Sport Marketing Quarterly (SMQ)

Volume: 26
Issue: 4
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Articles in this issue:

  • Alan Morse

    An interview with Spencer McAnally. Director of Marketing, Clemson University AlthleticsRead more

  • Cody T. Havard and Vassilis Dalakas

    The topic of rivalry is a favorite in sport popular culture. Fans, media members, and participants frequently discuss who is a rival team, what constitutes a rivalry, and what rivalries are most relevant in sport. For example, if one turns the television to a sport channel or visits popular sport media websites, they will almost certainly be exposed to a story, highlights, or discussion about rivalry. The phenomenon is so popular among sport fans that major television and media outlets have labeled portions of seasons accordingly (e.g., college football’s Rivalry Week typically runs the...Read more

  • B. David Tyler
    Craig A. Morehead
    Joe Cobbs
    and Timothy D. DeSchriver

    Although the concept of rivalry is widely recognized as a contributing factor to consumer demand for sporting events, who constitutes a rival and to what degree rivalry influences attendance remains vague. Previous demand models consistently included rivalry as an explanatory variable but represented rivalry in inconsistent ways that often violated rivalry’s core properties (i.e., non-exclusive, continuous in scale, and bidirectional). This study reviews past specifications for rivalry and tests multiple rivalry variables, including a 100-point allocation measure that conforms to rivalry’s...Read more

  • Scott C. Ambrose and Nathan Schnitzlein

    Rivalries in sports give fans a unique connection with their team, school, or favorite athlete. The game or match may also draw more attention because of geographical considerations, cultural aspects, and team disposition. Furthermore, rivalries in single-player sports expose the intimacy and personalities of the opposing competitors. Understanding rivalries, particularly in individual sports, can give marketers an upper hand in identifying areas to promote their brand. This study analyzes 11 elements of team rivalry defined by Tyler and Cobbs (2015) and applies a similar methodology for...Read more

  • Joe Cobbs
    Daniel Sparks
    and B. David Tyler

    Previous research on sports rivalry has emphasized fans’ social identity and the threat posed by rivals. Much of this scholarship is based on intercollegiate sports, where many fans, such as students and alumni, have a formally defined identity with the university. In this study, fans (N = 4,828) across five major professional leagues—Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and National Hockey League (NHL)—are surveyed to compare their animosity toward rivals based on four variables: schadenfreude,...Read more

  • Lamar Reams and Terry Eddy

    In contrast to research examining the social-psychological aspects of how sport fans perceive rivalry games in team sports, far less is known regarding the impact rivalries have on mediated consumer demand, a marketing outcome of interest to sport researchers and practitioners. Guided by economic demand theory, the current study developed a model to empirically examine the impact of Tyler and Cobbs’ (2015) rivalry antecedents (conflict, peer, bias) on fan interest for an individual sport. The three-dimensional framework provided the foundation for the selection of thirteen rivalry-related...Read more