Sports Management Commons^™

Fan Networks In Women’S Sport: An Egocentric Analysis Of Social Fans And Isofans, Matthew Katz, Nicole E. Melton, Risa F. Isard, Nola Agha

Sport Management

Guided by network theory, the purpose of this paper is to explore the consumption networks of Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) fans. Through an egocentric network analysis, the authors utilize hierarchical linear modeling to examine the strength of consumption ties among WNBA fans during the 2019 season. Initial results revealed an unexpected finding – the presence of participants who reported having no fan-to-fan ties, whom we term IsoFans. A second sample of men’s basketball fans was then collected to serve as a comparative confirmation of the unexpected result, whereby IsoFans occurred in the men’s sport sample at a much lower …

The Effect Of National Origin And Skin Color On Playing Time In The Wnba, Nola Agha, David Berri, Akash Bhatt, Jennifer Van Gilder

Sport Management

This article uses data from the 1997-2022 seasons to investigate the role of bias in the distribution of playing time in the WNBA. We evaluate national origin, a fixed and objective measure, and improve upon past uses of subjective, perception-based measures of race by using a more objective measure of skin tone. More specifically, via a fixed-effect estimation of 2,949 WNBA player-year combinations we find no evidence that the national origin of either players or coaches is related to the provision of playing time. Similarly, skin tone of players or coaches (n=893), either alone or in combination with national origin, …

Exploitation In College Sports: No Longer Just A “Man's Game”., Nola Agha, David A. Berri, Stacey L. Brook, Courtney Paulson

Sport Management

Previous studies of college athlete compensation have generally focused on the “revenue sports” of football and men’s basketball. Hence, wage exploitation is often considered a “man’s game.” In the 50 years since Title IX, many women’s college sports have reported millions of dollars in revenue, suggesting wage exploitation is possible in college softball. Data on 19,760 athletes from 294 universities from 2012-2021, combined with two different sources of athletic revenue reach the same conclusion: wage exploitation exists in college softball. Furthermore, thousands of players generate more revenue in college than the wages they are likely to earn playing professional softball.

Collaborative Consumption Sport Hosting: Value And Consumption Constraints, Michael Goldman, Brandon Brown, Eric C. Schwarz

Sport Management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to find evidence of the benefits and constraints of collaborative consumption experiences by investigating the perceptions of hosts and visitors that attended professional regular season basketball and baseball games in the USA.

Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through four focus groups with 37 total participants, and were analyzed through qualitative content analysis.

Findings – The results show that participants in a collaborative consumption experience perceive four types of value: social interaction and belonging, new fandom, travel bucket list experiences, and local and sport knowledge. In addition, the results provide evidence of five …

Economic Development Effects Of Major And Minor League Teams And Stadia, Nola Agha, Daniel A. Rascher

Sport Management

Professional teams and leagues claim new stadiums lead to economic development. To test this, we utilize data from the Census Bureau on net establishment and employment changes across 871 Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas from 2004 to 2012. Difference-in-differences and panel data techniques allow for a cross-sectional and time series comparison for both teams and new stadia in both professional and development leagues. Nearly all results from hundreds of models are insignificantly different from zero. Results from between- and random-effects models suggest that teams move into markets that already have higher employment and establishment growth. (JEL R58, H71, L83, Z28)

Gender Differences In The Pay Of Professional Basketball Players, Nola Agha, David Berri

Sport Management

In 1891, James Naismith invented the game of basketball at Springfield College to find something for male students at the school to do during the New England winter. The next year Senda Berenson organized the first women’s basketball game with slightly different rules 25 miles away at Smith College (Hult & Trekell, 1991). By 1900, the game had spread to colleges, high schools, and amateur clubs across the country (Emery & Toohey-Costa, 1991). Although both men and women have essentially played this game since its introduction, the men's game has generally received a much greater share of attention and funding. …

Rebooting Content: Broadcasting Sport And Esports To Homes During Covid-19, Michael M. Goldman, David P. Hedlund

Sport Management

Beginning in early March 2020, sport in the United States entered an unprecedented period of hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The postponement, suspension, and cancellation of live sporting events impacted every professional and amateur sport organization, from the National Basketball Association to the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, high school sports to college football, and even esports leagues. Although the abrupt cancellation of live sporting events was disruptive, it did create opportunities for the production of new media and consumption opportunities for sport leagues, teams, and their fans through different types of sport media broadcasts. This commentary …

Tactical Branding And Positioning, Michael Goldman, Sean Mccoy

Sport Management

Whether you are in a resource-based commodities business, the manufacturer of a product, or a provider of services, the issue of branding and positioning your offering in a highly competitive market is of critical importance. Where Chapter 2 focused on the corporate brand and its importance to strategic marketing, this chapter considers the tactical branding and positioning efforts that impact the success of brands in the market, whether individual products and services, or as part of a portfolio of brands. Positioning is also one of the key elements of the classical strategic marketing process of segmentation, targeting attractive segments, and …

Team Peru Olympic Decision- Making During Covid-19, Michael Goldman, Raul A. Rosales Zavaleta, Gustavo A. Martín Castillo, Shaun Read

Sport Management

The global spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 impacted all 206 states set to compete in the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, originally scheduled to be hosted in Tokyo from July 24 to August 9, 2020. Even before the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 were postponed to 2021, many of the National Olympic Committees were faced with government-imposed international and domestic travel restrictions, bans on qualifying competitions and tournaments, and even suspected infections among athletes qualified to compete in the Games. Within this environment of substantial uncertainty, national leaders of the Olympic movement were under pressure to …

Confederation Of African Football, Michael Goldman, Mlondi Mashinini

Sport Management

Representatives of Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Africa officially established the Confederation of African Football (CAF, or the Confederation Africaine de Football) on February 8, 1957, in Khartoum, Sudan. During the subsequent 60-year development of Africa’s administrative and controlling body, CAF grew into the biggest of the six continental federations of FIFA. By 2018, CAF counted 56 associations as full or associate members, representing over 25% of FIFA’s 211 associations, although no African team had reached the semi-final stage of the men’s FIFA World Cup as yet.

This chapter documents the business and management research related to CAF, thereby providing …

The Uniqueness Of Spectator Sport From A Strategic Management Perspective: The Case For Spectatoritis, Nola Agha, Jess C. Dixon

Sport Management

This conceptual paper uses a strategic management approach to assess the unique structure of the business of spectator sport. We argue there is a lack of business competition because franchises are simultaneous co-producers, collaborators, buyers, and suppliers. Consequently, mainstream strategic management frameworks that rely on competitive environments are ill-equipped to evaluate the nuances of spectator sport. In response to these observations, we develop multiple new and modified frameworks, including a spectator sport supply chain that inextricably links the participatory and spectator sport segments. Through this hierarchy of training, participants evolve from paid customers to inputs to production. Spectator sport and …

Economic Impact Of Minor Sporting Events And Minor League Teams, Nola Agha, Marijke Taks

Sport Management

Inquiry on minor sports has been overlooked in the economic literature despite a long history suggesting that minor events are likely more beneficial than major sports (e.g. Coates, 2012; Daniels & Norman, 2003; Marsh, 1984; Matheson, 2006; Walo, Bull, & Breen, 1996; Taks, 2013). In part due to both increased data availability and a shift towards cost-benefit analysis approaches, recent efforts to develop theory specific to minor events (e.g. Agha & Rascher, 2016; Agha & Taks, 2015) and to conduct studies on minor events (Taks et al., 2011) and teams (Agha, 2013) using more robust approaches occur in the literature. …

Reputation And The League Standing Effect: The Case Of A Split Season In Minor League Baseball, Nola Agha, Thomas Rhoads

Sport Management

Split season league design resets standings at the midpoint of the season, thus allowing for two periods in which a team can potentially achieve success in a single season. This context allows us to test both the reputation of the first half winner and the league standing effect on demand. Examination of game-level data from the 2010 Southern League reveals fans are unaffected by measures of both team quality and league standing in the second half of the season. On the other hand, the first half winners saw an 11% increase in attendance as a percent of stadium capacity, suggesting …

The Relationship Between Sports Sponsorship And Corporate Financial Returns In South Africa, Michael Goldman, Julian Blake, Sonja Fourie

Sport Management

Purpose

Sponsorship is a major contributor to income in the South African sports arena, and is a critical component allowing sports unions to remain financially viable and sustainable. Sports sponsoring companies, however, have long questioned the financial returns generated from these ventures. The purpose of this paper is to understand whether financial returns of companies with sports sponsorship in South Africa are significantly different to those without. This research was conducted on Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed companies that sponsored sport consistently between 2000 and 2015 for a period of two years. A quantitative methodology was employed whereby share price, …

Modeling Resident Spending Behavior During Sport Events: Do Residents Contribute To Economic Impact?, Nola Agha, Marijke Taks

Sport Management

The role of residents in the calculation of economic impact remains a point of contention. It is unclear if changes in resident spending caused by an event contribute positively, negatively, or not at all. Building on previous theory we develop a comprehensive model that explains all 72 possible behaviors of residents based on changes in (a) spending, (b) multiplier, (c) timing of expenditures, and (d) geographic location of spending. Applying the model to Super Bowl 50 indicates that few residents were affected, positive and negative effects were relatively equivalent, thus their overall impact is negligible. This leaves practitioners the option …

Offensive Explosion: An Analysis Of Trends In Hitting Production In Major League Baseball, Laura M. Schreck, Eric J. Sickles

Sport Management

2014 was a record year for pitchers followed by an abrupt reversal in trends with offensive numbers increasing steadily in 2015 and 2016, culminating with a record-setting year for hitters in 2017. This article explores similar offensive explosions throughout the history of Major League Baseball in order to draw parallels to the current extraordinary increase in offense. Evidence of this increase is provided by analyzing the trends of ten separate statistical categories, as well as the statistical trends of the top forty hitters, and twenty pitchers in Major League Baseball. This analysis and research provides the context for discussing possible …

A Proposal For A Community Soccer Website For San Francisco Soccer Participants And Stakeholders, Christian Martin

Sport Management

This paper looks into the needs and desires of various San Francisco soccer community stakeholders and proposes a mobile-friendly website to serve as both an information hub and a social platform to meet these stakeholder needs and desires. Stakeholders interviewed and surveyed for this paper include San Francisco professional, semi-professional, and college teams, adult and youth leagues and clubs, soccer shops, soccer bars, soccer supporters’ groups, coaches, referees, and more. This paper also includes a plan of execution for the proposed website and illustrations of its proposed

webpages.

What Drives Endorsement Earnings For Superstar Athletes?, Daniel Rascher, Terry Eddy, Oskr, Llc

Sport Management

Athletes’ endorsement earnings receive significant attention in the trade/popular press, but the academic literature on this issue is sparse. Thus, the purpose of the study was to examine factors that drive variation in endorsement earnings. Resulting analyses indicated the Positive Q Score measure (likability) was worth about $750,000-$1 million for each unit of the scale, while the Negative Q Score measure was statistically insignificant. One unit increases in Exposure and Familiarity were worth roughly $600,000 and $200,000, respectively. These findings can be used by athletes, agents, and sponsors to determine estimates, or fair-market value, for endorsement deals.

Determining Fair Market Value For Duke’S Sporting Goods Store, Michael Goldman, Daniel A. Rascher

Sport Management

Shelley Valdez is a recent finance team hire at Duke’s Sporting Goods Store. She has 1 week to identify, gather, and analyze relevant information to calculate the financial value of the business, using the income and market approaches. She has also been asked to consider Duke’s liquidation value, and comment on the strategic options these calculations point to, before a board meeting of the owners next week.

Concacaf Strategic Repositioning: Rebuilding Trust In The ‘Beautiful Game’, Michael Goldman, Aaron Burks, Nola Agha

Sport Management

This case presents the strategic repositioning challenge faced by the Confederation of North American, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) after a period of leadership and strategy instability. It reports the allegations and findings of misconduct, and discusses the steps taken by the new leadership to define a new mission and strategy.

Cricket South Africa’S Protea Fire Brand, Luisa Mazinter, Michael M. Goldman, Jennifer Lindsey-Renton

Sport Management

No abstract provided.

Rebranding: The Effect Of Team Name Changes On Club Revenue, Nola Agha, Michael M. Goldman, Jess C. Dixon

Sport Management

Research question: The purpose of this study is to explore the financial effect of four types of team name changes, three of which have not been previously studied. We do so in the context of development leagues where rebranding occurs with considerable frequency, thus affecting a great number of sport managers.

Research methods: The effect of rebranding on club revenue was derived by combining the results of two analyses. The first used an economic demand equation to examine the attendance variations of 475 Minor League Baseball teams in 244 cities in the United States and Canada between 1980 …

An Investigation Of Highly Identified Fans Who Bet Against Their Favorite Teams, Nola Agha, B. David Tyler

Sport Management

Using a mixed-method exploratory approach we describe and explain the seemingly nonnormative behaviors of highly identified fans who Bet Against their Favorite Teams (BAFT). Axial coding of qualitative data from 190 survey respondents and two focus groups indicates the emergence of common themes allowing a typology to unfold that explains the motives for and against BAFTing. Results reveal that Gamblers BAFT for reasons un-related to fandom. Hedgers, on the other hand, BAFT precisely because they are fans; they offset a perceived impending emotional loss with a financial gain, a behavior we identify as Hedging Against Future Failure (HAFFing). This research …

I Am Distinctive When I Belong: Meeting The Need For Optimal Distinctiveness Through Team Identification, Michael M. Goldman, S. Chadwick, D. C. Funk, A. Wocke

Sport Management

The development of stronger team identity has previously been explained through the social identity aspect of belonging. Although this has contributed much to our understanding of sport fans, it has neglected an alternative explanation for team identity, specifically the search for distinctiveness. How then do fans develop stronger team identity by 'standing out' as opposed to 'fitting in'? This paper provides evidence of seven identity management strategies used by fans with a strong psychological connection to their chosen team. Saturation sampling was employed to interview 29 South African rugby union fans via semi-structured interviews, followed by a directed approach to …

Is The Grass Greener? Switching Costs And Geographic Proximity In The High Status Affiliations Of Professional Baseball, Nola Agha, J Cobbs

Sport Management

Professional baseball operates a tiered system of talent development facilitated by alliances between Minor League Baseball (MiLB) clubs and higher status Major League Baseball (MLB) parent teams. This study applies management theory to advance the literature on MiLB demand modeling by proposing and testing a new set of demand determinants based on interorganizational alliance principles. Team executives at the AA level should be alert to the high cost of switching team alliances and of changing to a parent club in closer geographical proximity. At the AAA level, affiliation with a winning MLB club exerts a positive effect on AAA demand.

A Compensating Differential Approach To Valuing The Social Benefit Of Minor League Baseball, Nola Agha, Dennis Coates

Sport Management

This research utilizes a compensating differential framework to measure the social benefits of minor league baseball teams. Consistent with findings at the major league level, individual housing observations from 138 metropolitan areas between 1993 and 2005 show that affiliated teams are associated with a significant 5.7% increase in rents in mid-sized markets ranging from 0.4 to 1.4 million people. On the other hand, independent teams and stadiums are associated with insignificant effects on rents. The positive effect of affiliated minor league teams suggests they are a valuable urban amenity that can contribute to local quality of life.

A Theoretical Comparison Of The Economic Impact Of Large And Small Events, Nola Agha, M Taks

Sport Management

In response to the increasing debate on the relative worth of small events compared to large events, we create a theoretical model to determine whether smaller events are more likely to create positive economic impact. First, event size and city size are redefined as continuums of resources. The concepts of event resource demand (ERD) and city resource supply (CRS) are introduced, allowing for a joint analysis of supply and demand. When local economic conditions are brought into the analysis, the framework determines how a city resource deficiency or surplus affects the economic impact of an event. This resource-based approach assists …

A Process Model Of Sport Fan Detachment, L. Martin, Michael M. Goldman

Sport Management

Within the field of sport marketing, scholarship to date has predominantly focused on the drivers of fan loyalty and allegiance, and the motivational aspects of fan behavior, at the expense of understanding the deterioration of the relationship between the sport consumer and sport team. Previous customer-brand relationship literature was integrated to propose and test a model of sport fan detachment. A qualitative study of lapsed season ticket holders was conducted to gain a deep understanding of the fan’s individual lived experience. The findings contribute a four-part sequential process of a breakdown trigger, iterative decline, disengagement incident, and exit phase, to …

The Impact Of New, Renewal And Termination Sponsorship Announcements On Share Price Returns, T. S. Kruger, Michael M. Goldman, M. Ward

Sport Management

What impact do sport sponsorship announcements have on the share price returns of the sponsoring firms? The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of new, renewal and termination sponsorship announcements on share price returns. The research employed the widely acceptable event study methodology to analyse 118 announcements made by 19 firms over a period of more than 11 years. The mixed findings across all three announcement types point to the lack of consideration given to the sponsorship investment by investors. The findings suggest that, although some firms may position their sponsorships as a contributor towards competitive advantage, …

Sports On Television: The How And Why Behind What You See, Michael M. Goldman

Sport Management

No abstract provided.