Sports Management – Page 2 – The Sport Journal

The Migration of Business Strategies from the Hospitality Industry to Athletics Marketing

Authors: Mark Mitchell, Nicholas Clark, and Taylor Damonte

Corresponding Author:
Mark Mitchell, DBA
Professor of Marketing
Associate Dean, Wall College of Business
NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR)
Coastal Carolina University
P. O. Box 261954
Conway, SC 29528
mmitchel@coastal.edu
(843) 349-2392

Mark Mitchell, DBA is Professor of Marketing at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC.

Nicholas Clark is a Master’s Student in Sport Administration at Georgia State University. He is currently a member of the NCAA Division I Council. Nicholas is a former student-athlete at Coastal Carolina University.

Taylor Damonte, PhD is Professor of Hospitality & Resort Tourism Management at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC.

The Migration of Business Strategies from the Hospitality Industry to Athletics Marketing

ABSTRACT
Many strategies of the hospitality industry, including dynamic pricing, customer relationship management programs, and others have been successfully adopted by athletics marketers. The purpose of this manuscript is to examine a variety of practices in the hospitality industry that have been successfully adopted by athletics marketers. There are four broad categories that provide practices most fruitful for adoption: (1) Fan Experience; (2) Ticketing; (3) In-Stadium Food and Beverage; and (4) Tailgating. In some cases, a small number of teams (and venues) have implemented such practices. In others, these practices are intuitively a good strategic fit but no organization has been identified as yet to implement the strategy. This presentation may prompt other organizations to consider such practices for implementation. (more…)

U.S. Sports Academy2018-11-21T10:43:58-06:00December 20th, 2018|Research, Sports Management, Sports Marketing|Comments Off

Institutional Reforms and the Recoupling of Academic and Athletic Performance in High-Profile College Sports

Authors: Christopher P. Kelley, Shane D. Soboroff, Andrew D. Katayama, Mathew Pfeiffer and Michael J. Lovaglia

Corresponding Author:
Christopher P. Kelley
2354 Fairchild Dr., Ste. 6L107
U.S. Air Force Academy, CO 80840-2603
Christopher.Kelley@usafa.edu
319-331-8060

Dr. Christopher P. Kelley is an Assistant Professor of Leadership in the Department of Behavioral Science and Leadership at the United States Air Force Academy. He studies complex organizations, leadership, power, and influence processes. Dr. Kelley also serves as the Managing Editor of the journal, Current Research in Social Psychology and is an active member of the American Sociological Association and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Institutional Reforms and the Recoupling of Academic and Athletic Performance in High-Profile College Sports

ABSTRACT
University officials and stakeholders continue to debate the role of athletics in the mission of higher education. Reforms promoted by the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) to promote academic integrity reflect this tension. This research investigates whether the most recent means for monitoring a team’s academic success, the Academic Progress Rate (APR), has led to changes in the academic and athletic outcomes of high profile football and basketball teams. Neo-Institutional theory provides a framework for understanding how regulations translate into organizational change through the coupling of organizational practices to institutional goals. Predictions that metrics used to assess academic progress among high profile student athletes will reflect increasing isomorphism among sports teams at the same school received support. Specifically, analyses of seven years of NCAA’s APR and athletic performance data found that APR scores became more similar among Division 1 programs, and increasingly correlated for high-profile sports within the same schools. Using Hallett’s ‘inhabited institutions’ framework and research on academic and athletic success factors, we also investigated whether improvements in APR could be attributed to coaches and if these changes impacted team athletic success, while accounting for resource differences between schools. (more…)

U.S. Sports Academy2018-12-19T08:00:55-06:00December 13th, 2018|Research, Sports Management|Comments Off

Attendance Still Matters in MLB: The Relationship with Winning Percentage

Authors: Mitchell T. Woltring, University of South Alabama

Corresponding Author:
Mitchell T. Woltring, Ph.D.
171 Jaguar Drive
HKS 1016
mitchellwoltring@southalabama.edu
251-461-1925

Dr. Mitchell Woltring is an assistant professor of Sport Management at the University of South Alabama. He teaches undergraduate classes in the Leisure Studies program which serves both sport management and therapeutic recreation students. He received his Ph.D. in Human Performance from Middle Tennessee State University, an M.S. in Sport Management from Middle Tennessee State University, and a B.S. in Sport Management from Minnesota State University, Mankato. He has worked in the sport industry with several baseball teams at the MLB, college, and amateur levels, as well as coaching at the high school level.

Attendance Still Matters in MLB: The Relationship with Winning Percentage

ABSTRACT
The relationship between average attendance and winning percentage for Major League Baseball (MLB) teams across a 16-year period, from 1998-2013 was investigated. Attendance in baseball is an important topic because with a schedule at least twice as long as any other major North American league, MLB has the potential to gain a competitive advantage by maximizing attendance.

The relationship between attendance and winning percentage has been researched by looking at how winning percentage affects future attendance (3, 7). However, there is also evidence of a bidirectional relationship between attendance and winning percentage which suggests that attendance could be acting on winning percentage (3, 6). The excitement caused by a capacity crowd has the potential to influence the home team to perform better, which is exhibited by Baade and Tiehen’s postulation that attendance of at least 75% of stadium capacity can, “generate a different sense of excitement” (1).

An innovative method to examine attendance was used; rather than relying on aggregate attendance numbers, average attendance was recorded as a proportion of total stadium capacity. MLB stadiums range in capacity from 34,078 to 56,000, so aggregate numbers do not accurately reflect the potential differences in attendance between teams.

Four different statistical analyses were run which controlled for year, stadium capacity, and team payroll to determine the relationship between average attendance measured as a proportion of stadium capacity and winning percentage. Analyses of crosstabs, ANOVA, regression, and logistic regression all found a significant relationship between average attendance as a proportion of stadium capacity and winning percentage. Based on the research question, regression analysis proved to be the most applicable of the results. Regression results showed that average attendance as a proportion of stadium capacity was positively related to winning percentage, R2 = .242, p <.001.

The results indicate that attendance has the potential to increase winning percentage, which should be of interest to any MLB team. It should especially be of interest considering that over the course of the present study, MLB stadiums were only filled to 67% capacity.

(more…)

U.S. Sports Academy2018-11-06T10:01:57-06:00November 22nd, 2018|Research, Sports Management|Comments Off

Church & Sport in Alabama

Authors: Joseph C. Spears, Jr., Erica Hernandez, Ph.D.

Corresponding Author:
Joseph C. Spears, Jr., Ed. D
Assistant Professor Sport Management
Faculty Athletic Representative
Bowie State University
15402 General Lafayette Blvd
Brandywine, MD 20613
Phone: (301) 860-3778
jcspears@bowiestate.edu

Dr. Joseph C. Spears, Jr. is an assistant professor of Sport Management at both Bowie State and Liberty Universities. At Bowie State, he also serves as faculty athletic rep and chaplain of the football team. Dr. Spears has an Ed.D in sports management from the United States Sports Academy and has completed a masters in higher education from Morgan State, a masters in divinity from Virginia Union and a B.A degree in Christian education from Logos Christian. College. Dr. Spears understands the need and importance of developing families and communities spiritually, socially and economically. To that end, Dr. Spears utilizes sports as a framework to partner with other community organizations and leaders to provide educational and informational programs that promote the well-being of the entire community. His sports background is long-distance road, trail running, and mountain biking and boxing.

Dr. Erica Hernandez is an assistant professor of psychology at Bowie State University. She earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Hernandez has been teaching psychology for over 10 years and has research interests in a variety of areas spanning psychology, education, and finance.

Church & Sport in Alabama

ABSTRACT
Can a Sports Ministry program positively impact the church’s mission among its members? Previous research with commitment theory in psychology as it relates to sports and religious activity (2, 19) indicates that what benefits that church members get out of attending church activities will impact their frequency of attendance and commitment to their church. Sports activities have long been used as a tool to bring people into the church and increase fellowship and evangelism (11). To date, there has been little empirical research into the specific benefits of a sports ministry in the opinion of the church leaders who have sports activities in their church.
(more…)

U.S. Sports Academy2018-10-22T15:25:56-05:00September 20th, 2018|Research, Sports Management|Comments Off

Sports Marketing & Publicity Efforts in Division II Intercollegiate Athletics

Authors: Robert Zullo

Corresponding Author:
Robert Zullo, PhD
Westminster College
319 South Market Street
New Wilmington, PA 16172
zullorh@westminster.edu
724-946-6835

Dr. Robert Zullo is an Associate Professor of Business and Sports Management at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, located between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. He is also Program Coordinator for the Sports Management program within the School of Business and previously worked in intercollegiate athletics at the Division I level.

Sports Marketing & Publicity Efforts in Division II Intercollegiate Athletics

ABSTRACT
While much research has been conducted on sports marketing efforts within Division I intercollegiate athletics and outsourcing sports marketing within Division I intercollegiate athletics, there are limited studies examining sports marketing within Division II athletics beyond factors impacting Division II football attendance or basketball attendance. Previous Division II scholarship has also focused on burnout, compliance, gambling, risk management, sports information work-family conflict and student-athlete development. This research examined what resources were allocated towards marketing within Division II athletic departments to foster publicity efforts, revenue generation and community relations. It also examined which sports are prioritized as well as the preferred inventory for sponsors given that the Division II athletic programs are traditionally not afforded the same media opportunities as their Division I counterparts. Collected data was analyzed along with qualitative responses. The findings and recommendations are valuable to Division II athletic directors, administrators, presidents and conference commissioners to help discern best practices as well as those in academia to afford them a focused Division II perspective given the emphasis continuously placed on Division I sports marketing operations.
(more…)

U.S. Sports Academy2018-08-27T11:58:46-05:00September 13th, 2018|Research, Sports Management|Comments Off

The Migration of Business Strategies from the Hospitality Industry to Athletics Marketing

The Migration of Business Strategies from the Hospitality Industry to Athletics Marketing

Institutional Reforms and the Recoupling of Academic and Athletic Performance in High-Profile College Sports

Institutional Reforms and the Recoupling of Academic and Athletic Performance in High-Profile College Sports

Attendance Still Matters in MLB: The Relationship with Winning Percentage

Attendance Still Matters in MLB: The Relationship with Winning Percentage

Church & Sport in Alabama

Church & Sport in Alabama

Sports Marketing & Publicity Efforts in Division II Intercollegiate Athletics

Sports Marketing & Publicity Efforts in Division II Intercollegiate Athletics

Abstract