Unpacking Athletics: An Exploration Of Identity Development For Division I Women College Athletes, Kathleen E. Scanlon

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation explored how former Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women athletes made meaning of their undergraduate experience and how it influenced their post-graduate lives. The study research questions focused on three areas: a) how participants constructed meaning from their athletic experiences and what role those experiences had in shaping their identity; b) how the participants made sense of the various systems they experienced and what bearing various identities had on their meaning making; and c) what concrete knowledge, skills and qualities participants felt they possessed today that they attribute to their intercollegiate athletic experiences.

Three semi-structured interviews …

Financing Small Market Baseball: A Case Study Of The Auburn Doubledays, Derek Wohlfarth

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Professional baseball has been played in Auburn, New York, since 1958, but over the last few years, the team has experienced a period of financial losses. The biggest hit was in 2013, when the team lost $125,000. The City of Auburn, which owns the team, no longer has the money to support the franchise, so in order to keep baseball in Auburn, the team must become self-sufficient. Auburn is the second-smallest market in the league, so the community needs to get behind the team in order for it to stay in operation. New management came in for the 2014 season …

An Investigation Into The Accounting Practices Of Owners In The Professional Sport Industry With Specific Consideration Of Implications To Players, Taxpayers, And Local Governments, Stephen Michael Rathbun

Honors Capstone Projects - All

In today’s sport industry there is a push by players to maintain an equitable split in revenues to ensure ownership groups do not exploit them. This has been of particular importance over the past five years during collective bargaining agreements. Players associations are not the only groups who are affected by the financial management of professional sport owners. Taxpayers and local governments also share an interest in the manner owners operate teams. With an increase in public subsidization of sport teams, taxpayers have a natural vested concern for professional sports.

The concern on this topic comes with the financial management …

A Geographical Analysis Of The Origin Of National Football League Players And Draftees, Robert Murray

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The inspiration for this examination of NFL football players came from a September 17, 2010 CBS Television program 60 Minutes report “American Samoa: Football Island” by Scott Pelley. Pelley determined “that a boy born to Samoan parents is 56 times more likely to get into the NFL than any other kid in America” (Pelley, 2010). As a result of this investigation, I was inspired to travel to American Samoa in June 2013 to learn firsthand what variables and conditions led to the production of National Football League (NFL) Draft picks from this country, Tonga and all the regions within the …

Major League Soccer Case Study An Examination Into The Future Of The League, Matt Samost

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Major League Soccer has grown tremendously since its inception in 1996. The league, however, still is a work in progress. The overarching question of this case study deals with an examination into the future of the league. Will it continue to be a niche sport on the American sports landscape or will it challenge the big four leagues in the years to come? Broken into five subtopics, the case study looks to address this question by examining the league through multiple lenses in order to be able to take both an in-depth and wide look at the current condition of …

Determinants Of Major League Baseball Player Salaries, Tyler Wasserman

Honors Capstone Projects - All

In 2003, Michael Lewis published Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, which forever changed the finances and economics of baseball. It began a movement towards using advanced statistical analysis to determine the value of baseball players, in order to build a roster that will win the most games at the lowest cost. The Moneyball movement has resulted in a multitude of new statistics to try to drill a player’s value down to one number that represents his marginal revenue product, or his individual contribution to the team’s success.

Player salaries are typically the largest cost for Major …

Marketing Pastimes: Comparing The Brand Strengths Of Real Madrid & The New York Yankees, Colin Wilson Powers

Honors Capstone Projects - All

In March of 2012, Forbes Magazine ranked the most valuable brands in all of sports. Trailing only Manchester United’s $2.235 billion valuation, the next most valuable franchises are Spain’s Real Madrid of La Liga BBVA, and Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees. As the two of the three most dominant brands in all of sports, Real Madrid and the New York Yankees are frequently mentioned in the same context as one another, but rarely discussed through more extensive market research comparing their brand management strategies. By utilizing Kevin Keller’s acclaimed Customer-Based Brand Equity model, the relative strength of the brands …

Similarities In Fan Preferences For Minor-League Baseball Across The American Southeast, Tyler Anthony, Tim Kahn, Briana Madison, Rodney Paul, Andrew Weinbach

Falk College Research Center

Three Minor League Baseball leagues across the Southeastern United States are studied in order to determine what drives fan attendance. Individual game attendance and game characteristics are examined for three leagues located in the American southeast, the Florida State League, the Southern League, and the South Atlantic League. Despite the three leagues encompassing different levels of play (from A to AA), the determinants of attendance are similar across leagues. Factors affecting attendance such as winning percentage, weather conditions, local income and population, and individual game promotions, such as fireworks, are explored.

Volunteer Satisfaction And Intent To Remain: An Analysis Of Contributing Factors Among Professional Golf Event Volunteers, Gina Pauline

Falk College Research Center

Sport events are increasingly reliant on episodic volunteers for the successful delivery of an event. As there continues to exist a surge in the organization of sporting events coupled with the demand for volunteers, event organizers must concern themselves with utilizing the appropriate recruitment and retention strategies. In an effort to do this, one must understand the points of satisfaction for volunteers as well as factors influencing their future intentions to volunteer. While there exists a plethora of research to understand the motivation of volunteers, exploring the antecedents of volunteer satisfaction as well as intent to remain has been limited. …

Regional Differences In Fan Preferences For Minor League Hockey: The Ahl, Rodney Paul, Robert Chatt

Falk College Research Center

Regional differences in fan preferences for minor league hockey in the United States are explored using simple linear regression models. The top-level minor league for the NHL, the American Hockey League (AHL), was studied for the 2008-09 season. Key attributes with respect to attendance are studied for hockey including population, income per capita, promotions, scoring, and winning percentage. In addition, a key socio-economic variable, fighting is also investigated. Major differences are found for fan preferences across geographic regions in relation to population, income per capita, a variety of promotions, and team success. In addition, fan reaction to fighting tends to …

Sport Sovereignty At Bay: The Impact Of Globalization And The Multi-National Sport Enterprise On The Westphalian-Based International Sport Structure, Rick Burton, Matthew Robinson, Emir Turam

Falk College Research Center

The existing framework for international sport is based on the guiding principles of the Peace of Westphalia of 1648. The Peace of Westphalia promoted sovereignty, self-determination, equality between states, and non-intervention of one state in the internal affairs of another state, and it has served as the basis for international relations for several centuries. Vernon observed that “the advanced world, carried ebulliently on the crest of a technological revolution in transportation and communication, has absentmindedly set up a virile system of international institutions and relationships that sit alongside the system of nation-states.” Vernon’s observation captures the essence of the existing …

The Important Role Of Change Management In Environment Management System Implementation, Mary Eileen Graham, S Ronnenberg, F Mahmoodi

Falk College Research Center

No abstract provided.

Using Actual Betting Percentages To Analyze Sportsbook Behavior: The Canadian And Arena Football Leagues, Rodney Paul, Andrew P. Weinbach, Kristin K. Paul

Falk College Research Center

Sportsbook behavior is tested for the Canadian and Arena Football Leagues using real sportsbook betting percentages from on-line sportsbooks. The balanced book hypothesis of the traditional sportsbook models does not appear to hold for these leagues, as favorites and overs attract more than 50 percent of the betting dollars. Although there is some slight evidence toward shading the line in these directions, there is also no overwhelming evidence supporting the Levitt (2004) hypothesis, as sportsbooks do not appear to be actively pricing to maximize profits. In general, the results seem more consistent with the sportsbook pricing as a forecast, content …

Sportsbook Pricing And The Behavioral Biases Of Bettors In The Nhl, Rodney Paul, Andrew Weinbach

Falk College Research Center

The betting market for the NHL is investigated using actual betting percentages on favorites and underdogs from real sportsbooks. Sportsbooks do not appear to attempt to price to balance the book as betting percentages are not proportional to set odds. As in the NFL and NBA, bettors are shown to have a strong preference for favorites and road favorites in particular. Simple strategies of betting against significant imbalances toward the favorite are shown to generate positive returns. Although not pricing to balance the book, sportsbooks do not appear to price to exploit known bettor biases in all cases. Clear bettor …