Chinese Super League: Missing Out Aspects on Service Quality and Brand Equity

Abstract

Chinese sports market gained tremendous attention in recent days as China held the 2022 Winter Olympic Games successfully. However, in contrast to other sports markets, the attention given to the Chinese Super League (CSL), the top-division soccer league in China, seems to have decreased catastrophically. The CSL was once popular among the public in its golden era but met a recession in recent years. Service quality and brand equity were two of the major factors that directly influenced spectators' experiences in the western market, followed by previous studies. The study from Grönroos suggests that service quality has three dimensions: functional, technical, and image. The study from Keller suggests that brand equity was built by consumers based on their knowledge and experience of a brand. From former empirical research, it is unsure if those models fit different occasions in China, and whether the depression of the CSL can be explained by the missing aspects of service quality and brand equity. The results from review actions by CSL revealed that both thrive of the CSL and the recession of the CSL followed by brand equity and service quality model. Meanwhile, several suggestions have been raised based on the two models that can be implemented to help the CSL out of catastrophe.