Pro softball fan segments: a two-step cluster analysis

PurposeNiche sports such as women's professional sport leagues face many challenges to developing and expanding their fan base. Understanding sport fans, segmenting consumer bases and targeting them effectively can assist in both developing the fan base and competing for investments like sponsorships and media rights. The purpose of this study was to explore consumer segments of the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), a niche softball league, by identifying demographic and psychographic characteristics of the segments and developing a persona for each segment.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 3,463 NPF consumers with the assistance of NPF league officials using their social media outlets. A two-step cluster analysis was performed employing both categorical and continuous variables to inform the segmentation, which was followed with chi-squared statistics and two MANOVAs to compare the segments' demographic characteristics, points of attachment (POAs) levels and attendance and viewership of NPF games.FindingsThree distinct consumer segments with unique demographic, POA and softball participation characteristics were identified. Differences among these segments' consumption of NPF games validated the existence of three distinct consumer segments.Originality/valueThis research is the first to examine consumer behavior in women's softball, and it expands the sport marketing literature through the identification of consumer segments of a niche sport league with a novel cluster analysis. Blending theory and practice by incorporating both demographic and psychographic variables into market segmentation, the research uniquely serves this niche sport and thereby informs improved marketing practice.

Branding a Professional Sport Team that Reenters the Same Marketplace: Stakeholders’ Perspectives

This study explored stakeholders’ perspectives in building a professional sport franchise brand that is reentering the same marketplace for a third time following the folding of two previous franchises within the same sport league. To accomplish the study’s purpose, a qualitative method was employed where semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 stakeholders of the reentering franchise. The findings uncovered five antecedents: game-extensions, owners’ credibility, community outreach, cross-promotions, and aligning with established brand. Theoretical contributions, practical recommendations, and directions for future research are provided.

The Tweet Heard Round the World: Daryl Morey, the NBA, China, and Attribution of Responsibility

Following Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey’s social media post advocating for Hong Kong independence, a 2 (NBA, Houston Rockets) × 3 (attacking the accuser, justification, apology) experimental design was utilized to explore the effects of different crisis response strategies on sports fan relationships between/among a professional sport league, one of its teams, and crisis responsibility attribution. Results indicated that apology strategy functioned better in reducing the blame placed on the organization than attacking strategy. Also, people with a more positive relationship or a higher level of identification with the organization would attribute less responsibility. However, when controlling the organization-public relationship or sport identification, response strategies could no longer predict attribution of responsibility significantly, suggesting that the previous relationship matters more than which response strategy is utilized in a crisis.

New jerseys: exploring the influence of NBA team jersey sponsorships on teams and sponsors

PurposeIn 2017, the National Basketball Association (NBA) became the first major professional North American sport league to adopt jersey sponsorship. While professional leagues across the globe have allowed this practice for decades, the NBA's decision marked what may be the start of a new trend in North American sport sponsorship. With this in mind, the current study sought to assess the impact of fans' perceptions of these sponsorships on sponsor- and team-related outcomes.Design/methodology/approachAn online sample of 301 NBA fans across the United States was conducted through Amazon's MTurk.FindingsResults exhibited the importance of sponsorship authenticity, which maintained the strongest influence on sponsor- and team-related outcomes. Brand–team fit, sponsorship familiarity and sponsorship identification were also assessed, with mixed results for each factor.Originality/valueResults of these findings related to sponsorship authenticity and consequent practical and theoretical implications are discussed, and areas for future research are provided.

Making an Impact: An Initial Review of U.S. Sport League Corporate Social Responsibility Responses During COVID-19

COVID-19 has brought about an unprecedented time where a majority of major American sporting organizations have ceased competition. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions, historically an avenue for sport organizations to positively impact society, provide a compelling avenue of study during this time. While researchers have observed the role of CSR and crisis communication when the crisis arises from within the organization, there is a need to understand CSR shifts and responses when the crisis is on a societal level. This commentary examines efforts of major U.S. sport league CSR programs (National Basketball Association/Women's National Basketball Association, National Football League, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, and National Hockey League), starting in mid-March when the majority of organizations ceased competition. Data were gathered using a mixed-methods approach of qualitative interviews, secondary research, and social media sentiment analysis. Key findings included the emergence of two different approaches to CSR communication strategies among U.S. sport leagues as well as three clear themes of COVID-19-related communication: educate, assist, and inspire. In addition, this commentary provides an initial glance at consumer response to CSR programs, showing both positive and negative sentiment trends.

Sharing the Revenues from Broadcasting Sport Events

We study the problem of sharing the revenues from broadcasting sport league events among participating teams. We provide direct, axiomatic, and game-theoretical foundations for two focal rules: the equal-split rule and concede-and-divide. The former allocates the revenues generated from broadcasting each game equally among the participating teams in the game. The latter concedes each team the revenues from its fan base and divides equally the residual. We also provide an application studying the case of sharing the revenue from broadcasting games in La Liga, the Spanish Football League. We show that hybrid schemes, combining our rules with lower bounds and performance measures, yield close outcomes to the current allocation being implemented by the Spanish National Professional Football League Association. This paper was accepted by Manel Baucells, decision analysis.