Articles in this issue:

  • Kashef Majid
    Ramdas Chandra
    Annamma Joy

    The spectator audience for the Olympic Winter Games has been increasing around the world. This phenomenon is highlighted in countries such as Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa (termed “non-traditional” markets) that rarely participate in the Winter Games, yet choose to watch them. To explore this phenomenon we interviewed key figures involved with the Olympic Movement. Our intention was to identify key themes from the text of the interviews and put these themes together to form a framework that would explain the growing interest in the Olympic Winter Games. The results showed that the...Read more

  • Linda A. Sharp

    The beauty of tort law is that it retains an inherent flexibility responsive to societal developments and new technologies. Whether we are dealing with a horsedrawn carriage run amuck or a modern-day marketing promotion using a t-shirt cannon, courts still address the essential and fundamental issues of duty, breach of duty, causation and damages. A recent New York case illustrates a court’s reliance on long-established precedent as it decided the case of the flying t-shirts.Read more

  • T. Christopher Greenwell

    This study explores the effects of expectations and industry standards on customer satisfaction in the student ticketing process in intercollegiate athletics. Data were collected from 378 students attending three NCAA Division I institutions, and an experimental design was used to determine which type of expectations best predicted customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction and how information about industry standards affected satisfaction levels. Findings suggest sport customers make satisfaction judgments based on what they think should be in a policy rather than what they think will be in a...Read more

  • Jennifer E. Bruening
    Min Yong Lee

    The purpose of this case study is to examine the impact of Tyrone Willingham¡¯s tenure as head football coach on the brand equity of the University of Notre Dame. Brand equity is traditionally viewed as a cyclical phenomenon (Gladden, Milne, & Sutton, 1998) with longitudinal examinations being the preferred method of evaluation. This case study focuses on a three-year time period for reasons grounded in the literature and, as in this particular case, the practical consideration that Tyrone Willingham¡¯s tenure at the University of Notre Dame lasted three years. Notre Dame University¡¯s...Read more

  • Stephen D. Ross

    The present study uses cluster analysis to identify segments of spectators based upon the brand associations held for a professional sport team. A secondary purpose is to identify potential similarities and differences among identified segments based upon demographic variables. Results from a sample of 662 ticket holders from a National Basketball Association (NBA) team indicated that the respondents could be segmented into two distinct groups based upon the perceptions of the sport brand. Results also indicated that the members of each spectator cluster could be further distinguished...Read more

  • Alison Doherty
    Martha Murray

    Synchro Canada is the non-profit national governing body for synchronized swimming in Canada. It is one of 54 national sport organizations (NSO) supported by Sport Canada, the federal government agency responsible for amateur sport in Canada, and one of 39 NSOs that compete at the Olympic level. At the time of the study, Synchro Canada was run by a professional staff of nine individuals located in the national office in Gloucester, Ontario, and the National Coach and Team Manager located at the National High Performance Training Centre in Etobicoke, Ontario. The organization was guided by...Read more