to understand consumers’ turnout behavior. Consequently, a large body research has increasingly been building up. For instance, the motivation scale for sport consumption was developed in research undertaken by James and Trail. The outcome of this research indicated that several aspects of spectator motivation greatly influenced the turnout levels (Trail & James, 2010). Also, further research pointed out that both the main product which in this case was football, along with the stadium design and services also affected the consumption pattern among the customers. Likewise, club loyalty, as well as the product distribution channel significantly, affected the sports attendance.

Several pieces of research have been carried out to investigate the motivational factors behind spectator turnout at stadiums. It is important to recognize that people possess varying motivations for going for footballing events. One such motive is to get entertained, to enjoy the drama or the skill displayed by players as they participate in the game. Another motive that drives spectators to attend football games is their unique interest in the game itself, their love for the football players, along with the tournament quality. The other behavioral motivation identified as the driving force for spectators’ attendance to football matches was that football provided an n escape form the daily monotonous work. People often grow weary form the daily work routine, and they often seek for an entertaining sport to cheer up their moods. Football is one such sporting activity with entertaining aspects and for that reason, a big portion t of the spectators in the UAE prefer watching it as their hobby.
2.2.2 Football Demand and the Turnout Problem

Even though the UAE football league expressed its appreciation to its loyal fans, it was important to note that the consumer base had been inadequate to support a professional club. The UAE Pro League had for quite some time struggled to raise revenues through the use of turnstiles- a device that enables customers are charged as they entered the stadium. Following this dilemma, major bodies of research have been undertaken elsewhere especially in the UK where leagues faced with the challenge of attendance turnout were successfully addressed. First, a conceptual framework was developed for the small clubs based in the Welsh leading league (Kilvington, 2016). Using the English small league as a case study, the research focused on highlighting how commitment from families and youngsters could be achieved on a long-term basis as opposed to a single one tournament turnout. The study realized that indeed some considerable amount of involvement between the clubs management and the community along with the players was very critical not only in retaining the existing loyal customers, but also attracting new fans on board. For instance, in 2008 the Wycombe Wanderers FC in the Welsh premier league successfully leveraged the football club customer relations to justifiable levels making the customer base to upsurge considerably thereby increasing the club’s revenues. Further, this club went ahead to scoop the family club prize of the year which gave the motivation for the case study. From the above case study, several themes emerged to be the most motivating factors for match attendances. They included staff relations with the children which enhanced both the club attractiveness and communication; understanding of the players which enabled to identify their varying motivations; event arrangement and coupon offers; and finally, use of exceptional treatments and providing confidence to the players. Some UFL clubs, such as Al Jazira, have been greatly borrowing from the management ideas of the European leagues such as the one identified above (Boyle & Haynes, 2014).

It was important for the UAE football clubs to start viewing their challenge of declined math attendance from the perspective of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). Indeed, Gallagher et al. noted that no comprehensive study had been undertaken in football league marketing in the perspective of SMEs. The majority of the football clubs in UAE undoubtedly fell under the definitions of SMEs and hence such approaching the marketing challenges facing their clubs in the context of SMEs were widely acceptable.
2.2.3 Promotion of the UAE Football League

For the football promotional strategies to work effectively, it was important to review the various stakeholders within the sector. The first aspect was the football fans or the consumers. It is important to note that football in the UAE was initially perceived as a hobby. However, the perspective has currently changed as it is now viewed as a product which, just like other goods and services, require a lot of advertising and promotion so as to create and increase awareness among its consumers- the spectators. The marketing campaigns are targeted towards the various interest groups in the sports industry. Several UAE Pro League teams have for the recent past started to involve the community as part of their promotion strategies (Staudohar, 2014). However, the approaches taken by the two clubs are somewhat different. For instance, Sharjah and Al Jazira football clubs started targeting schools through their programs. For example, the programs employed by Sharjah FC were more could be viewed as grassroots strategies which involved providing coaching sessions for teenagers. Such a marketing strategy helped to increase the club’s awareness, especially among the youth. On the other hand, Al Jazira embarked on marketing strategies aimed at promoting the teams appeal to the public such as installation of entertainment device in the stadiums like big screen replays, HDTVs, and merchandises including refreshment joints (Chawick & Thwaites, 2010).

The importance of the spectators’ attendance at any football match cannot be overlooked. A great number of fans turn out translates to increased revenues on the part of the club. A full stadium fan turnout presents an opportunity for the football organizers to generate increased revenues in the form of entry gate charges and tickets. With stable revenue streams, a club can meet its operational costs effectively. Another significant aspect of the football fans is their ability to motivate the players by way of cheering them. In fact, a match without spectators could be the most boring thing even to the people watching it via broadcasting channels such as TV or radio (Oonk, 2015). A football game cannot be entertaining if there is an absence of fans in the stadium cheering and motivating their teams to succeed. Spectators give the players the much needed moral and psychological support necessary for winning in a football competition. Therefore, the efforts of the management aimed at attracting large crowds of fans acted as a promotion strategy that boosts the club’s performance.

Second, the football promoters also form an important aspect of the football marketing strategies. The UAE Pro League is on record for the massive promotions that have been targeted towards the supporters and financiers of their teams (Hutchinson, 2013). Most of the football promoters in the UAE were the corporate entities and leading multinationals operating in that country. The sponsors played a significant role in providing financial along with other logistical aids to the individual clubs which participated in the league. Team sponsorship by corporations is part of corporate social responsibilities. Currently, it is widely accepted that businesses do indeed have responsibilities beyond only making profits. As such, mainly due to the enlightened self-interests- corporations take on social responsibilities in as far as doing so promotes its self-interests. Also, those corporations which have been perceived as socially responsible are offered extra rewards or receive customers who are more satisfied while the absence of the perceived responsibility may result in undesirable consumer actions such as refusal to use the company’s products (Hophood, 2013). Also, making a positive contribution to society like sponsoring a football club is observed as an investment which has a long-term focus in a safer, and community subsequently benefits which are equitable to the corporation by generating a stable and improved framework in which to do business.

The association between the teams and such corporate bodies could view as a symbiotic relationship in which both parties benefited equally. On one hand, these corporate bodies provided financial assistance towards the teams to meet their operational costs such as remunerating the players along with the technical staffs of the teams. Moreover, they cater for the transportation costs along with the acquisition of new skilled players into the clubs so as to boost their attractiveness in the eyes of the fans. On the other had the financiers benefited in promoting their products within the leagues they sponsored. For instance, the supporters benefited greatly from the promotion of their products because players wore jerseys bearing their business logo and brand name or image. As it is widely acknowledged, a brand identifies the creator of or the seller of a given product. An important aspect to note about branding is that brands vary of value they have in the market. Some brands are largely unknown to the consumers while others possess a high degree of consumer brand awareness (Hophood, 2013). For that reason, every moment a team features in the field wearing uniforms that bear the sponsor company’s brand it helps to build strong brand awareness to the spectators who form part of the product consumers.

An example of corporations that have sponsored football clubs in the UAE is the Emirates Airlines. The airline has sponsored Arsenal Football club and as a marketing strategy, its players wear jerseys imprinted with the Emirates airline logo. The victory claimed by such a sponsored team helps to market the sponsors’ products in a large way. In fact, a majority of the football fans identifies themselves with the sponsor. Some football clubs have even gone a step further by renaming their stadiums by the company name of the main sponsors (Boyle & Haynes, 2014). For example, Arsenal club has its stadium named as Emirates Stadium- the name of the major club financier – the Emirates Airline. The victories of the sponsored teams provide multiple sensory stimuli to enhance consumers’ product recognition. Since a brand name is what one alters whenever discussing the teams, it helps to create high brand customers which are to the advantage of the sponsors. Cultivating brand loyalty among the consumers is the ultimate reward for successful marketers since such customers are less far likely to be enticed to other brands as opposed to the disloyal customers.
2.2.4 Marketing Mix Strategies

Another important factor to consider in marketing football league in the UAE is the fact that there are also other several sporting activities in the region that attract considerably scores of spectators such as rugby and athletics (Staudohar, 2014). Therefore, it is essential that the UAE pro league or the individual football teams embark on marketing tactics so as to create a competitive edge for their teams. Just like other organizations, the UAE football league along with clubs face significant challenges of the marketing mix strategies. Besides dealing with the football attendance issue, there is need to revisit the target spectators’ composition from the conventional gender orientation. The UAE football leagues have for the past periods been men oriented sport whereby more than 80% of the fans have mainly been males. A better understanding of the above scenario is confirmed by the fact that o