How do Fans Respond to Athlete Migration in Social Media? The Cases of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo

Due to the globalization of the major spectator sports, athletes have frequently moved across borders, seeking opportunities in diverse aspects. This long-term relocation is called athlete migration. However, athlete migration has been a significant emotional challenge for sports fans. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to explore fans’ emotions and attributions towards athletes’ migration on the YouTube platform by identifying (1) salient topics discussed about the migration of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and (2) primary contributors of fans’ sentiment on the players’ migration. The authors conducted topic modeling, sentiment analyses, and regression using 7,687 comments regarding Messi and 7,807 comments regarding Ronaldo. The results of topic modeling suggested that financial benefit, an internal attribution topic, emerged in Ronaldo’s case, while family and team condition, external attribution topics, emerged in Messi’s case, which yielded more engagement from fans (i.e., pressing “like”). The sentiment analyses showed that Ronaldo’s positive keywords were related to his performance, while Messi’s positive keywords were related to fans’ affection, admiration, and favorable personality. Sadness, disappointment, and anger were keywords contributing to the negative sentiment in both cases. The results make unique theoretical and methodological contributions to sport fan behavior and athlete brand management literature.