Sport Management & Marketing

Sponsorship studies have generally been focused on attitudinal measures of fan loyalty to understand the reactions to abstract sponsors. This study examines the relationships between both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty with sponsorship awareness, attitude toward two actual sponsors, and purchase intentions. Data were collected among fans of a professional soccer team, and the results of a structural equation model provide evidence that attitudinal loyalty impacts the attitude toward both sponsors and purchase intentions. Behavioral loyalty influences sponsorship awareness, and impacts differently the attitude and purchase intentions toward each sponsor. Sponsorship awareness influences significantly the attitude toward both sponsors, while the attitude toward the sponsor was the strongest predictor of purchase intentions. These findings highlight the importance of examining actual sponsors and suggest managerial implications, such as the need for sponsors to help attract fans to the stadium and to design additional activation strategies to improve sponsorship value.

In the sport management literature, limited attention has been devoted to the conceptualization and measurement of fan engagement. Two quantitative studies were completed to validate the proposed fan-engagement scale composed of three defining elements (management cooperation, prosocial behavior, and performance tolerance). The results from Study 1 provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the threefactor model of fan engagement. In Study 2, we assess nomological validity by examining the antecedents and consequences of fan engagement and found that team identification and basking in reflected glory played a particularly important role in increasing the three dimensions of fan engagement. Furthermore, the results indicate that performance tolerance has a positive effect on purchase intention. These findings highlight the importance of the sequential relationships between team identification, performance tolerance, and purchase intention.

The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of the away game involvement, community identification, and autobiographical memory towards the satisfaction of away games in the context of professional football (soccer). Unlike previous studies, which relied on the participation behavior of fans and their team identification, this study is based on the autobiographical memory of fans who attend away games in Turkey. A total of 204 fans were reached who had minimum one away game experience. The data were subjected to reliability, validity, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling procedures. In order to test the structural model created for the purpose of the research, a questionnaire study was carried out with football fans. Results indicated that there were significant relationships between team identification and away game involvement (R 2 = .80, p < 0.01). Additionally, the relationship between away game involvement and autobiographical memory was significant (R 2 = .95, p < 0.01). This study showed that autobiographical memory has an important effect on game satisfaction (R 2 = .89, p < 0.01), while giving sports marketers a more active role in the engagement process through nostalgic cues. Our study has significant implications as to how well sports team managers design sports marketing and fan engagement strategies based on autobiographical memory.

Athletes often use social media to help build their personal brand, communicate with stakeholders, and promote endorsements. Research suggests that athletes who elicit greater engagement on social media are more valuable to endorse brands than those who simply have a large number of followers. From a regulatory perspective, it is important for athlete endorsers to disclose the commercial nature of sponsored posts. Therefore, based on social influence theory (SIT), the purpose of this study was to examine Olympic athletes' follower engagement on social media with a focus on brand mentions and disclosures of the relationships. Utilizing a content analysis of 190 US Olympic athletes' tweets during the 2018 PyeongChang Games, findings revealed statistically significant differences in follower engagement based on the athlete's gender. Non-brand-related posts received statistically significant greater engagement than brand-related posts, and only 12.90% of the posts that mentioned a brand disclosed a brand relationship. Implications and future research also are discussed.

The current article examines the effects of organisational issues on the perceived social impact from the volunteer's perspective of Rio 2016 Olympic Games. A field study was conducted in Rio de Janeiro, and data were collected from local volunteers who attended the Olympic Games through a self-administered questionnaire (n = 487). The questionnaire included measures of perceived operational, infrastructural and environmental issues as well as positive and negative social impact perceptions. A confirmatory factor analysis analysed the psychometric properties of the constructs, and a subsequent structural equation model examined the relationships between organisational issues and social impact perceptions. The results indicate that the organisational issue construct was significantly related to negative social impact (social conflicts and costs) perceptions. The findings highlight the major role of local volunteers in preventing issues, strategic planning and social anchoring of this event. Managerial implications of these results are discussed and guidelines for future research are suggested.

Researchers have suggested that brand equity is vital for professional sport teams by focusing on the examination of sport fans in general. The current study aims to examine the differences in team brand equity perceptions between fan club members and non-members, and the predictive role of brand equity dimensions on behavioral intentions. Data were collected from fans of a professional football league (n = 2287) with an adapted version of the spectator-based brand equity scale. The results gathered through a confirmatory factor analysis provide evidence of fair psychometric properties of the measurement scale. A multi-group CFA analysis showed factorial stability of the model in both groups, while the latent mean comparisons revealed significant differences in the dimensions of brand mark, social interaction, commitment, team history, organizational attributes, team success, head coach, management, stadium, and internalization. In addition, a multi-group SEM analysis revealed that the relationships between brand equity dimensions and behavioral intentions are not significantly different among the groups. Social interaction, team success and internalization were the significant positive predictors of behavioral intentions among the overall sample. These findings highlight the importance of studying different types of consumers and suggest managerial implications, such as the need for clubs to establish reciprocal relationships with fans in order to increase their levels of internalization and contribute to increased behavioral intentions.

Purpose-The Rio 2016 Olympic Games required a significant investment in the public transport systems, connecting four city's areas and providing different types of impacts and legacies for their hosts. The purpose of this paper is to examine resident perceptions of the public transportation issues in the Rio host city before and after the Games. Key factors underpinning transportation issue outcomes are identified. Design/methodology/approach-Data were collected among Rio local residents by using a pre-Games (n 5 504) and post-Games design (n 5 421). The cross-sectional and longitudinal data were assessed at both time periods. An exploratory factor analysis revealed five factors, and a confirmatory factor analysis analysed the psychometric properties of the constructs proposed. Subsequently, MANOVA and a series of ANOVA tests (one-way and paired samples) were performed to analyse the differences in perceptions before and after the Games. Findings-Results revealed a five-factor model of public transportation issues perceived: planning, infrastructure, insecurity, information and urban mobility. Resident perceptions for four factors (planning, infrastructure, insecurity, urban mobility) increased from pre-to post-Games, meaning that they have a more negative perspective about those issues. In contrast, the findings suggested an improvement in public transport information perceived between the period before and after the Games. Originality/value-This study contributes to the academic literature related to discussing the Olympic legacy by providing evidence of how hosting the Olympics may lead to social exchange with negative outcomes on transport legacy. The findings of this study can be used as valuable information for future event organizers, local authorities and governments.

The Rio 2016 Official Olympic Education Programme (ROEP), called Transforma, began in 2013 and was one of the actions to take the Olympic Games into schools and promote new education-based opportunities. The current study examines its effects by exploring the Olympic Games' impact on the development of skills, knowledge, and experiences of teachers. Data were collected through an online questionnaire (n = 702) with physical education teachers who attended the Transforma Programme. The results of a structural equation model indicate that the educational impact measured through experiences, knowledge, and skillsdevelopment contributed positively to the human development of teachers as well as to their knowledge about teaching Olympism. These findings provide event managers with useful insights on the role of teachers in their Olympic programmes, as well as ways to engage them in a wide range of initiatives both inside and outside the school context.

Purpose-Planning and managing the transportation services for Olympic host cities is a complex task. This paper contributes to the event management literature by presenting empirical evidence of the public transportation issues using a case study of a local community-focused Olympic host city. Key factors underpinning transportation issues outcomes are identified. Design/methodology/approach-The Rio 2016 Olympic city was selected as a case study. To develop a scale of public transportation issues, four stages of scale development were conducted: a construct definition and content domain; item generation and expert review; a quantitative study for the purification of the scale; and a quantitative study to validation of the scale. Data were collected among local citizens who lived in the Olympic host city (n 5 513). Findings-The construct of public transportation issues was assigned to five main categories: planning, infrastructures, information, insecurity and urban mobility. The scale shows internal consistency, reliability, construct validity and nomological validity. Transport issues perceived of Olympic host city tend to increase the negative social impact perceived among local citizens. Originality/value-This study contributes to the harmful impacts discussion of hosting sport mega-events and introduces the transportation issues that the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) needs to know when hosting the Olympic Games. The scale application for the future Olympic host countries is discussed.

This study aims to explore and describe the structural relationships among (a) perceptions of city transport legacy, (b) trust in the government, and (c) resident support towards the Olympic Games. A field study was conducted in Rio de Janeiro 4-years post-Games, and data were collected from residents who lived in the Olympic city through a selfadministered questionnaire (n = 452). A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) analysed the psychometric properties of the constructs, and a subsequent structural equation model (SEM) examined the relationships between the constructs. The direct-effects model and the partially mediated model were tested based on the mediating role of transport structural legacy. Results indicated that Rio's resident support for the mega-event is essentially influenced by their trust in the local government, while their perceptions of Olympics legacy alone may be a negative predictor of support behaviour. The findings confirmed the predictive power of residents' trust in government on achieving high event support, suggesting its inclusion in future models. Implications focus on effective synergies of political and social engaging to enhance the public support level in the host city.

Purpose - This paper examines how reference to a rival or favorite sports team within cause-related sports marketing (CRSM) campaigns affects fans' intentions to support the cause. The purpose of the studies is to assess the perils of featuring a specific team in league-wide activations of cause-related marketing.
Design/methodology/approach - The research comprises three experiments. Study 1 employs CRSM advertising to test fans' responses when rival or hometown team imagery is featured by Major League Baseball (MLB). Studies 2 and 3 utilize a press release to activate a cause partnership in MLB and the National Basketball Association (NBA) and assess the potential influence of team involvement and schadenfreude toward the rival team.
Findings - Contrary to previous research, results demonstrate that rival team presence in league-wide activation can reduce intentions to support the cause effort across both leagues, but not in all circumstances. The influence of rival team exposure on perceived sincerity is moderated by team involvement with the cause in MLB, but not the NBA. However, sincerity consistently enhances cause support across all studies. While conditional effects of schadenfreude are noted, it is not a significant moderator of cause support.
Research limitations/implications - This research exposes the nuance of league-wide CRSM activations. Specifically, the rival team effect on perceived sincerity seems to be league dependent, and subject to team involvement with the cause. Moreover, these results are limited to the leagues studied.
Practical implications - League administrators and their cause-related partners should exercise due diligence when promoting their affiliation using specific teams and levels of involvement with the cause.
Originality/value - These studies produce results that differ from the limited prior research within the domain of league-wide CRSM, and therefore advance the conversation regarding how best to activate such campaigns.

This article is a case study of one of the few sports, rugby, that does not link national representation exclusively to citizenship. It discusses who may represent a country in major events and under which conditions. It analyses the consequences of the rules on different stakeholders; and discusses why the residency rule in particular is subject to much controversy. The author has conducted case studies of the 2019 rugby union and 2017 rugby league men's World Cups. Academic literature, international newspapers, and rugby-specific websites were reviewed. Other than secondary sources, the researcher also collected primary data through interviews. The interviewees included representatives of Rugby League International Federation and World Rugby. This research reveals that national representation without citizenship is widespread in both codes of rugby. It has also shown that the effects of the eligibility criteria go beyond simplistic rich/poor and center/periphery models. This article argues that the rational for the eligibility criteria is the limited global spread of rugby league and rugby union. Without those lenient rules it would be difficult to organize international competitions.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to understand why some sports show a positive economic impact and other sports do not, and to identify a common set of explanatory factors explaining the differences. Design/methodology/approach -This explanatory research reviews the economic impact literature to identify the underlying conditions that would theoretically allow any sport, large or small, to generate positive economic effects. Findings -Nine conditions are identified that, when present, could allow a community to experience a positive economic impact from a team or stadium. These are then used to explain the discrepancy in known empirical outcomes in major and minor league baseball (MiLB). It appears as if major league teams are more likely to violate the conditions than minor league teams. This research finds theoretical support for previous suggestions that smaller teams and events may be beneficial to local economies. In doing so, it also explains previous empirical results that found some MiLB classifications are associated with positive gains in per capita income. Practical implications -Stakeholders can use the nine conditions to understand expected economic impact of their relevant sports. This research provides a comprehensive guide to understanding when economic impact can be positive. Social implications -This research helps explain some of the existing controversy regarding economic impact analysis. Originality/value -It is the first research to help provide a pre-set of conditions that can help predict whether positive economic impact will occur for specific sports teams or stadium projects.

There is a growing debate on the professionalisation of non-profit sports clubs (e.g., more paid staff) and the remuneration of sports volunteers. These voluntary sports organisations are, together with for-profit fitness and health clubs, the main types of sports providers at the grassroots level in Flanders (Belgium). They both are non-public organisations, active in the same market, but differ regarding to their objectives and their human resources (i.e., volunteers versus paid staff). Hence, the purpose of this paper is to analyse and compare the hypothetical HR-cost of volunteer work in non-profit sports clubs, based on a market price of equivalency model, with the actual HR-cost of for-profit sports providers. The results show that fitness and health clubs are found to be more efficient, in terms of the unit human resources cost. However, non-profit sports clubs have a distinctive economic structure and own rationality. Hence, it seems not appropriate to transfer the economic efficiency approach of for-profits blindly to non-profit sports clubs as the added value of volunteer work to individuals, organisations and the society as a whole (c.f., positive externalities) are neglected.

The increasing commercialisation of the sports sector and changing consumer demands are some of the issues that create challenges for non-profit sports in contemporary society. It is important for managers and marketers of these organisations to innovate because innovation is a way to grow within a competitive environment and to meet customers' expectations. The present study aims to develop an explorative typology of sports federations based on their attitudes and perceptions of determinants of innovation and their innovation capacity. A cluster analysis suggested three clusters with different responses towards service innovation: traditional sports federations, financially secure sports federations and competitive sports federations. Sports federations perceiving competition in terms of financial and human resources, favouring change and paid staff involvement in decision-making processes, and with negative economic perceptions are significantly more innovative. These findings have implications for the management and marketing of non-profit sports organisations.

Researchers have identified the stages of inter-organisational relationships (IOR) (i.e., formation, management, and evaluation), however, few have examined how these stages are enacted over time from the partners' perspectives. We conducted a case study of a dyadic IOR between a non-profit provincial sport organisation (Tennis PSO) and a public sector sport and recreation department over three years. Our analysis revealed that partner motives for forming the alliance differed as one partner focused on determinants of necessity, efficiency, and reciprocity, while the other partner sought increased legitimacy . Both partners were satisfied with the management approach because expertise and resources were shared, clear lines of responsibility and communication were established, and power struggles were avoided. Achieving a mutually desired outcome early helped sustained the IOR, even though only marginal increases in tennis participation occurred. Links between the stages of IOR and the implications of the findings are discussed.

Because sport team identification plays an important role in facilitating higher levels of sport attendance and consumption , sport management and marketing professionals are often interested in determining variables that serve as antecedents of identification. Some authors have suggested that the need to belong may be one such variable . Thus, two studies were designed to examine the relationship between need to belong and identification. Study 1 involved 119 US college students completing measures of demographics, identification, fandom, and the need to belong. Consistent with expectations, the need to belong was positively correlated with level of identification with a local sport team, but not identification with a distant team or mere sport fandom. Study 2 contained a sample of 100 Greek university students and replicated the positive relationship between identification with a local team and the need to belong. Discussion centres on the causal relationships among the variables, implications for fans of distant teams, and suggestions for sport marketers and managers.

Identifying and evaluating competitors is a critical aspect of operating a sport organisation. However, North American sports franchises have a limited understanding of competitors in their geographic market -particularly when calculating the degree of competition from other sport teams. Increasing the understanding of local sport competitors, whether in the same or different professional leagues, is critical not only to future franchise operations, but also for potential litigation concerning relevant product markets. This article utilises a natural experiment involving the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2004-2005 lockout to assess the competitiveness of the NHL with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and four minor hockey leagues. On average, the five potential competitor leagues attained a 2% increase in demand, all else equal, during the lockout period. For the NBA this translates into more than US$1 million per team in increased incremental ticket revenue.

The present study examined the relationship between service quality, place attachment, and customer loyalty in the context of recreational skiing. Specifically, it was hypothesised that place attachment would mediate the relationship between service quality and skiers' loyalty. Service quality was measured with an adjusted version of Brady and Cronin's (2001) three-dimensional model (interaction, physical environment, and outcome quality), while place attachment was measured with Kyle et al.'s (2004a, b) two-dimensional model (place identify and place dependence). A sample of 288 skiers participated in the study. Men were 57.6% of the sample. The mean age of the sample was 32.4 years, ranging from 14 to 56 years old. The data were collected from two skiing resorts in North Greece. Using structural equation modeling, the results provided support of the proposed model. Place attachment had a mediation effect on the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty. These results improve our theoretical understanding of the factors that contribute to the development of skiers' loyalty with skiing resorts. Marketing implications, in terms of developing strategies to increase consumer loyalty, are discussed.

Today, due to the sports industry, the sports economy continues to grow rapidly. Professional football teams, which have one of the biggest share in sports economy, have various sources of income. There is an increase in the revenues of teams which are consistently in the football money league rankings over the course years. In this study; The relationship between the sports achievements of professional football clubs that can enter the international football money league and the income sources in the money league has been examined, and the main income sources of the sports clubs that are in the top 20 financially are compared. As a result of the data, it is seen that professional football teams have a positive relationship between the sporting success and the commercial product revenues (p=,011) and it is seen that sporting success has a positive effect (%54,2) on commercial product income. Data analysis was evaluated on computer. SPSS 17.0 (The Statistical Package for Social Sciences-PC Version 17.0) was used for statistical analysis of the data. The results of the research were interpreted as p≤0.05 in the 0.95 confidence interval. Simple linear regression analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between the dependent variable and one or more independent variables. As a result; it is predicted that the sports economy, which gets more and more share from the world economy, will provide more benefits to the professional football teams with high budgets. It is assumed that the diversity of the income sources of the teams that can maintain their place in the football money league will continue to increase. Öz: Günümüzde spor endüstrisine bağlı olarak spor ekonomisi hızla büyümeye devam etmektedir. Spor ekonomisinde en büyük paylardan birine sahip olan futbol ekonomisinde bulunan profesyonel futbol kulüplerinin çeşitli gelir kaynakları bulunmaktadır. Futbol para lig sıralamasında devamlı olarak yer bulan takımların yıllara göre gelirlerinde artış görülmektedir. Bu çalışmada; uluslararası futbol para ligine girebilen profesyonel futbol kulüplerinin elde ettikleri sportif başarıları ile para ligindeki gelir kaynakları arasındaki ilişki incelenmiş olup, finansal açıdan ilk 20' de yer alan profesyonel futbol faaliyeti gösteren spor kulüplerinin başlıca gelir kaynakları karşılaştırılmıştır.Veriler sonucunda, profesyonel futbol takımlarının spor başarısı ile ticari ürün gelirleri arasında pozitif bir ilişki olduğu (p=,011) ve spor başarısının ticari ürün gelirleri üzerinde olumlu bir etkisi (%54,2) olduğu görülmektedir.Verilerin istatiksel analizi için bilgisayarda SPSS 17.0 istatistik programı kullanılmıştır. Araştırma sonuçları 0.95 güven aralığında p≤0.05 olarak yorumlanmıştır. Bağımlı değişken ile bir veya daha fazla bağımsız değişken arasındaki ilişkiyi araştırmak için basit doğrusal regresyon analizi yapılmıştır. Sonuç olarak; dünya ekonomisinden her geçen gün daha fazla pay alan spor ekonomisinin yüksek bütçelere sahip spor kulüplerinin profesyonel futbol faaliyeti gösterenlerin daha fazla fayda sağlayacağı öngörülmektedir. Futbol para liginde sıralamasında yerini koruyabilen kulüplerin gelir kaynaklarının çeşitliliğinin artarak devam edeceği varsayılmaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Spor ekonomisi, sportif başarı, gelir kaynakları, spor endüstrisi *Bu çalışma 25-26 Temmuz 2019 tarihleri arasında Kuala Lumpur-MALEZYA 'da düzenlenen FSSER International Conference on Managing Technology, Business, Innovation, Social Sciences, Globalized Market and Industries kongresinde sözel sunum olarak sunulmuştur.

This study investigates an emerging alternative to event sponsorship based on corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate support of major sporting events. The outcome of the 2005 FINA World Aquatic Championships presented a unique case of sponsorship and the purpose of this paper is to identify the factors which led to the development of corporate support as a viable alternative to sponsorship. Factors included the organising committee's leadership, the positioning of the event (including the event/sport as a social cause, the benefits of hosting the event, CSR, and contextual limitations), and accessing corporate presidents directly. The cost of not getting involved and corporate peer pressure were found to moderate the event president's decision to offer corporate support to the event's organising committee. A model showing the interrelationship between the various factors is also proposed.

The popularity of the video aggregation website YouTube has led some sporting organisations to establish a presence on the site. These can come in the form of channels, web pages that host all of a user's video clips. Other YouTube users can subscribe to these channels, meaning a channel's updates appear on a user's YouTube home page. Among the entities utilising this inexpensive way of disseminating video messages is 16-year-old professional soccer league Major League Soccer (MLS). Researchers examined whether a sport organisation (i.e., MLS) can use such a website to practice agenda-setting through the posting of certain kinds of videos. Results showed that agenda-setting is being accomplished on a small scale, but can potentially be accomplished on a larger scale by using YouTube as if it were a traditional mass medium.

This paper argues for Grounded Theory (GT) to be more widely used to allow emergence of socially constructed sport related processes. The aim of GT is to explain social phenomena and the resources that are required to support social processes. GT is attractive to researchers as it uses the natural setting where the phenomena studied takes place to examine and understand social constructions. This paper demonstrates the importance of using GT by using a sport management study to exemplify GT processes and assess its efficacy in the discipline. Integration of GT method will strengthen sport management research and enable researchers understand social constructions associated with sport.

Pedagogical innovation involving smartphone technology paired with complementary applications may offer sport management faculty the opportunity to create an environment of engaging instruction. Technologically enhanced and innovative assignments have the potential to stimulate student interest and critical-thinking skills by presenting new experiences and active learning opportunities via participatory education. Through the discussion of technology integration and pedagogical innovation when teaching millennial students, the purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework—namely, the concerns-based adoption model (CBAM)—to introduce mobile technologies, such as Socrative and Twitter, into the sport management classroom.

Football is one of the most rooted sports worldwide attracting millions of spectators, but clubs face an increasing competition of other leisure activities. Understanding how to increase spectators' behavioral intentions towards their favorite football teams is paramount for sport managers, given that a behavioral intention represents a measure of how much a person is willing to engage in a specific behavior. Thus, the purposes of this study were (1) to explain the role of spectators' behavioral intentions, and to highlight its antecedents within the football context. In doing so, this study starts by providing a review of consumption-related aspects that have been associated with football spectators' behavioral intentions, such as emotions experienced during the games, service quality, team brand associations and satisfaction. Subsequently, the main findings from previous studies conducted with football spectators are highlighted and managerial implications are suggested in order to aid football clubs at providing good overall consumption experiences to their spectators, and thus contributing to increase attendance levels. Finally, future research avenues are suggested in order to expand our understanding on how to strengthen the link between football spectators and their teams, with subsequent associated benefits.

The real sport of quidditch was recently adapted from the fictional sport of the same namesake in the Harry Potter (HP) franchise. Quidditch is played at hundreds of locations across the USA and around the world. Considering the lack of marketing research on non-traditional, co-ed sports and the innovative nature of quidditch, the purpose of this research was to conduct a qualitative, grounded theory study (Strauss and Corbin, 1990) on the athletes and determine how involvement and identification is associated with these individuals becoming a viable niche market within the sports industry. Five factors led towards a desire to partake in quidditch and become involved and identified with the sport: identification with Harry Potter, camaraderie and friendship, desire to have fun, desire to try something new, and desire to get in shape.

160 Int. J. Sport Management and Marketing, Vol. 2, Nos. 1/2, 2007 ... Secondary socialisation and the consumption of sporting goods: cross cultural dimensions ... Faculté des SSP – ISSEP, Université de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne Suisse, Bât. Provence, Switzerland ...

The benefits that congruence between a sports club and its main sponsor delivers to the club are not well understood. This study tested a preliminary model that examined the direct and mediated relationships between the motivations for club membership, perceptions of the club and sponsor, evaluations of club-sponsor image congruence, and in turn, sponsor patronage, and satisfaction with club membership. A sample of 299 football club members provided ratings on these measures through a structured questionnaire. Results revealed that members who identified highly with the club, and who responded positively to efforts to maintain club traditions, were more likely to have a positive image of the sponsor and to report higher levels of sponsor patronage. Sponsor image partially mediated the relationship between club identification and traditions, and overall satisfaction with the club. A direct positive relationship between the congruence score and members' patronage of the sponsor's products was also observed.

Studying sport in the academia has been in existence for several decades. The educational pursuits in sport have been rooted in such disciplines as history, management, sociology, marketing, organisational behaviour, and law. Communication is another of these established academic disciplines upon which the study of sport has been juxtaposed. One way for the intersection of sport and communication -sport communication -to continue to grow as its own academic discipline is through defining the field itself. Therefore, this analysis proposes a unified definition for the academic study of sport communication and examines the unique and integrated elements involved. Such a definitional inquiry assists in the development of the disciplinary parameters and research possibilities of the field of sport communication.

There are wide-ranging views among track and field experts regarding the optimal strategy to use in the triple jump. The controversy pertains to the effort which should be expended in each of the hop, step, and jump phases. In this paper, we develop a dynamic programming approach for finding the optimal strategy. The results of our model support a recent shift in opinion in favour of a jump-dominated technique. However, the improvement is marginal, and hence, the best strategy may in the end be athlete specific. . His research interests include facility location theory, OR models including sports applications, and heuristic methods.

The purpose of this paper is to report on an in-house, in-seat marketing survey of a professional National Hockey League (NHL) hockey team. A total of 1,783 surveys were collected over a five game period. The data collection instrument was designed by the marketing and ownership group of a professional NHL franchise. Specific research questions examined issues ranging from ticket usage, demographics, motivation to attend, barriers to future attendance, customer satisfaction, intent to purchase and media preferences of ice hockey spectators. Results indicate a very distinctive pattern

The Resource-Based View (RBV) approach has become a standard among the trends of thought in company strategy and has been developed in the past few years in the field of sport management (Gerrard, 2005). In this view, we have led this empirical research with the managers of sports special events organisations from 2001 until 2006. Our objective is to understand the way the assets of an event are manipulated. More precisely, we will clarify the role of 'assets managers', highlighting their ability to learn and 'bricolage' as leverage in the building of a unique system of resources (Koenig, 1999). The main axes of reinforcement by training, allowing (among other things) control of the threshold effects and the exploitation of interconnecting resources and their reinjection, a guarantee of renewal and the evolution of a structured inner system can be considered as new analytical tools of resources management (Sirmon et al., 2007).

This study uses the List of Values (LOV) approach to investigate the differences in social values of amateur basketball tournament participants and spectators. The data from the survey of tournament attendees (N = 399) were utilised to demonstrate that social values can be used to predict the likelihood of a person becoming either a participant or a spectator in an amateur sport tournament. The value orientations are discussed in the context of demographic differences between the two groups. The sense of accomplishment and excitement values were positively related to tournament participation. In contrast, the warm relationship with others and security values were positively related to tournament spectatorship. Practical implications of these findings for marketing and management of amateur sport tournaments are discussed.

The present study aimed to examine health-related benefits and their potential role in encouraging more people to undertake regular physical activity at public aquatic centres. The study used the service quality -overall satisfaction -loyalty model to examine outcome service quality, especially health-related benefits, and their influence on loyalty (WOM recommendation), mediated by overall customer satisfaction. Based on a sample of 7,133 customers of 27 multi-purpose public aquatic centres in Australia, regression analyses indicated that health-related benefits dimensions, improved health and fitness and relaxation and stress release, had the greatest influence on overall customer satisfaction, which in turn significantly influenced word-of-mouth recommendation. Improved health and fitness was also rated highest for benefit importance as well as benefit attainment, with success in competition the lowest rated benefit dimension. Further research is recommended to clarify the role of health-related benefits in facilitating physical activity, thus reducing the prevalence of chronic health disease.

It is widely recognised that many sports organisations rely heavily on income from corporate sponsorship. This paper selectively discusses the literature examining sponsorship, following the approach of Lynall et al. (2003). The paper adopts a meta-framework that encompasses multiple framing to develop complementary views and multiple theoretical perspectives of the nature of sponsorship. Using a major New Zealand sports event as an illustration, we suggest that insights about the nature of sponsorship can be better understood through the mutually informing use of multiple frames as methodology and the development of mutually informing insights arising from different perspectives. A future research agenda is also proposed.

One of the dominant strategies currently used to address increased complexity in competitive business environments is to adopt technology at all levels of the enterprise. New media is a dimension of technology that is being adopted almost universally by sport enterprises worldwide. The purpose of this paper which is based on meta-analysis, secondary sources, technical reports and interviews, is to build on current knowledge related to sport new media to discuss: (1) new media technologies relevant to the sport industry and (2) considerations for developing and implementing sport new media projects. Within the complex global business environment, sport managers should be prepared to identify: (1) sport new media resources and technologies relevant to and appropriate for their enterprise and (2) benefits and potential opportunities offered by new media adoption.

Using institutional theory as a lens, this research investigates the selection of the names Ice Blacks and Ice Fernz by the New Zealand Ice Hockey Federation for their men's and women's national teams, and their conformity to existing naming patterns with the New Zealand sporting sector. To explain this conformity, we apply a central tenet of institutional theory, that isomorphism provides legitimacy, to the selection of corporate identities. Two case studies are presented based on interviews with organisational decision makers and analysis of secondary data. The research identifies that the aliases are isomorphic with the names used by other New Zealand national sports teams. Frequent use of the terms by the print media is seen as acceptance of the names and a likely antecedent to wider community acceptance of the names. This paper concludes by arguing that these factors support existing arguments that symbolic isomorphism is a likely precursor to legitimacy.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived quality, perceived value and satisfaction with future intentions of fitness centre clients in Spain. The sample consisted of 1,805 clients at ten fitness centres. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were analysed with confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation model. The findings indicate that perceived quality influences perceived value and satisfaction, perceived value influences satisfaction and behaviour intentions, and Consumer behaviour and sport services 9 satisfaction influences behaviour intentions. These results suggest that if consumers have a positive perception of quality, this will influence their satisfaction and loyalty. This study is important for fitness centre management professionals since it brings to the forefront the importance of the perception and continual evaluation of fitness centre consumers.

The growth and prevalence of sport event ticket transactions on secondary ticket market platforms such as StubHub has led to the creation of a body of academic research studying this new phenomenon. Factors such as team performance and perceptions of fairness have been explored for their relationship with the price of secondary market tickets. This exploratory study introduces a new potential price determinant -social media activity -itself a popular online phenomenon that has inspired considerable academic research. This exploratory study of prices for eight National Football League games adds use of official team hashtags on Twitter to a multiple regression model, controlling for other price determinants established in previous research two models, one to predict prices for tickets sold on StubHub, the second to predict prices for tickets available on StubHub, demonstrate that increased Twitter hashtag use is a significant positive predictor of ticket prices on the secondary market.

This investigation extends the study of brand community integration to niche sports by examining online and offline community involvement in a minor soccer league. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between spatial groups and brand community integration dimensions and assess the relationship between brand community integration and behavioural intentions between spatial groups. A sample of 890 brand community members from a minor soccer league in North America were asked to rate their level of online and offline involvement with the brand, level of integration with the brand community, and level of intent to attend future league games. Results indicate brand community members of teams in this league can be distinctly classified as online or offline community members, brand community integration is stronger among online members, and higher degrees of community integration yield higher levels of intent to attend future games. These findings suggest brand community integration is enhanced through online interactions with the brand. This illustrates the importance of brand communities in niche sports and highlights the opportunity for marketers to develop community integration relatively inexpensively via online involvement. . His current projects focus on analysing brand community, customer satisfaction, and the identification of value propositions in business-to-business markets for season tickets.

Mixed martial arts emerged as a major player in the sports industry during the 2000s, with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) growing into the sport's foremost promotion. Critical to the promotion's management is understanding fan consumption choices. Using economic demand theory, we draw on the spectator motivation and team sports demand literatures to provide an empirical analysis of what drives demand for mixed martial arts events. Our regression models show that economic and scheduling considerations explain the variation in UFC attendance. The popular notion that The Ultimate Fighter reality series served as the impetus for the UFC's growth is unsupported by time series analysis and numerous independent variables in our model.

Previous research has focused on the salaries of athletes and players in professionalised sports. Currently, there is a lack of evidence regarding the income of elite athletes in non-professionalised sports who represent their home country in various competitions (e.g., during the Olympics). For this paper, a theoretical model has been developed to explain the income of elite athletes as a function of individual factors and consumption capital of spectators generated through media exposure of the sport. The model is tested using data from a nationwide survey of elite athletes in Germany who are supported by the German Sports Aid Foundation (n = 1,133). The results show that being an Olympic champion, age, age-squared, being employed, attending school, and the media exposure of the sport have a significant impact on the income of elite athletes in non-professionalised sports.

This paper summarises a research stream dealing with the US system of amateur intercollegiate sport and its relation to International Prospective Student-Athletes (IPSAs). Crucial differences exist between the US 'clear demarcation' of commercial pro sport and amateurism as applied by National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I (NCAA DI) on one hand, and the International club-based federalised structure, with more connections between professional and amateur clubs on the other. Thus, IPSAs, NCAA staff, and member institutions experience problems. As litigation has not resolved these challenges, regulatory evolution and policy recommendations are in order to achieve greater balance among NCAA DI membership.

Sport marketing and management have become significant professions within the global landscape of the sport and business industry. Sport marketing and management have had a historical association with the sport sciences; however, there has been a trend to change the focus towards a business orientation at both the educational and professional levels. Does that mean sport marketing and management are no longer important to the sport sciences? The author seeks to answer that question by researching the biophysical, psychosocial and sociocultural domains of sport science to determine whether each domain plays an integral role in sport marketing and management while also enhancing the ability of sport scientists to advance their fields of study. The research shows that, because of the hybrid nature of sport management, there is a need for cross-disciplinary education in sport sciences and sport marketing and management. This requires educators to recognise that interdisciplinary dialogue between sport studies and management needs to take place to assure the future growth of the profession across disciplines. In addition, there is a need for various elements within the professions of sport marketing, sport management and sport sciences to build effective and efficient relationships, collaborations and cooperative efforts.

Technical developments in television have resulted in major changes to the delivery of sport. One significant change is the development of relationships between clubs and sport broadcasters. This research identified the technology that is emerging in sport broadcasting, and the impact that this technology has on the potential for Inter-Organisational Relationship (IOR) formation between sport broadcasters and Australian-based professional football clubs, taken from the perspective of the sport broadcaster. Six preconditions for IOR formation were considered, including uncertainty, knowledge/expertise, resource acquisition, adaptive efficiency, regulation and strategic enhancement. In-depth interviews with senior managers of eight sport broadcasting organisations were undertaken with the resulting data analysed, and the emergent themes identified. Results indicate that sport broadcasters were not willing to enter into IORs with professional football clubs.