It takes more than national titles to make Gators fans bleed orange and blue, according to researchers who believe the sense of community in college sports keeps fans loyal to their teams.
Market researchers from UF and Florida State University are surveying students at UF, FSU and the University of Miami to compare how their senses of team identity are influenced by identification with their state, cities and universities.
Yong Jae Ko, a researcher and assistant professor at the UF Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sports Management, said building a strong team identity is the goal for sports marketers.
The research hopes to prove how important it is for marketers to represent communities surrounding teams and to identify how fans develop and show their loyalty, said Bob Heere, a researcher and visiting assistant professor at FSU.
Heere developed the scale to measure team identity based on data collected from FSU students in 2005, which is used in the study.
He found the students who identified with the Seminole football team had a strong affinity with the school and the state of Florida but did not identify with Tallahassee, he said.
"I think the same thing is going to happen with UF because it's in such a small town," Heere said.
