Ticket sales for Major League Baseball (MLB) games are decreasing annually, yet baseball fans have increased team interest and following in other ways. Instead of following from the stands or on television fans are choosing to follow, for example, via social media. The emerging unified theory of brand equity offers a framework to examine the mediating role of attendance and local television and the moderating role of Twitter followers on the relationships between MLB marketing assets (MA) and team financial performance. Publicly available secondary data are analyzed with PLS-SEM. The results indicate attendance and local TV partially mediate the relationship between non-seasonal MA and team financial performance, whereas attendance and local TV fully mediate the relationship between in-season MA and team financial performance. Furthermore, the number of Twitter followers for each MLB team moderates various relationships within the MLB brand equity research model. Findings suggest MLB sales and marketing professionals should design ticket sales initiatives that not only promote attendance in the short-term but, more importantly, build upon non-seasonal sources of team brand equity for the long-term. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1057/s41270-020-00083-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

中文翻译：

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在美国职棒大联盟门票销售下降的情况下探索品牌资产的组成部分

美国职棒大联盟（MLB）游戏的门票销售逐年减少，但棒球迷却增加了球队的兴趣并采取了其他行动。粉丝们选择通过社交媒体关注，而不是从看台或电视上关注。新兴的品牌资产统一理论提供了一个框架，可以检查出勤率和当地电视台的中介作用，以及Twitter追随者在MLB营销资产（MA）与团队财务绩效之间关系上的调节作用。使用PLS-SEM分析可公开获得的辅助数据。结果表明，出勤率和当地电视台部分地调解了非季节性MA与团队财务绩效之间的关系，而出勤率和当地电视台则完全调解了季节内MA和团队财务绩效之间的关系。此外，每个MLB团队的Twitter追随者数量可调节MLB品牌资产研究模型内的各种关系。调查结果表明，美国职业棒球大联盟的销售和市场营销专业人员应设计门票销售计划，该计划不仅可以在短期内提高出勤率，而且更重要的是，可以长期利用团队品牌资产的非季节性来源。电子补充材料本文的在线版本（10.1057 / s41270-020-00083-7）包含补充材料，授权用户可以使用。从长期来看，依靠非季节性的团队品牌资产来源。电子补充材料本文的在线版本（10.1057 / s41270-020-00083-7）包含补充材料，授权用户可以使用。从长期来看，依靠团队品牌资产的非季节性来源。电子补充材料本文的在线版本（10.1057 / s41270-020-00083-7）包含补充材料，授权用户可以使用。