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This study aims to advance the understanding of both the challenges and the priorities facing Spanish universities undergoing the digital transformation era, to identify areas for improvement in university management, from a managerial point of view.

To analyze the importance and adequacy of various aspects related to digitalization, the authors use the importance–performance matrix, by surveying figures who have or have had a managerial position in the university, such as rectors and vice-rectors.

The results showed that the priority areas were related to strategic and financial management, knowledge management and the society and environment dimension. It all revealed imbalances, the most important of which were in the areas referring to attracting talent, sources of financing, strategic management and digitalization.

The study could benefit from considering or placing greater emphasis on alternative viewpoints, including those of external experts and administrative managers at public universities.

The practical implications relate to university management. In particular, the study highlights two issues that are a priority: attracting talent and training for university management as well as for data management. It follows from these results that legislative development and public funding should be directed towards adapting the training offer as well as the management structure and processes to the context of digitalization.

These results have implications for the public sphere, for decision-making related to the public funding that organizations receive from governments. Indeed, as the empirical results demonstrate, the proposed framework is effective not only in assessing the status of digitalization in the university but also in providing information on the most important aspects that need particular attention to achieve the desired future condition.

The novelty of this study lies in the analysis and evaluation of the digitalization process and how public universities are facing it, from the perspective of university management. Methodologically, the novelty lies in the use of the importance–performance matrix, which not only provides insight into the importance of different aspects to be analyzed but also provides information about their adequacy.

The central objective is to determine the main components of a brand that become a “beloved” brand in the minds of consumers applied to football teams.

The authors conducted a quantitative causal study using partial least squares (PLS) with a sample of 824 participants using an online questionnaire.

Brand love is a construct composed of five dimensions: passion, connection with the brand, intrinsic rewards, emotional attachment and thinking and frequent use. It also demonstrates that the consequences of brand love for football teams are loyalty, willingness to invest and word-of-mouth communication.

Managers of large football clubs must emphasize achieving an emotional connection with their fans and develop their marketing strategies on building long-term emotional relationships which will result in greater investments.

Given the competitive and international environment of the sports sector, the conclusions will be of use for managers of sports clubs and companies that develop sponsorship strategies. Another important contribution is the theoretical contribution of the brand in football teams and the psychological understanding of fans as consumers.

This is the first attempt to establish a model of the background and causes of brand love with respect to football teams and a context also not analysed as is the Spanish one. The analysis does not only focus on the emotional relationship but also include how the possible investment of the fans is modelled.