FiT Publishing

This study examines the importance of team success for attendance for Major League Baseball teams. Winning and attendance go together for most baseball teams, but the direction of causation is not obvious. Winning could lead to greater attendance as fans want to see a winner; an increase in attendance could lead to greater winning as teams have greater resources to spend on salaries. This study finds that the direction of causation runs from team success to greater attendance, and that a sudden increase in fans does not lead to additional winning in the future. A secondary result suggests...Read more

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (Lewis, 2003) is in essence the story of how the Oakland Athletics under its general manager, Billy Beane, have successfully challenged bigmarket rivals such as the New York Yankees in recent years yet have typically spent only around one third of the Yankees in player salaries.Read more

Brand extensions are a popular strategy for professional sport teams as they can have a positive impact on team revenue and act as another touch point between teams and consumers. However, failed extensions could also potentially harm team brand equity. While research has begun to examine team brand extensions, no research has examined extensions from the perspective of the teams being an extension of a corporate brand. Therefore, this study examined the perceived fit between four professional baseball teams in Taiwan and the corporate parent brand which owned the teams, if team success...Read more

Fantasy sport consumer behavior research is a burgeoning area of inquiry as this growing segment of sport fans exhibits unconventional, yet robust media consumption habits. In addition, consumer motivation and market segmentation represent core principles within the study of marketing, yet the integration of these two essential concepts with regard to sport consumers is limited. The purpose of this study was to explore fantasy baseball motives, develop a motive-based taxonomy of users, and quantify the differences between segments through an examination of mediated sport consumption. An...Read more

It is less than a month to opening day as Bradley Dodson, General Manager, walks through Historic Grayson Stadium with John Simmons, the owner of the Savannah Sand Gnats. They survey the renovation of the stadium, comment on all the work that has been done, and contemplate what the future holds for the Sand Gnats. Dodson has been preparing for a staff meeting to discuss where the Sand Gnats stand and how to improve the organization. As he takes a seat in the stands and peers out to left field where the bleachers have been removed and the wall still needs to be finished, he considers “What...Read more

More than 100 new minor league baseball stadiums were built in the 1990s and early 2000s following the opening of several successful new venues in Major League Baseball. Sports economics literature suggests that the economic impact potential of new stadiums is overstated because attendance gains from new stadiums are short lived (i.e., a novelty effect). This study examined the impact of new minor league baseball stadiums on annual attendance using attendance data from 101 stadiums opened between 1993 and 2004. Results indicated that attendance levels attained the first year a stadium...Read more

In May 2005, Jon Goode, Director of Corporate Communications for the Lowell (Massachusetts) Spinners, the Class A New York-Penn League affiliate of Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, was taking part in a literacy program visit at a third-grade class in nearby Andover. He asked an innocent question to get the class warmed up: How many of you play baseball? Many raised their hands. Goode then pointed to one boy and asked, “What team do you play for?” “The Yankees,” the boy said. “That’s cool,” said Goode, a dyed-in-the-wool Red Sox fan trying to present a façade of equanimity. Deadly...Read more