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Purpose: This article seeks to enhance the understanding as to why head coaches and general managers (GMs) in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Football League (NFL) exit from their positions. Design/methodology/approach: Three hypotheses were investigated using a series of quantitative and qualitative data from the past 30 years. The samples analyzed are comprised of 891 GM and coach annual observations for the NBA clubs and 949 GM and coach observations for the NFL clubs. Analyses include a logit analysis for coach exit/retention, a logit analysis for GM exit/retention and textual analysis via topic modeling via latent Dirichlet allocation. Findings: Results show a correlation between a coach exiting and a GM exiting simultaneously, thus amplifying the importance of these two roles in enhancing or destroying the success of a club and supporting the need for a deeper understanding of both roles, particularly the GM. The results further highlight cultural differences across clubs in terms of GM and coach turnover, a factor that often is heavily influenced by club ownership. Originality/value: The results support the role of owners in exits, confirm the importance of winning in avoiding an exit, find a high level of interrelationship between GM and coach exits and show that past culture of firings influences future exit decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale data has become pervasive and is used in different formats, for different purposes, and in different sectors. However, the adoption and utilization of big data is both complex and context sensitive. This study aims to empirically inform our understanding of the driving and constraining factors that are unique to professional team sports in the adoption and utilization of big data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with practitioners in professional sports teams, who work directly with big data, from the four major leagues in North America. The findings outline five drivers and six constraints that impact the adoption and utilization of big data. The five capabilities are strategic, informational, transactional, transformational, and infrastructural capabilities, and the six constraining factors are top-management support, talent management, organizational learning culture, data integrity, data security, and window dressing. Conceptually, the work extends the Technology-Organization-Environment framework specific to professional sport. Practical implications as well as suggestions for future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines barriers that urban youth face which limit participation in sport. Conceptually, this work distinguishes between three categories of active (participatory) engagement: 1) those that never participated; 2) those that used to participate; 3) those that do participate; and their level of passive engagement. A set of hypotheses for urban youth sport participation incorporating external and intrinsic factors are tested and guided by the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Based on pre-interviews with urban youth (n = 53), a large-sample survey (n = 3,003) of youth in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver was conducted. Results identified four segments of urban youth participation; a multiple regression analysis supported the TPB as an appropriate lens for understanding urban youth sport participation. The development of segments of urban youth based on sport engagement has implications for managers involved in promoting participation. The article contributes theoretically through the extension of the TPB in the context of urban youth participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Global Sport Management is the property of the Global Alliance of Marketing & Management Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Guided by a dynamic capabilities framework, this research explores the National Basketball Association's (NBA) expansion into esports. Based on the input of thirteen sport industry experts, the paper presents research on simulated professional sports (SPS) with a deep investigation of the NBA 2K League (2KL). NBA 2KL is the first esports league in North America that is owned and operated by a traditional professional sports league. Results identify both league and club level outcomes for: 1) learning dynamic capabilities; 2) integrating/coordinating dynamic capabilities; 3) reconfiguring dynamic capabilities. Practical recommendations to the NBA, extended to other professional leagues, are provided. A framework for future research, including questions to be addressed, is outlined based on the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends what is known about place brand to a specific context and a particular type of tourism. Mountain-based adventure tourism and the country of Argentina's place brand are empirically assessed, building on the literature regarding Product Country Image and Tourist Destination Image using an existing integrated approach to these two areas. Argentina was selected as the location for the research due to its geography (including Mount Aconcagua, the highest point in the world outside of the Himalaya), its people, and its position as both the #1 tourist destination and the 2nd largest economy in South America. It is a place with a wealth of cultural attractions and adventure opportunities. This research builds upon previous literature to examine how adventure tourists observe place image constructs versus the views of other tourists, with the goal of improving our understanding of how place images influence the travel decisions of adventure tourists. Surveys were conducted with tourists in the Aconcagua region (n = 263) to test three hypotheses related to whether there are differential place image views and effects for adventure tourists. The hypotheses were supported, empirically validating that adventure tourists are a distinct segment for destinations similar to Argentina and that tourism marketers in these kinds of environments should focus on adventure opportunities as well as the place image dimensions that play a role in adventure tourist travel decisions, which are people character, people competence, country character, and country evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Global Sport Management is the property of the Global Alliance of Marketing & Management Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Rebecca Griffin, a student-athlete, is coming off the best off-season training program of her 8 years as a rower. She is highly motivated knowing that a strong summer season could propel her to be both a major contributor to her university team in the fall and a contender to make it to the National Under 23 team. However, before she can pursue her athletic dreams, she needs to decide where she is going to row this summer and figure out if she can afford to pay for it. She needs to assess and consider the benefits and drawbacks of her summer rowing club options. Her considerations include club registration fees, travel, equipment, coaching, and competition entry costs for each, and how they will contribute to her career goals in rowing. Therefore, while working toward her goals, Rebecca must consider the affordability of her options, and make the best decision she can. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]