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The article presents reviews of numerous articles, including "A stadium by any other name: The value of naming rights" by E. M. Leeds, M. A. Leeds, and I. Pistolet in "Journal of Sports Economics," 8(6), "Wrestling with 'conflict of interest' in sport management" by E. Sherry. D. Shilbury, and G. Wood in 7(3) of the journal "Corporate Governance," and "Professional sports, hurricane Katrina, and the economic redevelopment of New Orleans" by R. A. Baade and V. A. Matheson in the journal "Contemporary Economic Policy," 25(4).

This paper estimates determinants of local market television viewership demand for Major League Soccer (MLS). We examine the effects of team quality and outcome uncertainty and compare our estimates to recent work on the determinants of MLS attendance. We find that local viewership for MLS is not particularly sensitive to uncertainty over game outcomes. However, we do find effects of local team quality and visiting superstars on viewership levels. The results also exhibit evidence of pure substitution effects where viewership transfers to attendance demand as the season progresses, and in which viewership is substituted for attendance in the face of sellouts or poor weather conditions. Team strategy and league policy implications are discussed, along with directions for future research on MLS and local viewership demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The organizational field that constitutes English rugby union has undergone substantial change since 1995. This paper builds on earlier work by O'Brien and Slack (2003a) that established that a shift from an amateur to a professional dominant logic in English rugby union took place between 1995 and 2000. Utilizing ideas about institutional logics, isomorphism, and diffusion, the current paper explores how this shift in logics actually evolved. Data from 43 interviews with key individuals in English rugby union form the main data source for the study. The results show that isomorphic change in accord with a new professional logic diffused throughout the field by way of three distinct diffusion patterns: status driven, bandwagon, and eventually, the social learning of adaptive responses. An initial period of high uncertainty, intense competitive pressures, and sustained financial crises resulted in unrestrained mimesis in the first two seasons of the professional era. However, this gave way in the third season to increased interorganizational linkages, coalition building, and political activity that promoted normative and coercive pressures for a consolidation of the game's infrastructure and future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1995, the organizational field that constitutes English rugby union has undergone considerable transformation. Utilizing ideas about changes in actors, changes in exchange processes and interorganizational linkages, changes in the legitimized forms of capital in the field, and changes in regulatory structures, this paper explores the nature of this transformation in English rugby union. Data from 43 interviews with key individuals in the English game form the main data source for the study. The results show that changes in the communities of actors composing the field hastened change in other areas. Powerful new actors with strong ties to business environments brought with them professionally oriented values and a new institutional logic. Having made significant financial investments in the field, these actors collectively took measures to protect their economic interests. These measures took the form of political activity and coalition building, which, ultimately, reconfigured the field's regulatory structure. The new emphasis on economic capital prompted significant shifts in key actors' exchange relationships, in that clubs' strategies and structures were reoriented in order to gain access to this important network resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the professional hockey industry to explore the principles of agency theory. Using basic tenets derived from the agency literature and conditions specific to the hockey industry, a series of propositions are developed. These are investigated using data from industry documents, popular articles on hockey, and interviews with players, agents, team managers and other relevant industry stakeholders. The results suggested that concerns for agent reputation, agent competition, agent certification and salary disclosure have cumulatively reduced information asymmetry favoring the agent and have decreased the likelihood of agent opportunism. This has resulted in a decrease in the use of commissions by agents, but this form of performance contingent compensation remains the most widely used form of remuneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information related to various research papers on sport management. The research paper entitled "Taking sports out of the courts: Alternative dispute resolution and the international court of arbitration for sport," by C.J. Burger focused on the reasons why the International Olympic Committee's Court of Arbitration for Sport can be utilized as a blueprint for the proper use of arbitration in sport. Research paper "A mass sports disaster-Hilisborough ten years on: An overview of the legal processes and outcomes," by H.J. Hartley provides an overview of the legal processes and outcomes, which followed the Hilisborough sporting disaster on April 15, 1989. Pertinent information throughout the article included the factors that contributed to the disaster, including a catalogue of failures in the previous 12 years which led up to the disaster; what crowd management procedures should have been taken,and the legal decisions made by the court. Another article entitled "Playing with family values: The attraction of minor league baseball," by M.H. Rodgers dealt with fan dissatisfaction with Major League Baseball and how there is an increasing infatuation for minor and independent leagues. The author discussed the appeal of minor league baseball along with the idea that minor and independent league baseball are a thriving and profitable new business.

The article presents information related to research papers sports, published in different journals. "Performance productivity and quality of frontline employees in service organizations," by J. Singh adds to the discussion on the importance of frontline employees to the success of service organizations. The significant findings in this paper suggest that there is a distinction between productivity and quality, and when burnout increases, frontline employees tend to maintain their current productivity levels while quality declines. This paper was published in the Sociology of Sport Journal. The purpose of the research paper, "Sports marketing. Going for gold," by R. Gardyn, is to investigate the state of Olympic fandom and the various issues surrounding marketers' ability to make an impact with consumers during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. This article is published in the journal, American Demographics. The research paper by D. James, "The tipoff: How NBA can regain its game," published in the journal Marketing News, investigates the status of the National Basketball Association among fans and marketers. A number of factors are examined to shed some light on the apparent decrease in fan interest.

Event portfolios are a useful way for destination managers to holistically manage their community's collection of events and, through strategic integration and common objectives, more effectively produce benefits. However, regular sport events such as those played by professional sport teams in a sport league have received little attention from event portfolio managers and researchers. Understanding the value and utility of sport team event assets can inform the successful integration of these events into event portfolios. This research used qualitative methods to examine how team asset components can contribute to achieving event portfolio objectives. The results have significance for event tourism researchers and practitioners and demonstrate that contributions are largely founded on the focal professional sport league structure, which provides constant content and regular communications with key target markets. Analysis of the findings led to the development of a model on the utility of including team events in an event portfolio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attention by sport management researchers and practitioners toward the societal externalities of professional sport franchises and venues has increased recently. This study asserts that while sport organizations are very active in this regard, there remain several issues that have not received much attention in the sport management literature nor by sport organizations themselves. Criminal activity, or the perception of criminal activity, at and near sport venues is one of these issues. The negative binominal regression analysis of police stops in Minneapolis revealed that police stops were greater within a quarter and half a mile of Minneapolis professional sport venues on event days. Furthermore, during nonevent days, the venues can be urban "dead spaces" and the design of venues in urban areas should address the internal and external amenities of the sport venues and the potential increase in crime and police-related activity on days with and without events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a decade that produced astonishing player salaries, continued player mobility, widespread corporate involvement, and skyrocketing ticket prices and broadcast rights fees, North American major league professional sport Learns enter the 21st century encountering a number of significant challenges. An analysis of the aforementioned trends yields valuable insight into the future of professional team sport management in North America and leads to the identification of a primary concern of team owners and operators, that of managing the franchise's brand equity. With team owners increasingly reaping profits from the long-term appreciation of the team's value while continuing to lose money on a yearly basis, there will be an increased focus on strengthening team brands. This new focus will lead management to build and maintain brand equity through two primary means: the acquisition of assets and the enhancement of customer relationships. Each of these predictions is explained in depth in this paper and examples arc provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on player agents in professional ice hockey, this paper utilizes the theoretical construct of agency theory as a means of evaluating attempts by several stakeholder groups to find solutions to opportunistic agent behavior. As proposed by agency theorists, this would include the creation and implementation of monitoring mechanisms by industry stakeholders in order to regulate agent activities. Stakeholder groups involved include state and federal governments, the agents themselves, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and Players' Associations, which, at various times, all have adopted forms of certification programs in attempts to monitor player agents. Documentation on these programs and interviews with industry stakeholders are employed to develop criteria by which such programs can be assessed in terms of their ability to reduce traditional agency problems. In doing so, it is argued that the agency model can be used to provide additional insight into problems associated with these programs and to improve program effectiveness in monitoring hockey agent behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A primary objective of sport marketers in the professional sport setting is to develop strategies to increase game attendance. Historically, one of the strategies to accomplish this goal has been the utilization of special promotions. This paper studied the impact of promotions on attendance at professional sport games. Specifically, this research examines (a) the overall effect of promotions on attendance, and (b) the marginal impact on attendance of additional promotional days. Using a data set containing 1,500 observations, we find that a promotion increases single game attendance by about 14%. Additionally, increasing the number of promotions has a negative effect on the marginal impact of each promotion. The loss from this watering down effect, however, is outweighed by the gain from having an extra promotion day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A specific form of corporate social responsibility--corporate philanthropy--has received little attention in sport scholarship despite the increased formalization of this business function in practice. Specifically, few studies have explored the institutional mechanisms that influence the corporate philanthropy of professional sport teams. Given that teams receive simultaneous institutional pressures from their league and from the community in which they operate, this study examined how the presence of multiple peers from different fields affected teams in terms of determining the appropriate level of philanthropic activity. The hypotheses were tested through a longitudinal analysis of philanthropic data from team foundations in four professional leagues in the United States from 2005 to 2017. The authors found that teams were more likely to be affected by the philanthropic giving levels of league peers than local peers. Overall, this study provides a better understanding of simultaneous institutional pressures shaping the philanthropic activities of professional sport teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sport franchises are challenged to operate within the last-changing environment of the professional spun industry. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the extent to which these organizations are changing anti to understand why some organizations have embraced the competitive strategies and institutional beliefs of their contemporary environment, while others have remained relatively unchanged. The concept of archetypes was used to create two templates for professional sport franchises: The sport-centered archetype and the business-centered archetype. Data were then collected from interviews with representatives of five AAA baseball franchises, documents were retained from the leagues public relations firm and the franchises themselves, and information was assembled from newspapers and trade magazines. The results of the research indicated that one organization was in the sport-centered archetype, three were in the business-centered archetype, and one was between the two archetypes. It was found that a trigger for change and the ownership of the franchise impacted heavily on the ability of the franchises to adapt to their contemporary environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rule changes are not uncommon in most professional sports, and scholars often study the effects of such changes. Given the substantial increase in rule changes and the substantially different nature of new rules (e.g., safety driven) in the National Football League since 2005, the authors examined how coaches adapt to the changing National Football League in terms of coaching strategies and securing subsequent head coach positions in the labor market. Using agency theory, the authors identified agency misalignment when coaches employ strategies whereby incurring more penalties results in on-field success, but decreases their likelihood of obtaining future employment as a head coach. In addition, the authors found evidence that, regardless of the penalties accrued, former coaches who previously held more head coaching jobs, are Black, or are younger have higher chances of securing subsequent head coaching positions. However, these attributes do not increase team performance, indicating that coach-hiring decisions are incongruent with determinants of coach performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been growing interest in gender diversity and the leadership development of women in recent years within the broader field of management studies. Understanding leadership development processes is important for the sport industry, in which organizations are becoming increasingly professional and commercially focused. Despite the increased attention on gender diversity and leadership development within the sport industry to date, the scope and application of organizational gender and leadership development theory within an Australian sport context has been limited. As such, the purpose of this study was to explore the leadership development practices adopted by key stakeholders of the Australian sports industry, with the intention to uncover how they impact the role of women in different organizations. Specifically, the research investigated the practices of three organizations that have a major stake in Australian professional sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research was to explore the experience of transition and life after sport in a group of retired professional athletes. A total of 45 retired athletes from three national football leagues took part in semistructured interviews. Two overarching themes emerged from the data analysis: (a) preparing for transition and planning for retirement and (b) supportive environment. For athletes in this study, four main factors were identified as critical to promoting a positive transition. The nature of the transition also directly affected athletes' experience of retirement from sport and, thus, their experience of flourishing in life after sport. The majority of participants in this study indicated that they lacked support from their sporting club and governing bodies both during their transition and in retirement. Planning for retirement and preparing for the future positively affected their ability to flourish in retirement. Recommendations for sport managers and athlete support services are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Nations are increasingly investing public money in elite sport on the belief that this will trigger a range of benefits for the population. However, there is lack of insight into how the population perceives elite sport's impact on society. This study developed and tested a measurement scale assessing the publics' beliefs of the positive and negative societal impacts that could potentially flow from elite sport. A sample of the Belgian population (N = 1,102) was surveyed. A 32-item scale was built using principal component and confirmatory factor analysis procedures for which the goodness-of-fit indices were excellent. Multivariate analysis revealed that the Belgian population perceived elite sport to have mostly positive societal impacts. The study findings can serve researchers wanting to measure the perceived potential positive and negative societal impacts of elite sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that sport marketers are more interested in the demographic profiles of the people who watch particular sporting events. An interesting profile indicates that the sport watched by the most people whose concentration of incomes was $60,000 or above was professional hockey. Several reasons were given for this phenomenon including the prep school roots of the sport and the cable-only coverage of the games.

This study integrates upper echelons theory into the sport management literature by investigating general manager (GM) strategic decision-making in the National Basketball Association. Specifically, this research examines individual contextual variables as they relate to the human resource decision-making tendencies of GMs. Utilizing 17 seasons of data on team performance and individual GM characteristics, we estimate twostage panel regression models to examine the relationship between GM-related variables and organizational performance. We find that both GM technical experience and GM education are positively related to winning and efficiency. The results also illustrate the importance of acquiring elite-level talent and indicate positive returns to GMs whom are able to do so. These findings are relevant for team ownership and suggest a link between organizational performance and the personal characteristics of league GMs. The analysis furthers our understanding of the GM-team player talent-organizational performance relationship in professional sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise and institutionalization of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in sport is captured in a growing body of work in sport management. This literature suggests professional teams should be strategic in their approaches--matching internal resources with external needs-but we lack an understanding of the processes and mechanisms in the evolution to more strategic CSR, as well as specific practices that characterize these approaches. Further, by focusing on broad trends in how and why teams are adopting CSR, we miss the opportunity to learn from teams with innovative and authentic CSR approaches. To address these gaps, this article uses a qualitative case-study approach to examine how one professional team in the U.S.--the Detroit Lions-evolved their CSR to a more strategic and authentic partnership-focused model. Our findings point to key process steps and mechanisms in the decision making around, and implementation of, this approach, including the role of organizational structure, leadership, and community partnerships. We draw out themes around these central partnerships and highlight best practices. In offering a more nuanced understanding of professional sport CSR process and practice, we contribute to the literature on CSR in sport, sport-community partnerships, and sport and city revitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This project revisits the social identity-brand equity (SIBE) model developed by Underwood, Bond, and Baer (2001). The model proposes that marketplace characteristics relevant to sports can be used to enhance one’s social identification with a team, which is assumed to have a positive influence on a team’s customer-based brand equity. The current study has two goals: (a) to provide an empirical assessment of the SIBE model in the context of professional sports and (b) assess the individual influence of the proposed marketplace characteristics on social identification. We report results of a survey of U.S. National Basketball Association fans, which provide partial support for the model. Group experience and venue were found to have the strongest influence on social identification with a team. Considerations for theoretical advancement of the model and practical application for sport brand managers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research has primarily focused on sport teams as brands, overlooking the branding of professional sport leagues. Professional sport leagues are required to build and leverage their brand associations to be sustainable and to help affiliated teams. This study integrated existing team brand association research with brand architecture literature to examine league brand associations from a consumer perspective. A free-thought listing pilot test (N = 22) was followed by semistructured interviews (N = 26) to uncover 17 brand associations linked with professional sport leagues. Online questionnaires among consumers of four sport leagues in Australia (N = 1182) were used to support 17 distinct identified league brand associations. One sample t tests and correlation analyses empirically revealed that 17 league brand associations were linked with attitudinal and behavioral outcomes related to sport leagues. Finally, ANOVAs identified that some league brand associations differed between four leagues as perceived by consumers, reflecting league specific characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional sport organizations are showing increasing interest in proenvironmental strategies, as evidenced in part by the recent incorporation of sustainable design in many facilities. This interest may be driven by the perceived positive outcomes associated with the triple bottom line (TBL), which illustrates the environmental, social, and economic benefits of proenvironmental initiatives. The TBL has been the subject of both acclaim and criticism by scholars and practitioners, and this study provides new insight into its appropriateness as a reflection of proenvironmental organizations' motives. Through standardized interviews, the authors found that professional sport organizations place particular emphasis on the TBL's social component, which represents the objectives of increasing environmental awareness among fans and attracting new consumers. This study contends that the TBL's three components are closely intertwined, and the implementation of commercial and social marketing strategies is necessary to attend to and realize the organizations' stated goal of maximizing all three components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate partnerships with professional sport leagues are growing rapidly. How can we assess the value of such partnerships? Using an event study method, this research examined the economic effects of corporate partnerships with six professional sport organizations (NFL, MLB, NBA, NASCAR, NHL, and PGA). Three new interesting results were found. (1) Though a partnering firm experiences a net-of-market increase in shareholders' value of 2.93% from a new corporate partnership with a professional sport league at the two-day window (0, +1), renewals of corporate partnerships induced a significant net-of-market decrease of 1.12% during the same window of time. (2) Cross-sectional analysis revealed that superior performing firms as well as firms with higher institutional and moderate managerial ownership benefitted more than the average, and (3) the integrations of the partnerships with other business strategies elicited different responses from the investment community. Overall, a strategic implication was that marketing- focused partnerships in financially sound, well-managed firms contributed the most to enhancement in shareholders' wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interorganizational relationships have become increasingly important for sport organizations. The purpose of this study was to explore the determinants and conditions of partnership formation in a group of collaborating nonprofit, public, and private organizations. A conceptual framework that includes the determinants of legitimacy, stability, necessity, asymmetry, reciprocity, and efficiency were used. Conditions including interdependence and presence of an interpersonal network were also explored. This research employed qualitative methods to examine partners' reasons for developing interorganizational relationships in a sport context. For the collaborating organizations, the determinants of legitimacy, stability, reciprocity, and efficiency prevailed as important motives for relationship formation. These findings help to refine and apply contemporary theory to sport management and can be used to help manage interorganizational relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When it comes to fans of professional sport teams who are left behind when their favorite team relocates to a new city, the authors argue that there are a variety of ways in which these fans can identify with the relocated team. This runs against the traditional conception of how left-behind fans view the franchise in its new home. Fans are thought to follow two paths: They either cheer for the team in the new city, or they stop cheering for the team altogether. The authors have found that this conception of fans is inadequate. Using the expanded model of organizational identification (EMOI), the authors find that after a team relocates there are at least five different ways a fan can identify with the relocated team: identification, disidentification, schizoidentification, neutral identification, and nonidentification. These are illustrated by fitting the stories of 23 Hartford Whalers fans into the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the contingent valuation method, this article estimates the value of public goods the National Football League's Jaguars produce for Jacksonville, Florida, including the value of elevating Jacksonville to "major league" status and the value of improving racial relations. It also estimates the incremental value of public goods potentially produced by a National Basketball Association team in Jacksonville. The present value of public goods created by the Jaguars is $36.5 million or less, far below subsidies provided to attract the Jaguars. For a basketball team, the figure is less than $22.8 million. The results add to the growing body of CVM literature indicating that sport public goods probably cannot justify the large public expenditures on stadiums and arenas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In small athletic departments, particularly at the NCAA Division III level, the challenge of building effective coaching staffs can be great because financial and other barriers often limit the pool of job applicants. This challenge is often addressed by hiring former athletes who have just graduated from the same program. This consultation-based study analyzed the positive and negative effects of hiring former athletes as assistant coaches within the same institution. Findings indicated that advantages of hiring former athletes include a reliable assessment of fit, quick time for socialization and valuable contribution, and already established trust between all parties. Disadvantages included limitations on specialization, a dearth of new ideas and new innovations, and issues caused by the role transition from former athlete to coach or assistant coach. Recommendations offered for practice include broadening the search for candidates, and for internal hires, external training and development, and assistance for role transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses economic theory to examine the variables that affect the competitive balance in a professional sports league and the impact of revenue sharing. The generally accepted proposition that revenue sharing does not affect the competitive balance in a profit-maximizing league has been challenged by many. It is shown that the competitive balance and the impact of revenue sharing not only depend on the relative size of the market of the clubs, but that they are also affected by the objectives of the club owners and the importance to spectators of absolute team quality and uncertainty of outcome. Furthermore, the clubs' hiring strategies, including the talent supply conditions, turn out to be important elements affecting competitive balance and the impact of revenue sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of internships on students' career-related affect and intentions. Data were gathered from 138 upper-level undergraduate sport management students (71 interns, 67 noninterns). A doubly multivariate repeated measures model indicated that, although they did not differ at the beginning of the internship, interns had less positive attitudes toward the profession than did noninterns at the end of the internship. Structural equation modeling indicated that affective occupational commitment fully mediated the relationship between anticipated career satisfaction and intentions to enter the profession. The results contribute to the extant literature by demonstrating that internships can influence career-related affect and intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government contributions to the funding of major league facilities ipso facto recognize that some portion of the benefits accruing from such facilities accrue to the public in general, rather than being captured exclusively by the franchise owner. The challenge for facility advocates is to demonstrate the return on investment to the taxpayer. This has been elusive. The canard that substantial returns accrue from the direct economic impact of visitors to games has been discredited. A taxonomy of four alternate sources of spillover benefits that are most frequently cited is proposed: increased community visibility; enhanced community image; stimulation of other development; and psychic income. Justifications using to the first three of these alternates are conceptualized as focusing on external audiences, with the intent of encouraging their investment of resources in the community. In some contexts, some economic benefits may accrue from these sources, but in most cases they cannot be demonstrated to be sufficient to justify the taxpayers' investment. It is argued that psychic income, which focuses internally on the benefits received by existing residents in the community, is likely to be key to justifying public subsidy of major league facilities. It is suggested that the contingency valuation method is an appropriate approach for measuring the psychic income provided by a professional sport franchise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do some fans travel to follow professional sport teams? In order to answer that question, participant observation and ethnographic interviews were used to examine the motives and behaviors of a group that undertakes a 5-day bus trip to watch its team play in a distant city. Nostalgia was identified as a key element of the experience. In particular, nostalgic recollections of past trips were found to be a vital basis for repeated travel by the group and for socializing new members. Five themes having to do with nostalgia were identified: nostalgia as motive, norms and rituals as objects of nostalgia, best experience as object of nostalgia, nostalgia as a basis for trip suggestions, and nostalgia through socialization. It is suggested that group-based nostalgia can play a more significant role in fan travel behavior than has heretofore been recognized and that nostalgic appeals can foster repeat purchase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on an article that discusses the transition of the communist sport system in a number of Eastern European countries. The communist sport system was very successful and sport was considered important by communist leaders. The author believes that as Western countries catch up in international sporting contests such as the Olympic Games, that former Eastern Bloc countries will start to excel in professional sports, as these are the object of interest for Western corporations and media. As money becomes an issue, Eastern European countries may need to embrace the capitalist model of sport development.