Sports Management Commons^™

On- And Off-Field Impacts Of Foreign Players On Peruvian Liga 1 Football Teams, Juan Victor Aranibar, Claudio Rocha

Global Sport Business Journal

Despite the growing globalisation of football, little research has examined how foreign players create competitive advantage in non-traditional leagues. Using the Resource-Based View (RBV), this study explores the on- and off-field impact of foreign players in Peruvian Liga 1 clubs. Semi-structured interviews with 12 sporting directors, commercial managers, scouts, and coaches were analysed thematically, revealing five themes: physical characteristics, leadership and mental strength, cultural barriers, competitive salaries, and commercial blindness. Findings suggest that although foreign players provide valuable physical and psychological attributes, these are rarely sufficient to create sustained competitive advantage. More notably, clubs fail to capitalize on foreign players' …

How Gyms Should Use Commitment Devices: The Role Of Deposit Contracts In Attracting Consumers, Zehua Hei, Alan Morse

Global Sport Business Journal

Amid growing health concerns, increased competition among fitness centers, and declining staff-to-customer ratios, gym operators are seeking effective ways to reduce customer attrition. Drawing on Prospect Theory, this study examines how commitment devices in gym promotions (e.g., deposit contracts and transformation challenges) influence consumers’ intentions to join a gym. Two experiments with 609 participants (Study 1 = 204; Study 2 = 405) investigated the mediating role of perceived attractiveness and the moderating role of contractual flexibility. Results indicate that membership options incorporating a commitment device were perceived as more attractive, leading to stronger registration intentions. However, this effect was observed …

Legacy Vs. Luxury: Generational Stadium Design And Fan Perceptions In Professional Sport, Joshua Greer, Tim Wilson

Global Sport Business Journal

This study examines whether generational differences in National Football League (NFL) stadium design influence fans' evaluations of venue quality, addressing a gap in the sport management literature on the relative importance of modernization versus heritage in shaping spectator satisfaction. Drawing on the sportscape framework and environmental psychology, the study analyzes 539,660 fan-generated online reviews from across 30 NFL stadiums. Composite satisfaction scores were calculated and used to assess relationships among stadium age, capacity, and perceived quality.

Results indicate no statistically significant difference in satisfaction between legacy stadiums (opened before 2000) and new-generation venues (opened in 2000 or later). Although legacy …

A Qualitative Analysis Of The Financial Issues Facing Division Ii And Division Iii Intercollegiate Athletics, Michael G. Fraina Iii, Tyler J. Ratts, Eric Forsyth, Lana Huberty, Madison Demaio

Global Sport Business Journal

With increasing costs and decreasing funding (Zvosec & Baer, 2022), the evolution of college athletics has altered the financial realities facing athletic departments (Elliott et al., 2026). To maintain operations, athletic directors are now tasked with identifying new revenue streams and becoming creative in how they manage their budgets. Research in intercollegiate sport has traditionally focused on Division I athletics. However, given the role of Division II and Division III programs, especially in driving enrollment at their institutions, further understanding of the current financial environment facing these schools is needed. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the …

Patterns In Emotional Labor Outcomes: Assessing Seasonal Cycles Of Burnout In Minor League Sport Employees, Mandy Barefoot, Mike Martinez

Global Sport Business Journal

Burnout, characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment (Kristensen et al., 2005), is a growing concern among sport employees, with research documenting high levels of emotional strain, role conflict, and turnover intentions in collegiate and professional sport settings (Taylor et al., 2019; Weight et al., 2021). Although burnout is often examined as a stable condition, little attention has been given to how the cyclical nature of the sport calendar may shape its development over time.

This study examines burnout among middle managers in minor league baseball and hockey through the lens of Affective Events Theory, exploring how seasonal …

Influences Of Transformational Leadership Mixed With Contemporary Practices Among High School Coaches: A Qualitative Exploratory Study, Kylene M. Brewton

Student Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examined factors influencing transformational leadership (TL) among high school coaches. Although previous research shows that TL improves athlete performance, emotional development, and team cohesion, little attention has been paid to how TL skills develop in secondary school sports, specifically to be used by coaching staff. Using Bass and Avolio’s four “I’s” framework—idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration—the study explored the impact of gender, coaching experience, sport coached, and mentorship on TL practices. Ten high school coaches from the mid-southern United States participated in three rounds of interviews using the Differentiated Transformational Leadership Inventory (DTLI). …

Impact Of Ncaa Football Bowl Subdivision Reclassification On Universities, Kyle Shaffer

Student Theses and Dissertations

Increasingly universities are leaving the lower Football Championship Series (FCS) for the potentially greener pastures of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), but are they really greener? Is bigger always better? Since 2008, there have been 17 universities that have reclassified to the NCAA FBS subdivision. The purpose of this study was to study NCAA FCS to FBS reclassification from 2008 to 2023 to research the athletics and non-athletics related impacts that occurred and what factors most influenced the universities in the sample to choose to pursue reclassification. The study used a quantitative approach to more holistically research the impact of …

Aligning Sport Management Programs With The Evolving Needs Of Hopeful Intercollegiate Athletic Administrators., Kelly P. Elliott, Don Rockey

The COSMA Journal

Pathways to becoming an Athletic Director (AD) vary considerably across intercollegiate athletics, highlighting the need for sport management programs to better align academic preparation with evolving professional expectations. While prior research has explored AD roles across NCAA divisions, limited attention has been given to how academic curricula and experiential learning opportunities support students pursuing these careers. This study examines differences in sport management curricula and experiential offerings across programs affiliated with Division I FBS, Division I FCS, Division II, Division III, and NAIA institutions. Two research questions guided the study: (1) What differences exist in required coursework across divisions? and …

Book Review - Violent Impacts: How Power And Inequality Shape The Concussion Crisis, Samuel M. Clevenger

Global Sport Business Journal

Kathryn Henne and Matt Ventresca’s Violent Impacts critically examines how narratives surrounding CTE, TBI, and the concussion crisis are constructed across sport, the military, law, media, and science. Drawing on intersectional feminism and science and technology studies, the authors show how dominant concussion discourses privilege the experiences of White male athletes while marginalizing other groups. Based on extensive fieldwork, the book makes an important contribution by exposing representational inequalities and highlighting the intersectional gender politics of concussion research and public debate.

Book Review - California And The Making Of Modern Sport, Sean Burke

Global Sport Business Journal

Joel S. Franks’s California and the Making of Modern Sport argues that California helped shape modern sport as spectacle, consumer culture, and civic branding. review highlights the strengths in linking iconic sites such as the Rose Bowl, Muscle Beach, Fresno baseball, Billie Jean King, and the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics to broader themes of commercialization, diversity, and inequality. Drawing on historical sources, Franks demonstrates how sport in California produced modern sporting culture and its contradictions.

Beyond The Classroom: Leveraging Community Engaged Learning To Teach Corporate Social Responsibility In Sport Management, Amanda Greene Dr., Charles Jones, Natalie Smith

The COSMA Journal

This manuscript presents a case study exploring the use of community engaged learning (CEL) to teach corporate social responsibility (CSR) in an upper-level sport management course. The purpose of this study is to examine how participation in a semester long community engaged learning experience influences student understanding of corporate social responsibility, civic identity, and theory-to-practice application. Students partnered with a local nonprofit affiliated with a professional sport organization to design and execute a donor engagement event addressing youth needs in the community. Guided by experiential learning theory, the course emphasized out-of-classroom learning, industry mentorship, and reflective practice. A longitudinal qualitative …

Narrative, Identity, And Liminality Of Player Development Personnel In Ncaa Power 4 Conferences: Supporting Athlete Identity Development And Navigating Role Evolution In The Nil Implementation Era, Joseph L. Herman Ii

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

Derived from a larger study, this article examines Player Development Personnel (PDPs) in NCAA Power 4 (P4) conferences as they support athlete identity development and navigate role evolution during the NIL implementation era. Although academic advisors and support staff have long contributed to athlete development, limited scholarship has examined how PDPs understand their professional identities, responsibilities, and institutional constraints in NIL-era athletics. Guided by the Narrative, Identity, and Liminality Model (NILM), MNF, and institutional logics, this study situates PDP work within an ecosystem shaped by commercialization, racialized narratives, and organizational expectations (McLean & Syed, 2015; Southall et al., 2008). Semi-structured …

Educating Ncaa Student-Athletes To Mitigate Social Media Risks: Results From An Intervention Pilot Program, Ksenia Power, Nataliya Bredikhina, Bomin Paek

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

With the introduction of the NCAA’s Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policy in July 2021, student-athletes have become increasingly reliant on social media for personal branding and monetization. However, prior research suggests that excessive social media use can negatively impact student-athletes’ well-being, highlighting the need for targeted digital literacy education. Addressing these concerns, this study designed and evaluated an online intervention, “Student-Athlete Training for Online Resilience Management” (STORM), aimed at improving student-athletes’ perceived knowledge and confidence in navigating social media-related risks. Using two waves of survey data (N = 117), the study assessed changes in perceived knowledge of social …

Online Harassment And Mental Health Among Collegiate Student-Athletes: Findings From An Ncaa Division I Conference Survey, M. Courtney Hughes, Michelle K. Demaray, Emily A. Skiba, Sarah E. Warriner

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

Social media is central to college athletics, yet public visibility can expose collegiate student-athletes to online harassment, a risk the NCAA has recently highlighted by documenting sizable volumes of abusive, discriminatory, and betting-related content directed at athletes and officials. This study surveyed 85 NCAA Division I student-athletes from ten universities across the Mid-American Conference and assessed social-media behaviors, online harassment exposure, depression, and anxiety. Most athletes used social media 1–3 hours/day, 78% enabled name-mention alerts, and platforms commonly used included Instagram (98.8%) and X (65.9%). Online harassment was reported via social posts (9.4%), direct messages (4.7%), and texts (3.5%), with …

“Where’S This Energy When They’Re Killing Us!?”: Black Sport Media, Disruptions Of Linked Fate, And The Plantation Politics Of Protection, Sayvon Jl Foster

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

Following the viral interaction between Nyck Harbor and the Texas State Trooper, Black sport media figures dominated the discourse surrounding the incident. By centering Black sport media figures as sources of discursive authority, this study illuminates the role of (Black) sport media in shaping the understanding and response to experiences of Black college athletes. Using Thompson’s (2022) abductive thematic content analysis, commentary from eight prominent Black sport media voices - Bomani Jones, Stephen A. Smith, Ryan Clark, Cam Newton, Von Miller, Marcellus Wiley, Jason Whitlock, and Etan Thomas - was analyzed. With Dawson's (1994) Linked Fate Theory (LFT) as the …

Understanding Parents Perceptions Concerning Division I Student-Athlete Mental Health, Jonathan M. Casper, Jason Bocarro, Marie Amidon

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

Collegiate student-athletes (SAs) frequently underreport mental health concerns and are less likely to seek professional support compared to their non-athlete peers. Given the substantial emotional and academic support parents provide, this study examined NCAA Division I parents’ perceptions of their student-athletes’ mental health and overall well-being, as well as their awareness and perceptions of available mental health services. An online survey (N = 178) was administered across two Division I universities. Parents reported considerable concern regarding mental exhaustion, anxiety, academic pressures, and future planning. They also identified sport-specific stressors, including relationships with coaches, playing time, team dynamics, and injuries. Although …

Measuring Strategic Plans In Cosma Accredited Programs, Coral Bender, Michael Smucker, Zachary Beldon, Jay Jisha, Dene Williamson

The COSMA Journal

Strategic planning is an important part of ensuring efficiency across industries, despite this, many struggle with writing measurable and appropriately aligned strategic planning documents. Summatively, strategic planning documents should be a guiding force for all things, including budgeting. The present paper analyzes every Operational Effectiveness Goal (OEG) and corresponding measure made publicly available for COSMA Accredited programs during the 2023-2024 reporting to gain a better understanding of what accredited sport management programs priorities in the measurement of their strategic plans. Emphases on community affiliations and feedback as well as a reliance on institutional level data emerged. Practical applications for sport …

Mlb Speed Premium, Jacob A. Keithley, Chris Hampton

Undergraduate Economics Working Paper Series

This study analyzes if the 2023 rule changes affected the valuation for speed in the MLB labor market. By using a log-linear wage model and including an interaction term for stolen bases and the post-2023 indicator, we test to see if there is a speed premium in salaries. After accounting for yearly effects, the results present a statistically significant increase in the marginal value of stolen bases after the rule change shock. A placebo test was used with home runs to confirm the effects were specific to speed related metrics. The results suggest that the MLB market has and is …

Determinants Of March Madness Tournament Advancement, Jace Waldahl

Undergraduate Economics Working Paper Series

This paper examines whether tournament seed and team efficiency ratings help explain how far teams advance in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Using Bart Torvik NCAA basketball ratings data from 2008 to 2025, I construct a team-year dataset with tournament advancement measured from 1 to 7, where higher values represent deeper runs. The main independent variables are seed, net efficiency, offensive efficiency, and defensive efficiency. Descriptive statistics, correlations, scatterplots, and OLS regressions are used to test whether better-seeded and more efficient teams advance further. The results show that seed is the strongest and most consistent predictor of advancement, but efficiency …

An Empirical Analysis Of Augmented Reality’S Impact On Fan Engagement And Behavioral Intention To Use: A Technology Acceptance Model Study Among U.S.-Based Major League Soccer Fans, Gozde Sezgun

Masters Theses

Although augmented reality (AR) is becoming a routine part of how sport is consumed, evidence specific to Major League Soccer (MLS) remains limited. This study applies the technology acceptance model (TAM) to examine how perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) relate to behavioral intention to use (BI) and to two experience outcomes−fan engagement and fan satisfaction in the MLS context. The study is a nonexperimental, cross-sectional online survey of U.S.-based adult MLS fans with prior exposure to AR in an MLS context, including live stat overlays, in-stadium wayfinding, interactive replays, and virtual try-ons. Constructs were measured with …