Articles in this issue:

• Effect of a Psychological Skills Training Program on Swimming Performance and Positive Psychological Development

  Michael Sheard

  Jim Golby

  Research has shown that psychological skills training can be effective in enhancing athletes?performance and positively influencing cognitive and affective states (cf. Williams & Krane, 2001). However, to date, little work has been conducted inves¬tigating such processes with adolescent high-performing swimmers. The present study examined the effects of a seven-week psychological skills training (PST) pro¬gram on competitive swimming performance and positive psychological development. Thirty-six national level swimmers (13 boys, 23 girls; M = 13.9 years old) followed a PST program for...Read more

• The Effects of Attitude Toward Commercialization on Purchasing Intentions of Sponsors' Products

  Zhu Zhang

  Doyeon Won

  Donna L. Pastore

  This study investigated the effects of college students' attitudes toward commercialization and their psychological attachment to an intercollegiate athletic program on their purchasing intentions of sponsors' products. The relationships between attitudes toward commercialization and psychological attachment were also examined. Data were collected from college students (N = 124) of a large Midwest University. A series of hierarchical regression analysis revealed that attitudes toward commercialization and psychological attachment together explained 28 percent of the variance in purchasing...Read more

• A Social Identities Perspective on the Effects of Corporate Sport Sponsorship on Employees

  Thomas M. Hickman

  Kathreine E. Lawrence

  James C. Ward

  Integrated marketing communications usage, in particular, corporate sport sponsorship in conjunction with the marketing mix, has continued to mount over the past several years as companies strive to advance brand awareness and improve corporate image with respect to target markets. The popular press suggests that sponsorship can function as a tool for internal marketing, which is defined as a managerial strategy designed to motivate and enable organizational members to adopt a customer orientation, or to meet the needs of external customers. We explored the relationship between sponsorship...Read more

• 'The Flying Pig': Building Brand Equity in a Major Urban Marathon

  Douglas J. Olberding

  Jay Jisha

  n a relatively short period of time, The Flying Pig Marathon has developed a reputation as a ...Read more

• Scott Radecic, Senior Principal, HOK Sport + Venue + Event

  An interview with Scott Radecic, Senior Principal of HOK Sport + Venue + EventRead more

• Attachment, Allegiance and a Convergent Application of Stakeholder Theory: Assessing the Impact of Winning on Athletic Donations in the Ivy League

  Dan Covell

  This study investigates how an Ivy League school's football season ticket holders demonstrate their attachment and allegiance to the intercollegiate athletic product through the application of stakeholder theory as a marketing-based construct. This paper merges the tenets of stakeholder theory and the theoretical constructs of attachment and allegiance initially investigated in Covell (2004) to understand the interests and values of these stakeholders, how they demonstrate attachment and allegiance to the sport property, and how they perceive the importance of winning in relation to their...Read more

• Predicting Women's Division I Sports Attendance: An Analysis of Institutional Characteristics

  D. Erin Shackelford

  T. Christopher Greenwell

  A great deal of research is devoted to the study of factors affecting spectator attendance; however, the majority of these studies have focused on men's sports. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to analyze the relationship between specific factors and spectator attendance at selected NCAA Division I women's sporting events. Based on a review of related literature, five characteristics that may affect attendance were selected for this study: city population, student enrollment, competition from other Division I universities, competition from professional sports teams, and previous...Read more

• Build It and They Will Come? The Women's United Soccer Association: A Collision of Exchange Theory and Strategic Philanthropy

  Richard M. Southall

  Mark S. Nagel

  Deborah J. LeGrande

  Founded in 2001, the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) began its existence basking in the reflected glory of the unprecedented media coverage of the 1999 Women's World Cup Finals. However, for any sport league to be successful, it must generate sufficient revenue to cover operating expenses. While the WUSA declared itself a major league and based its strategic plan on a philosophy of being the world's premier women's professional soccer league, its fan base suggested a much moreRead more

• Sport Celebrities and the Right of Publicity Take a New 'Twist'

  Steve McKelvey

  1997, Tony Twist, a retired NHL player and noted tough-guyRead more