The tie that blinds? Developing and validating a scale to measure emotional attachment to a sport team

•An emotional bond between a fan and the team is a highly distinct attribute of spectator sport, yet little has been done to explore it.•A psychometrically sound instrument was developed to measure emotional attachment to a sport team.•Emotional attachment was found to have two unique factors: Investment and Dividend.•Investment represents the cognitive feelings one puts into the team and Dividend the affective feelings one derives from the team.•The differing forms of emotional attachment predicted what an individual would sacrifice for team success.

The emotional bond between a fan and his/her favourite team is one of the most distinct attributes of spectator sport. Yet to this point, little has been done to empirically explore this unique phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to create and validate an emotional attachment to a sport team scale. Guided by attachment theory and following a well-established scale development framework, a two-factor, seven-item scale was found to be a valid and reliable instrument. The two distinct factors termed Investment (cognitive feelings put into the team) and Dividend (affective feelings derived from the team) represent a unique contribution to the field of sport management. In addition, a construct validity test provided quantitative verification of an apparent hierarchy of the emotional attachment dimensions where those with higher Investment scores appear to place a higher (somewhat irrational) value on team success compared to those with higher Dividend scores.