FiT Publishing

Research on both brand personality and social media in sport is still in their respective developmental stages, and to date no research has examined the impact of social media use on sport brands. This study was the first to examine if differences exist in the brand personality of a sport event between those that use the events social media page and those that do not. After surveying fans of a major National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) event, the results revealed that eight of the nine brand personality items were rated significantly higher for users of the event’s Facebook page...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

Can a high demand sporting event institute a random selection process to distribute tickets and create revenue while doing so? Recently, the NCAA was sued for using such a ticket distribution method (George v. NCAA, 2011). The plaintiffs to the lawsuit claimed the NCAA ran an illegal lottery by charging a non-refundable handling fee for all ticket requests, including those that were not able to be met due to the high consumer demand. Ultimately, the Indiana Supreme Court held the NCAA’s actions did not legally constitute a lottery, and thus the NCAA’s ticket distribution method was allowed...Read more

To date, little empirical work has examined the institutional returns associated with athletic program investments. While intangible brand effects are commonly cited, such as athletics serving as the perceptual “front porch” of the institution, direct examination of the effects of athletic programs has often been narrow in scope. Within this study, we assess the contributions of investment in athletics as compared to other areas of institutional investment, on important institutional outcomes. Data for the study was collected from two datasets, the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data...Read more

The Robins Center at the University of Richmond, home of Richmond’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, had hosted a Presidential debate in 1992, but at 38 years old it was time for a major renovation. In mid-March 2011, based on the success of the men’s basketball program over the past two seasons, a generous donor had agreed to contribute the total amount needed to renovate the Robins Center.Read more

Although May 24, 2010, was like most spring days in Florida—pleasantly mild and partly sunny—the Florida Supreme Court’s actions that day undoubtedly made the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and its members feel as if they were trapped in the “dog days of summer”: stifling hot and humid. With one decision, the landscape of college sport had been altered, although most fans and intercollegiate athletic administrators are still not aware of the implications of the court’s decision for the future forecast.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

Involvement has been examined extensively within the consumer behavior literature. However, limited research exists concerning involvement and charitable contributions. Additionally, because of women’s growing financial power, college athletic departments are increasingly interested in understanding how to attract greater numbers of female donors. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in donor involvement using Zaichkowsky’s (1994) Personal Involvement Inventory (PII). Several demographic characteristics of donors were also compared by gender. A...Read more

After nearly 30 years of research, the disparate findings of studies examining the influence of intercollegiate athletics on private, individual giving to higher education institutions have failed to generate generalizable knowledge. The current study examined all available empirical studies conducted between 1976 and 2008 on this topic. Meta-analysis results indicate that intercollegiate athletics does have a small, but statistically significant, effect on giving. Follow-up analysis revealed four significant moderators on the strength of the intercollegiate athletic-private giving...Read more

The reliance on signage to generate spectator recognition of sponsors has become so commonplace that the concept of sponsorship is nearly synonymous with the use of signage in sport venues. A multitude of studies have measured sponsorship recognition and/or recall among sport spectators as the means to justify the practice (Bennett, Henson, & Zhang, 2002; Cuneen & Hannan, 1993; Nicholls, Roslow, & Dublish, 1999; Pitts & Slattery, 2004; Pitts, 1998; Stotlar, 1993; Stotlar & Johnson, 1989). Previous literature suggests more highly involved spectators, such as college...Read more