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R. Alan Eagleson, Executive Director of the National Hockey League Players' Association from 1967 to 1992, had a major impact on the business of hockey. Although he was suspected of conflicts of interest, questioned for unethical behaviour towards athletes and was eventually indicted by the FBI in 1994 on multiple charges, Eagleson remained in his position of power over 20 years. This study used media framing to reveal that Eagleson's expertise was one of the origins of his extensive power and why he was seen as the best candidate to protect and advocate for the rights of NHL players. The expertise frame was the only frame to emerge in newspaper coverage in Toronto's The Globe and Mail consistently throughout Eagleson's tenure, even when his power was challenged. However, there was a noticeable decrease in the use of the expertise frame once the FBI investigation was made public in 1991. This study revealed that a finite number of journalists deployed the framing elements, and the perception of his expertise may have played a role in how he was able to maintain power and influence in the sport for so long, despite allegations of conflicts of interest and criminal activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to explore the role emotions play in new sport emergence. A qualitative case study of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) was undertaken, with content analysis employed to identify emergent themes from an archival database of newspaper articles. Negative emotions were institutionalized into the discourse surrounding early MMA that hindered its legitimation; in order to legitimize the sport, discursive institutional work was undertaken by pro-MMA stakeholders to address existing negative emotions, and create positive new ones. Emotions play a crucial role in new sport emergence; therefore, institutional work aiming at legitimizing a new sport on cognitive grounds alone might be inadequate for the successful emergence of a new sport, without the specific emotion-focused institutional work to disrupt existing negative emotions, and create new positive emotions for the new sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of branding techniques has emerged as a strategy to identify, position, and differentiate destinations. Brand extensions primarily focus on leveraging a single common brand, which avoids the need for customers to be familiar with another partnered brand. One way DMOs and destination marketers use brand extensions is through the use of sport events. This study used the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, AZ (PMA) as a research site to investigate the process of destination branding by examining sport events as destination brand extensions. A qualitative case study approach was employed, with interviews with key stakeholders. Results suggest that the PMA's overall destination brand relates to the outdoors, with four individual brand extensions identified: (a) weather; (b) resorts; (c) recreation and leisure activities; and (d) sport/sport events. Major professional sports team events did not fit as congruently as other types of events when serving as destination brand extensions, relative to the Valley's outdoor parent brand. Results are discussed in terms of sport events' role as part of greater destination brand range, relationship to other destination brand extensions, and using sport event brand extensions to enrich the destination brand. This study revealed that sport events in the PMA do serve as a prominent asset and selling point that influences the PMA's overall destination brand. However, sport events are not seen as the area's primary destination branding strategy, and local DMOs and tourism stakeholders in the PMA must create and maintain a broader and more comprehensive destination brand that showcases other notable attractions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Leisure/Loisir: Journal of the Canadian Association for Leisure Studies is the property of Routledge 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. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper employs an institutional logics approach to review the first ten years of operations of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). In doing so, we reveal how the KHL has integrated different practices from its rival, the National Hockey League, while also being influenced by traditional organizational practices and logics in the established Russian hockey system. Results reveal how the KHL has functioned as a hybrid under pressures from multiple logics, which has implications for the League as it continues to evolve and develop. The paper makes several important contributions to the literature. First, using Russian sources, it provides a comprehensive overview of KHL operations. Second, it shows how institutional logics across cultures can influence organizational operations, by examining an organization that has integrated both Western and Eastern European logics. Third, it furthers research examining the unique nature of sport organizations which may possess its own unique logics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proponents often claim that bidding for and hosting sport events have an overall capacity to generate a variety of benefits for cities and regions. Despite limited empirical evidence to support these assertions, cities continue to vie for hosting rights. In an effort to maximise the benefits of hosting, host cities have adopted a strategic approach to event planning and management referred to as event leveraging. A critical concern raised in the leveraging literature is how event-related strategies fit with the broader tourism development agenda of cities and regions, and how they are implemented. This paper uses Urban Regime Theory (URT) to understand how and why cities seek to host events, and how the process of leveraging is undertaken to maximise the benefits of hosting. Viewing events and strategies in the context of regimes, highlights why some cities and regions have been successful in leveraging sport events for tourism gain over time and, importantly, why some have not. This paper synthesises the existing body of work on tourism-based sport event leveraging, identifies three ways academic research has explored leveraging, and uses regime theory as a lens to further our understanding of the leverage process in host cities. [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.)

Research question: This study explores the rhetorical legitimation strategies employed by proponents to justify their support for publicly funding arena construction within their respective communities. Research methods: Fifty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted with local stakeholders in eight Canadian cities. Participants included city employees (city managers, parks and recreation, tourism), elected officials, arena management, members of chambers of commerce and local business associations, prominent members of the local business community, other politicians (members of parliament), and other relevant stakeholders. Results and findings: Data analysis identified key rationales employed by proponents in order to justify arena development projects in their cities. These are then discussed in terms of the rational, value-based, and authority-based arguments employed to build and maintain pragmatic, moral, and cognitive legitimacy. Implications: The legitimation strategies highlighted in this study demonstrate how proponents were able to frame their arguments to build these facilities in a manner that would promote their goals for the city. In particular, the study highlights how this process plays out in smaller cities where the decision to build the facility has already been made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peter Stastny and Petr Nedved were among the most famous Eastern European defectors to play in the National Hockey League (NHL); they not only had success in the NHL but also represented the Canadian men's national hockey team in international tournaments. Meanwhile, the son of Canadian hockey legend Bobby Hull, Brett Hull, opted to play for the US national team and became a threat to Canadian hockey in the 1990s. This study examines how these three athletes were represented in Canadian newspaper coverage. Specifically, the stories of Stastny and Nedved served as a means for Canadians to differentiate themselves from the former Czechoslovakia and Eastern Bloc. The success of Hull and the US national team, on the other hand, served to threaten Canada's dominant status in hockey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the private consumption benefits of sports attendance using revealed and stated preference data from 28 Football Bundesliga teams across three divisions. Survey respondents were presented with positive (sporting success) and negative (management failure) scenarios and asked for the number of game trips if each scenario occurred. The results of a pooled random effects Poisson model show that travel costs and ticket price have a significant negative effect on the number of home game trips. The weighted consumer surplus per game trip including travel costs and ticket prices is €345. Consumer surplus per game trip was found to change by €41 (first division) and €98 (second and third division) if the positive scenario occurred and by €39 if the negative scenario occurred. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many organizations and teams in the sport industry rebrand themselves by making changes to team logos, names, and/or colors; these changes are not always favorably received by fans and other stakeholders, as team logos or colors can have hidden or secondary meanings. This was the situation in 1990 at the women’s world ice hockey championship (WWHC), held in Ottawa, Canada. Instead of wearing the colors associated with Canadian national teams, players wore bright pink jerseys with white trim. Response was widespread and immediate, with stakeholders taking a strong stance on the decision. This paper introduces ideographic analysis to further examine the reaction to the jerseys. Several themes emerged, where response was articulated in terms of the traditional red and white national team colors and the history of representing Canada in competition, and in terms of what wearing the color pink meant for women during this time period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities throughout the world have experienced mounting pressures to distinguish themselves in an increasingly competitive market for tourism, economic development, and investment. However, there are growing concerns about the sustainability of place promotion advantages and economic and community benefits brought about by hosting sporting events. This study examined Nanjing’s community development agenda and ongoing events strategy, in order to identify possible community development initiatives embedded in the events strategy (as evidenced in event policy), and the form they took. A deductive coding procedure was organized using four categories - agenda (problem-solving tasks), governing coalition (key individuals and organizations), resources (skills, expertise, organizational connections, informal contacts and level and scope of contributing efforts) and scheme of cooperation (coordination among the suppliers of the resources). The Nanjing regime appears to be a social-reform regime where the agenda targets disadvantaged groups or neighborhoods and focuses on community development aimed at encouraging community participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise in interest in women’s ice hockey has been very recent compared to the men’s version of the game. While men have competed in the Olympics since 1920, women’s ice hockey was only introduced in 1998. A watershed moment for the growth of the women’s game was the inaugural Women’s World Hockey Championship (WWHC), held in Ottawa, Canada, in March of 1990. The event would be instrumental in showcasing the abilities of elite female players, garnering support for the inclusion of women’s ice hockey in the Olympic Games, and legitimating women’s hockey as an elite sport. However, while the popularity of the sport today remains a legacy of the 1990 WWHC, the event itself started from more modest beginnings. With the Championship, initially facing a lack of public and media interest, the tournament committee made several key changes, including a strategic marketing decision to have Team Canada wear pink jerseys, to elevate the profile of the tournament. Ultimately, media support and approval of the International Ice Hockey Federation and International Olympic Committee would allow the women’s hockey to become a mainstay on the world stage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The current paper examines a Canadian city where the municipal government proposed a referendum to fund several facilities, including a cultural centre, recreation centre, and entertainment and sport centre, projected to cost the average homeowner an annual tax increase of over $150 per year over 25 years. In promoting these projects to the public, development proponents attempted to engender public support by strategically reaching out and creating partnerships with various community organizations. To explore this case, we borrow from diffusion of innovation theory and the analytical tool of social networks. Findings show how development proponents in this case relied on the formation of partnerships with community groups in order to gain legitimacy for the projects with sceptical citizens, and were successful despite the substantial increase in property taxes. Through interpersonal communication within the community, proponents mobilized support for the developments and legitimized the motivations of the pro-development members of city council leading to the adoption of the innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hosting an Olympic Games is expected to generate tourism legacies for the host city, region, and country well beyond the event. Since a host city's tourism industry plays an important role in delivering wider economic benefits to the city and region, tourism legacies feature prominently in proponents' attempts to legitimise the public expenditure required to bid for and host an Olympic Games. Despite inconsistencies in conceptualisations of the Olympic legacy in both academic literature and industry practice, destination marketers continue to be charged with formulating strategies to leverage an Olympic Games for tourism benefits. A qualitative and interpretive case study approach was used to examine how destination marketers in Vancouver, as well as those at the provincial and federal levels of government, conceptualised the Olympic tourism legacy. Results show that destination marketers' conceptualisations of legacy vary depending on their mandates as well as the needs and aspirations of their destination. The study also highlights the importance of a collaborative approach in developing leveraging strategies for a host city, region, and country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to examine the public's willingness to fund amateur sports and recreation using gambling monies in the province of Alberta, Canada; (2) to establish which variables predict Albertans' support for this funding; and (3) to determine whether Albertans believe that current funding levels are sufficient, deficient, or excessive. Based on the results of a telephone survey (N = 759), Albertans more than slightly supported the use of gambling monies for amateur sports and recreation. Hierarchical regression found that this support varied, however, by sex, age, education level, religion, gambling participation, and especially moral norm. Implications for amateur sports and recreation organizations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities throughout the world have struggled to remain competitive in an era of globalisation and devolution. As a result, many have turned to tourism-related activities, such as hosting sporting events or mega-events, as part of development strategies (Hall, 1992). Within this context, questions of how these short-lived events affect resident and nonresident identities have been raised. In essence, questions of citizenship, community, and identity have become central with the on-going use of itinerant tourism strategies. Lepofsky and Fraser (2003) reasoned that community citizenship can no longer be viewed as a static concept, where rights to local citizenship are guaranteed by virtue of residential status. They propose the notion of flexible citizenship, where residents and nonresidents alike determine their level of citizenship by their ability to negotiate their contributions within the community. This paper uses this conceptualisation of citizenship to explore how community involvement in the hosting of sporting events — by organising, watching, or participating in an event — affects notions of community citizenship, and how these newly articulated citizenships affect tourism development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the use of stakeholder analysis, this article examines the case of Nashville, Tennessee and its pursuit of the Houston Oilers. Focusing on the public policy decision-making process, we review the manner through which Nashville Mayor Philip Bredesen, as a focal stakeholder, managed the different groups that stood to influence, were potentially affected by, or were ultimately involved in, the public subsidization of a football stadium. The various stakeholders were evaluated by identifying their objectives and their ability to impact or be affected by the issue, and were classified into one of eight stakeholder categories in terms of the presence of power, legitimacy, and urgency. This classification formed the basis for analyzing and understanding interactions between groups as the issue developed and was resolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the basic tenets and assumptions of agency theory, which has emerged as a significant stream of research in the broader organizational studies literature. Following an overview of the agency theory literature, and a description of the agency relationships that exist between parties, we discuss agency problems and the costs associated with maintaining agency relationships, along with solutions to said agency problems proposed in previous work. In doing so, we incorporate examples from the sports industry, and previous research examining agency theory in a sporting context. The article concludes by discussing of the value of agency theory as a framework to understand the sport industry. As a result, we hope to provide an alternative theoretical basis for studying organizations and their stakeholder within the sports industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the manner through which the International Hockey League (IHL) and its operations were portrayed in newspaper coverage in the larger urban centers of eastern Canada, where hockey had its developmental and organizational roots within the middle- and upper-middle-class community, and compares it to coverage that appeared in newspapers in the communities that hosted IHL teams, which were communities driven by industry and had large working-class populations. To do so, a comparison of newspaper coverage of the IHL in local IHL newspapers with reports published in newspapers in major Canadian cities strongly associated with the origins, development, and organizational control of ice hockey, is undertaken. The development of the sport of ice hockey in both Canada and the USA, and newspaper coverage generally, and hockey specifically, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is reviewed. Representative examples of the coverage of IHL games and operations over the course of its three-year operations are then provided. Having compared the coverage of games and operations of the IHL between IHL and Canadian-based newspapers, the paper concludes with a discussion of how business competition, competing ideologies toward high-level sport, and class-based perceptions regarding violence, aggression, and masculinity can affect the newspaper coverage of sporting events.

Sport managers are continually challenged by changing constituent environments as they work toward short‐term and long‐term organizational goals. At any given time, decision‐makers may have several issues that must be addressed in order to satisfy the demands of their organization's constituents. As such, managers need robust methods with which to analyze the organization's environment in order to develop strategic planning initiatives. This paper reviews the basic tenets of stakeholder theory and discusses/suggests applications to sports‐related issues, in an effort to show that stakeholder theory has descriptive and prescriptive value for sport management practitioners and academics alike. Stakeholder analysis can be used to identify stakeholders, stakeholder claims, motivations and relative importance, by evaluating stakeholders’ levels of power, legitimacy and urgency related to the issue (Mitchell, Agle & Wood, 1997). These attributes exist at varying levels as an issue develops and solutions are presented over time. In classifying stakeholders based on the attributes of power, legitimacy and urgency, and identifying their underlying needs and expectations, sport managers can more efficiently allocate resources. This paper provides a framework for issue analysis based on the tenets of stakeholder theory and issues management. It also proposes a research agenda to evaluate the framework, as well as considerations for managers wishing to use the framework. In doing so, stakeholder theory allows for new insight into issues management, from both research and practical perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we examine the potential value that Professional Sport Franchises (PSFs) have for firms that seek to earn economic rents and obtain a persistent competitive advantage. To do so, we discuss PSFs from two perspectives: 1) Structure‐Conduct‐Performance (most closely associated with Porter's [1979] five‐forces model) and 2) the resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm (Barney, 1991). We argue that, despite operating in a less munificent market than in previous decades, sport franchises should continue to provide a means for corporations to attain a competitive advantage and earn superior economic rents. However, the likelihood of success will be directly dependent upon the particular strategy being pursued, which, we argue here, must combine the characteristics of each franchise with other valuable resources unique to the specific corporation. We go on to argue that such strategy should focus on developing, maintaining, and sustaining a strong, committed fan base. The contribution the paper makes to the sport management literature is as follows. First, by distinguishing a PSF as a strategic economic asset, we show how we can avoid the ambiguity of the term “team”, which we argue is really only a subset of employees who work together to produce the league product. Second, we identify the need for research to move from examining sport organizations'individual business strategies to how sport organizations fit into broader corporate strategies. Finally, we show how a resource‐based view allows for a better understanding of why, despite the apparent financial woes of PSFs, franchises continue to escalate in value and remain as resources that corporations can employ to attain superior economic rents and a persistent competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]