Stephanie Kiefer and Katrin Scharfenkamp

Discussions about the impact of physical attractiveness on the popularity of competitive athletes have received much attention from scholars and the worldwide media. We provide new insights into this debate, and draw managerial implications by estimating OLS and Tobit regressions to test whether and to what extent the physical attractiveness of professional female tennis players affects (changes in) their popularity in online media. Based on a sample of the top 100 Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) single ranking of one selected calendar week in 2011 and 2012, we find that physical...Read more

Jacquelyn Cuneen
Nancy E. Spencer
Sally R. Ross
Artemisia Apostolopoulou

This study presents a perspective on advertisements featuring female drivers that appeared in the official Indianapolis 500 programs from 1977 to 2006. Specifically, content analysis was used to track the succession of female drivers’ depictions in the programs over the 29-year period from Janet Guthrie’s rookie year to Danica Patrick’s second race appearance. Ads were analyzed for pose, connotation, role portrayal, and camera angle. Descriptive statistics indicated that prior to 2003, the drivers’ (Guthrie, Lyn St. James, Sarah Fisher, and Patrick) ad depictions were most often strong and...Read more

D. Erin Shackelford
T. Christopher Greenwell

A great deal of research is devoted to the study of factors affecting spectator attendance; however, the majority of these studies have focused on men's sports. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to analyze the relationship between specific factors and spectator attendance at selected NCAA Division I women's sporting events. Based on a review of related literature, five characteristics that may affect attendance were selected for this study: city population, student enrollment, competition from other Division I universities, competition from professional sports teams, and previous...Read more