FiT Publishing

Fantasy sport has rapidly developed into a multi-billion dollar industry in recent years, with daily fantasy sport (DFS) responsible for $18.9 billion in annual fantasy sport consumption revenue (Fantasy Sports Trade Association, 2017). Efforts to examine the drivers of DFS-specific participation remain scarce, with scholars having reported on the motives of traditional fantasy sport (TFS) consumers and hybrid consumers (i.e., those who consume both TFS and DFS) (Billings, Ruihley, & Yang, 2016; Ruihley, Billings, & Rae, 2014). The authors conducted three studies to develop the...Read more

Drawing from signaling theory and creative capital theory, the purpose of this study was to examine the influence of advertising inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals on consumers’ intentions to join a fitness club. The authors also considered the moderating effects of consumer gender and social dominance orientation. Participants (N = 203) took part in an experiment where they reviewed fitness club advertisements and then responded to a questionnaire. Persons who viewed LGBT inclusive advertisements were more likely to believe the club was diverse and...Read more

The purposes of this study were to identify the attributes consumers use to distinguish between mainstream and niche sports and determine which of those attributes were related to support for niche sports. Niche sports were classified as those sports not attracting mainstream media attention or large scale live audiences (Miloch & Lambrecht, 2006). Participants (n = 197) were asked to rate their perception of seven attributes (i.e., accessibility, popularity, uniqueness, affordability, star power, player similarities, and player skill) with four niche sports and one mainstream sport....Read more

During the past 30 years, NCAA Division I athletic administrators have chosen to engage in a profit maximization model that has resulted in program eliminations for non-revenue, Olympic sport programs (Ridpath, Yiamouyiannis, Lawrence, & Galles, 2008). With “lack of spectator interest” identified as a significant criterion for program elimination (Gray & Petzer, 1995), there is a strong need for the development of marketing plans that improve non-revenue consumer interests at the local, regional, and national levels. Thus, the purpose of the research was to examine the motivational...Read more

Brand personality research has made extensive use of factor modeling to grasp the dimensions of brand personality. Many scholars have adapted this technique to capture the brand personality of an organization. It is argued in this study that letting consumers associate a brand with a personality through factor modeling is flawed and anthropomorphic in nature. Therefore, the author proposes a different technique to measure these associations, by asking managers about what personality associations they implement while marketing their brand. Based on their responses, a list of associations...Read more

Customer complaints and comments provide managers with an important source of information, and an analysis of these critical incidents provides additional insight into which aspects of the spectator experience customers identify as being vital. Using the critical incidents technique (CIT), data on 1,111 positive and negative aspects of the spectator experience were collected from 831 customers at two different minor league sporting events. Incidents were categorized to identify aspects both favorably and unfavorably influencing customers. Findings identify which aspects of the spectator...Read more

Sporting events have increasingly become the epicenter of sponsorship or logo showcasing and the concept of sponsorship has changed the way sport marketers view sporting events ever so drastically. The amount of logo exposure at sporting venues determines the fine line between instant elation and intolerable anguish for sport marketers. Do consumers then actually notice the multitude of logos that the sponsors bombard them with at these sporting events? The purpose of this study is to investigate what an average spectator at a sporting event visually records in a two-hour span. The...Read more