Articles in this issue:

• Congruence Between Attractive Product Features and Virtual Content Delivery for Internet Marketing Communication

  Kevin Filo

  Daniel C. Funk

  The Internet has developed faster than any other form of electronic technology or communication. As a result, businesses strive to improve their Internet presence and evaluate their website communication. The majority of Internet marketing research has focused on the content analysis using traditional marketing mix elements: product, price, promotion, and place. The present study advocates a more consumer-oriented approach to Internet marketing that allows sport organizations to coordinate venue-based consumer experience with virtual content provided on Internet websites to capitalize on...Read more

• Legal Implications of Reselling Tickets Above Face Value

  James T. Reese

  David L. Snyder

  A number of professional sports teams are now engaged in various practices that allow tickets to be resold above face value. Such practices, which generate additional revenue for teams, are often the result of a relationship between teams and online entities such as StubHub. In one instance, a professional sports team and a ticket broker are vertically integrated. Some professional teams involved in these practices include the Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Clippers, Detroit Lions, Dallas Stars, and Phoenix Coyotes (Reese & Snyder, 2004). In...Read more

• A Hierarchical Model of Service Quality for the Recreational Sport Industry

  Yong Jae Ko

  Donna L. Pastore

  This study proposes and tests a conceptual model of service quality in recreational sport. The proposed model is based on a current conceptualization of service quality, which suggests that service quality is a multidimensional and hierarchical construct (Brady & Cronin, 2001; Dabholkar, Thorpe, & Rentz, 1996). In the proposed model, service quality consists of four primary dimensions which are defined by several corresponding subdimensions: (a) program quality ¨C range of program, operating time, and information, (b) interaction quality ¨C client-employee interaction and inter-...Read more

• An Exploratory Investigation into NASCAR Fan Culture

  Christie H. Amato

  Cara Lee Okleshen Peters

  Alan T. Shao

  Marketers are taking notice of NASCAR¡¯s cultural impact and the impressive financial returns to be garnered from investing in the sport. This work examines NASCAR fans and their sport-related attitudes and behaviors. Results suggest that there are two follower types, those who are deeply bonded to the sport, and those who are pledged to the sport but demonstrate comparatively less commitment to racing, NASCAR related media, and sponsors¡¯ products. Managerial implications are discussed in terms of a relationship commitment metaphor.Read more

• Consumer Satisfaction and Identity Theory: A Model of Sport Spectator Conative Loyalty

  Galen T. Trail

  Dean F. Anderson

  Janet S. Fink

  Sport spectating is a popular activity in the United States but little is known about the theoretical nuances that determine loyalty behavior in sport. The focus of the study was to test three competing conative loyalty models based on identity theory and consumer satisfaction theory. These models included relationships among team identification, disconfirmation/confirmation of expectancies, mood, self-esteem responses, and conative loyalty. Data were collected from spectators at a large Midwestern university at two home men's (n=530) and two home women's (n=749) intercollegiate basketball...Read more

• Circumstantial Factors and Institutions' Outsourcing Decisions on Marketing Operations

  Willie Burden

  Ming Li

  During the past decade, the outsourcing of marketing operations has become a common practice in American college athletics. While the reasons that an intercollegiate athletics program might choose to outsource its marketing operations are numerous, the decision to do so really depends on various circumstances. This study was designed to reveal both the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing and the circumstantial factors affecting athletic administrators's outsourcing decisions. Also, three real cases were presented and examined to substantiate motives as well as the importance of...Read more