Sports Management Commons^™

Motivations Of Americans To Be Fans Of Non-U.S. Sports Teams, Trent Maurer

Sport Management Undergraduate

This research was conducted to gain a better understanding of why American sports fans chose to follow international teams and how they consumed the international sports product. The results provided can assist sports marketers learn about the various ways to expand their business internationally and the key factors that most influence non-domestic fans. By understanding fan motivations in an international context, marketers can more effectively execute their business plans when trying to sell in foreign markets. Previous information was gathered regarding fan motivations and behavior, but little was known about fandom abroad.

The data were measured through a 13 question …

Improving Communication For St. John Fisher Football, James Fiacchi

Sport Management Undergraduate

The reason for the study conducted relates back to working to improve the St John Fisher football teams communication with its main stakeholders .I worked for the St. John Fisher football team and noticed a communication issue between the team and its main stakeholders being the parents. It caused a lot of issues that were seen working while with team so a solution in order to help these things out was something that looked needed. The communication between the team and its stakeholders was not very good.

What was done to find the best way to improve the study was …

Barriers Of Attendance For The Syracuse Crunch, Nicholas Bovenzi

Sport Management Undergraduate

The main purpose of this research was to identify the different barriers that could impact attendance for the Syracuse Crunch, a minor league hockey team (AHL). The results of this study provided the Syracuse Crunch front office with information that could have the possibility of improving marketing and promotional strategies to its varying consumer database. Prior to this study, a great amount of research has been conducted that identifies the factors that contribute to one’s attendance at other professional sporting events, however, there are limited amounts of research that have looked to uncover what effects attendance at the minor league …

Explaining Nba Success For Players With Varied College Experience, Cody Ashley

Sport Management Undergraduate

The purpose of this study was to compare early career National Basketball Association (NBA) success between college basketball players who have either one year of college experience or four years of experience. This research set out to uncover if there was a substantial difference in the early performance of these categories of players in terms of specific success metrics that were outlined. With the growing trend of players leaving college after just one season of play, it was important to understand how these athletes are performing at the next level, especially in comparison to their graduate counterparts. The results of …

Relationships Between Athletic Success And Applications, Timothy Grover Jr

Sport Management Undergraduate

This study was conducted to see what relationship exists between markers of athletic success of NCAA Division I FBS football teams and college applications. There have been multiple studies in the past that have proven this theory to be correct. However, the goal of this study was to understand if these same results can be seen with members outside of the power five conferences. Using systematic sampling, 31 members of the MWC, Conference-USA, MAC, Sun Belt, and AAC were chosen for this study. The data was collected over a 3-year period from 2012-2014 for all athletic success variables, which were …

Domestic Violence In The National Football League, James Coyne

Sport Management Undergraduate

This study was conducted to examine the relationship that existed between domestic violence incidents involving National Football League (NFL) players and the popularity of the league. With more media coverage on players’ off the field exploits there was potential that players committing crimes as heinous as domestic violence was having an impact on how fans consumed the NFL’s products. This was initially sparked by the widely publicized incident featuring former Baltimore Ravens running back, Ray Rice. As the league struggled to figure out on how to best handle player discipline for domestic violence the public opinion of the NFL diminished. …

Inducements Of Rochester Americans Fans, Alex D'Agostino

Sport Management Undergraduate

The purpose of this research was to examine the factors that motivate minor league sports fans. Specifically, this research was designed to analyze the factors that influence a fan’s motivation to attend Rochester Americans games. Over the past several decades minor league sports have experienced a drastic transformation, as more elaborate promotional activity have been introduced. Extensive research has been conducted to better comprehend the inducements of minor league sports fans. Past literature has concluded that the existence of special events and merchandise giveaways significantly impact overall attendance.

Media Impact On Nfl Fans, Justin White

Sport Management Undergraduate

The purpose of the study was to examine the complex relationship between NFL fans and the media in reaction to a newly hired NFL coach. The conclusions and process were important to all three groups because each group is directly affected by the others and the results. Fans can change the way they consume media and the organizations can change the way they interact with the media in an attempt to change the way the media writes about the team. It was known that media framing exists but the extent to which it exists in NFL circles had not been …

Nhl Rule Changes In The Media, Brandon Caryl

Sport Management Undergraduate

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the media contributing to the national dialogue involving rule changes in the NHL (National Hockey League). Reporters in the media choose what is published on day to day press releases. What is released is what the consumers are taking in, using various mediums of social media, television, internet, etc. and that is the only knowledge the consumers are getting surrounding a developing story or topic.

This was an important topic to research because discussion in the media, and the way they speak on different topics and news stories is …

Relationship Between Promotions And Attendance At Rochester Red Wings Games, Dan M. Ruehle

Sport Management Undergraduate

The purpose of this research was to determine which, if any, promotions offered by the Red Wings had a stronger impact on motivating fans to attend games. The research question for the study focused on determining what relationship exists between promotional activities and attendance at Rochester Red Wings games. In the past, various studies have been done on broader motivational factors for minor league baseball attendance and the impact of specific promotional categories on MiLB attendance. The most important conclusions drawn from these studies were that promotions held on weekday games were more significant in raising attendance numbers, post-game fireworks …

Professional Hockey Elements Attracting Fans To Ahl Games, Emma Kilmer

Sport Management Undergraduate

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between on-ice professional hockey elements and attendance at American Hockey League games. It was important to this study that the AHL was the most successful North American professional hockey league in recent years in terms of increasing attendance and in 2015-16 the league set a record for total fans attending games at around 7 million. Also, recently the NHL and consequently AHL have implemented rules to increase scoring and decrease fighting; therefore it was important to conclude if those changes resulted in changed fan motivation to attend games. It was …

The Motivational Factors That Influence Rugby Fandom In The United States, Mark Glieco

Sport Management Undergraduate

The purpose of this research was to understand the different factors that affect varying levels of rugby fandom. Rugby is currently very popular worldwide but faces extreme competition in the United States, especially from football. This research is important because it will help marketers and sport managers better understand fan motivation in rugby. This will allow them to better market and grow the sport in the United States to compete with American sports.

A sample of 111 participants from a small private college in New York was surveyed for this study. The survey contained primarily quantitative questions, with one open …

Non-Statistical Factors Present In Successful Nba Rookies, Colin R. Salisbury

Sport Management Undergraduate

Becoming a successful NBA rookie is a desire of many. Athletes want to be them and coaches and GM’s want to know how to predict them. What non-statistical factors are present in successful NBA rookies? This research used secondary data to show non-statistical factors that were present in successful rookies and what kind of similarities they had. They included, conference, institution, coaching, and draft position, etc... It is important to know what a successful rookie is and if there is a correlation between draft position and rookie success. The point of this research is to show the journeys that the …

Factors That Influence Sporting Equipment Purchases, Anthony G. Lee

Sport Management Undergraduate

No abstract provided.

Design, Financial Trends And On-Field Success, Daniel T. Baylard

Sport Management Undergraduate

Since college athletic departments are considered non-profit organizations and it’s expected they spend revenue in support of their overall mission which can be considered as achieving on-field success. Previous literature has uncovered multiple relationships between expenditures and revenue in comparison to on-field success. The common theory is that athletic programs must increase spending to increase wins, and increase wins to increase revenue. The purpose of our research is to explore financial trends within the rank based competition structure of NCAA Division I college football’s top 25 football teams in the 2012-2015 seasons. We will also acknowledge the effects of the …

The Institutional Factors That Affect The Academic And Financial Success Of Mid-American Conference Schools, Mckayla Johnson

Sport Management Undergraduate

Athletic departments and institutions are spending an increasing amount of money on athletics. They believe that increasing spending will meet their mission to improve student-athletes’ academic success. However, the question arises, is the money being spent on athletics actually contributing to that goal? Secondary data was correlated to find the relationship between the institutional, academic, and financial factors. The results of this study found that the majority of these relationships were not significant meaning that these factors are not working together to meet that mission. Therefore, those institutions who participate in the athletic department arms races will not see an …

Factors Contributing To Consumers Decisions To Attend A Sporting Event, Sarah Gensler

Sport Management Undergraduate

Previous research on consumer attendance patterns has explored the impact of single factors on desired outcomes. This is problematic because people rarely have a single motive behind their decision making to attend a sporting event. This study aimed to determine which factors were the most important to college students when deciding to attend sporting events. Using a cross-sectional survey, the research found that desire for excitement, geography, and social media all had statistical significance in influencing decision making. Contradictory to existing research, on field promotions, level of fandom, and consumer emotion were not found to be tied to their decision …

Fandom: A Study On How College Students Selected A Favorite Professional Sports Team, Zachary R. Brown

Sport Management Undergraduate

This research aimed to uncover key factors in how college students select a favorite sports team. An important issue in today’s sport industry is recognizing fans motives for supporting their favorite sport teams. Sport managers need to better understand fan’s motives in order to address the team's needs and increase the fan base. Also, the team needs to cultivate a relationship for fan involvement to garner economic benefits. The subjects for this study were college students at St. John Fisher College. Using an online survey, the results of this uncovered that team factors were the most important in someone supporting …

What Factors Affect An Athlete's Injury Reporting Decisions, Zachary Mallard

Sport Management Undergraduate

The purpose of this research was to find out what factors impact or have an influence on the decisions and coping behaviors athletes after they have sustained an athletic injury. Semi-structured interviews with 11 SJFC student-athletes explored their thought processes and behaviors during the process of dealing with injury. Time loss factors play a critical role in their thinking about reporting and dealing with injuries. Eligibility concerns and role on the team also shape their reporting and return to play. Throughout the entire process, athletes discussed their identity changes when coping with injuries.

Media Constructed Retirement Articles Of Professional Baseball Players, Kevin T. Berge

Sport Management Undergraduate

The career of an athlete may shape the narrative that the media uses when writing articles on that player when they retire. Many people fail to understand how the media constructs articles the way they do on Major League Baseball (MLB) players upon retirement. This research study used a mixed method approach to show how the media covers certain professional MLB players when they retire. The researcher counted how many times chosen variables were mentioned in two different articles of sixteen retired MLB players, and then extracted quotes from those articles. This study found that superstar pitchers and superstar hitters …