FiT Publishing

Maintaining a robust salesforce is critical for nearly any business. The sport industry is no exception, as salespeople help sport organizations generate essential ticket revenue. While the sport industry is a popular career option for young professionals, relatively few aspiring sport managers desire to work in sales. As such, entry-level sport ticket sales positions experience high turnover. The purpose of this study is to assess the hiring processes of recruitment, evaluation, and selection of sales candidates among North American professional sport leagues. Qualitative interviews were...Read more

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities have the ability to impact the image and reputation of professional sports franchises, and ultimately, their relationships with the respective fan bases. The National Basketball Association (NBA), in particular, utilizes CSR as part of its marketing and public relations strategy. Based on field survey data collected with the assistance of an NBA team in the Southeastern United States over three consecutive seasons, this study expands our understanding of CSR by exploring how fans’ expectations and perceptions of CSR initiatives impact the...Read more

An interview with Grant Jostol, Business Data Analyst for the Seattle Mariners.Read more

Examinations of racial discrimination hinge upon the ability of the researcher to accurately measure worker productivity. To overcome this difficulty, researchers have utilized data from professional sports. Unlike many industries, professional sports provide an abundance of performance measures for the individual worker. Unfortunately, the abundance itself may pose a problem, as researchers face a number of plausible measurements of worker performance. As we show, the choice of measurements does impact the results. Additionally, we show that race can also be measured in a variety of ways...Read more

In this theoretical analysis, we try to find out what the impact is of pooling and sharing, and not just the sharing of broadcast rights, on the competitive balance in a sports league. We are using a simplified 2-club non-cooperative Nash equilibrium model with the hiring of talent as the only decision variable. The conclusion is that the individual sale of broadcast rights, combined with a pure performance-related sharing arrangement of the money, offers the best guarantee for an improvement of the competitive balance.Read more

Stadium boosters have long used the promise of economic development as a means to gain public support for financing local sports teams. Past research has shown little or no impact on employment or income when viewed at the MSA level. This paper expands the current literature on the economic impact of professional sports franchises. Following Coates and Humphreys (2003), we look at employment and wages at the county level using detailed SIC and NAICS industry codes. We find mixed results on employment within a county but find a negative effect on the payrolls within specific industries.Read more

The professional sport premium seating industry in the United States is in the midst of a reinvention that will require professional sport sales professionals to be more proactive in their approach to prospecting, selling, and servicing clients (Titlebaum & Lawrence, 2011). The intent of this study was to address one aspect of this reinvention and analyze the business characteristics of premium seating purchasers. A secondary purpose was to inform professional sport sales professionals about using data mining in premium seating sales. To execute the project, premium seating client...Read more

The landscape of second-tier professional sports is littered with leagues and teams that have folded—a reality that has become even more prevalent due to the recent economic downturn. For instance, this past August, the National Lacrosse League’s (NLL) Orlando Titans announced that it would not field a team for the 2011 season … after having substantially completed its 2011 season ticket campaign (“Titans confirm,” 2010). In March 2010, the Los Angeles Sol, the most highly-publicized team in the newly formed Women’s Professional Soccer League (WPSL), folded after just one season (Tripp,...Read more

The unprecedented growth of the Internet has provided new ways for organizations to communicate with their stakeholders. Consequently, messages devoted to ethical, environmental, and other social initiatives have increased in popularity. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one way in which organizations seek to manage stakeholder pressures, improve organizational reputation, and increase consumer patronage. Based on these potential outcomes, the purpose of this study was to analyze CSR–related content distributed by teams to their stakeholders via electronic newsletters. Over 800 e-...Read more