Sports have become more than just games played for entertainment. What was once a distraction to watch and enjoy has become not only an inspiration and motivation for individuals but a representation of countries and different groups of people (Kunkel, Funk, Ceridwyn, 2014). Sports is so prevalent that it has had behavioral and societal impacts affecting the daily lives of people. And because of this, the loyalty and associations created by teams and leagues with consumers is evident more than ever (Jankovic, 2019). A professional sports league works to not only generate revenue, but to create positive associations between a product and the consumer. This is done through branding, and the resulting associations, revenue, loyalty, and emotions are called brand equity (Keller, 1993). This research provides an assessment of the Major League Rugby (MLR) brand, more specifically how the brand has been depicted. MLR is a new, professional rugby league that has franchises located in the United States and Canada. It has developed from seven to twelve teams in just three seasons and is looking to continue its growth. It is important to foster positive brand associations because they contribute to developing brand equity, which would help MLR sustain itself as the most successful rugby league in North America. Many professional leagues utilize social media to help create these brand associations. Facebook and Instagram posts (1/01/2018-12/31/2019) were analyzed and coded, to determine if the core values of the MLR association were being communicated. The two screenings revealed that teamwork was the most common theme/type of content posted on Facebook’s feed out of the MLR association’s core values. The majority or most frequent types of content posted on both Facebook and Instagram were highlights and information/news/updates. This would appear to be following Keller’s consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) pyramid because the main focus, according to MLR’s social media, seems to be brand salience. Which is likely why highlights and information/news/updates are the most frequent types of posts. Since teamwork is one of the most frequent types of content posted out of all of the core values, it appears MLR is starting to slowly use its core values to create associations for its consumers. Respect and enjoyment were included in some posts as well, but sportsmanship and discipline were two of the core values that never appeared in any of MLR’s social media posts. In time, there may be evidence of brand equity through the increase in merchandise sales, tickets sales, revenue sales, and popularity. Future studies would need to focus on the top two levels of the CBBE pyramid, which focus on the consumer side and reactions to the brand salience and brand meaning (the first two levels of the CBBE pyramid).
