FiT Publishing

This study estimates a demand curve for physically aggressive play in the English Premier Football League (EPL), the highest level of professional association football (soccer) in England. Employing a league-point-maximization framework in which a team chooses its level of aggressive play as an input, optimum aggressive play is assumed to respond to its price, where price is the reduction in the probability of a win or a tie resulting from aggressive play. The results indicate that aggressive play by EPL teams, as measured by total disciplinary points, is responsive to opportunity cost for...Read more

UEFA is the sports governing body for football (soccer) in Europe with 53 national associations as members of a democratic organization. UEFA is also the most important member of FIFA, which is the international governing body for football. UEFA organizes all European Championships and Youth Championships, as well as two trans-European playoffs every year between the best teams from the national leagues. The better teams from the 53 national leagues are, with some playoffs for the positions, playing in these two leagues. And the better the teams from a national league are performing, the...Read more

The paper investigates the selection of accounting policies for intangible assets in the Italian football industry, focusing on the effects of the so-called salva calcio decree. Introduced by the Italian government, the decree effectively permitted clubs to amortize the asset of players?registration rights over an arbitrary time period of 10 years rather than over the length of players?contracts, thus improving clubs?reported financial position and performance. While adoption of the salva calcio decree had no direct cash flow effect, it had indirect economic consequences. It is argued that...Read more

On February 15, 2013, Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel’s licensing company, JMAN2 Enterprises LLC, filed suit against Eric Vaughn, who had been selling a variety of shirts that featured the phrase “Keep Calm and Johnny Football” with various uses of Texas A&M’s color scheme and/or protected logos (Watson, 2013a). Manziel filed to register a trademark in his nickname “Johnny Football” during the 2012 season prior to winning the Heisman Trophy (the trademark registration was still pending approval before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office [USPTO] at the time of this writing). His...Read more

Love or hate them, the Dallas Cowboys are “America’s Team.” For more than 30 years, the prominent National Football League team has referred to itself as “America’s Team,” a reference to their national appeal and popularity, but also a term that infuriates opposing teams and fans. However, according to a Texas federal district court, the Dallas Cowboys indeed are America’s team for trademark purposes (Dallas Cowboys Football Clubs, Ltd. v. Am.’s Team Props., 2009). This article analyzes the Dallas Cowboys and National Football League’s 2009 lawsuit against America’s Team Properties and...Read more

This study examines the underlying motives within the ritual of football tailgating and the influence of these motives on ritual commitment. Employing an ethnographic approach, methods include participant observation, informal conversations, and formal interviews. Findings indicate that four basic motivations and the dual nature of these motives perpetuate the tailgating ritual: involvement (preparation and participation), social interaction (camaraderie and competition), inter-temporal sentiment (retrospection and prospection), and identity (collectivism and individualism). The data...Read more

The fantasy sports industry continues to present interesting legal issues for sport managers. Last year, this column featured a discussion of C.B.C. Distribution and Marketing, Inc. v. Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. (2006, 2007) which held that an operator of a fantasy sports league was not infringing on the players’ state law publicity rights and that the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution preempted the players’ state law publicity rights (Grady, 2007). The case that is the subject of this column identifies yet another issue surrounding fantasy sports. In Humphrey...Read more

Evaluating sponsorship activities at elite intercollegiate sporting events has become critical to determining sponsorship effectiveness and maximizing the relationships between athletic departments and their corporate partners. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sponsorship of an elite intercollegiate football program by analyzing the effects of the constructs of attitude toward the sponsor, goodwill, and fan involvement on consumer purchase intentions. In this study (N=394), there were 52% males, 77% Caucasians, and 71% percent of the participants ranging from 18-24 years of...Read more

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

The emphasis on licensing as a source of revenue for sport organizations, coupled with the creativity of sport marketers and their fans, serves to highlight the importance of securing trademark protection for unique slogans and nicknames that emerge in connection with a particular sport organization. Perhaps one of the most well-known of these team-related fan groups is the Cleveland Browns’ “Dawg Pound,” a phrase used since the early 1980s to describe the enthusiastic Browns fans who dressed up (and woofed) like dogs. Members of the “Dawg Pound” sat together in the bleachers of the old...Read more