Development of a Conceptual Model of Occupational Stress for Athletic Directors in Sport Contexts

Previous studies have reported that occupational stress is a determinant risk factor for both chronic diseases and job performance among organizational leaders. Every occupation has its own culture and occupational climate influencing organizations within the industries. Thus, due to the idiosyncratic features inherent in sports, athletic directors may experience different occupational stressors. To date, there has been no comprehensive review of the occupational stress in athletic director contexts. Thus, based on the literature on both occupational stress and sport leadership, this study proposes a conceptual framework of occupational stress in sport leadership. The model identifies the five higher-order themes of occupational stressors and their associations with the first-level outcomes of individuals and the second-level outcomes of organizations. It also includes the two higher-order moderators of personal and organizational factors. It is hoped that this initiative can invoke interest in this topic to provide health-enhancing environments for athletic directors and quality sport services to society.

The KFC Yum! Center

Host resigned his cabinet position in 2005 but agreed to continue as chair of the Louisville Arena Task Force (LATF). Its members agreed that Louisville needed a new arena but disagreed on the location. “Papa” John Schnatter, University of Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich, and Mayor Jerry Abramson all held strong opinions about the best site. The LATF eventually selected a riverfront location, with Schnatter casting the lone dissenting vote. Host then became chair of the Louisville Arena Authority (LAA), working with Louisville civil rights leaders to ensure that minorities were hired on the construction project and overseeing an extremely complex bond issue. Host and the LAA guided the construction project through to completion, and the KFC Yum! Center opened in 2010. Financing of the arena faced some initial criticism, but fears of default have proved to be unfounded. The KFC Yum! Center provides Kentucky with one of the best venues for sports and entertainment in the country.

Back to Kentucky and Bundled Rights

While Host expanded corporate partnerships with the NCAA, he also obtained control of the marketing rights for multiple universities. In addition to the University of Texas, HCI began to work with Purdue, Florida State, Notre Dame, and other schools. While HCI expanded nationally, Host also won back the broadcasting and media rights to University of Kentucky (UK) sports. This time, Host took what he had learned with the NCAA and other universities and introduced a new innovation in intercollegiate athletics: bundled rights. Corporate sponsors signed up to be official partners with UK, and the deals included advertising across print, radio, and television markets. The bundled rights model became the standard template for individual universities and their sports marketing programs. At UK, Host and athletic director CM Newton brought in Rick Pitino as the new head men’s basketball coach, after PJ Carlesimo turned down the position. Pitino resurrected the basketball program and helped prove that the bundled rights model worked. Host Communications then looked to replicate the model at other universities.