Innovation Opportunities in Sport Management

The purpose of this article is to highlight the use of innovation sprints, flash teams, and inter-disciplinary collaboration in sport management programs that reduce the apparent proficiency gaps that exist between the expectations of industry and the college graduate. Companies in a variety of industries are using these tools to solve complex problems as the velocity of change and volume of data are increasing at a rate that makes constant innovation a necessity. However, higher education traditions and curricular silos appear to be causing graduates to fall further behind the needs of industry. Two innovation sprints have shown the ability to provide students with improved skills for industry while enhancing their understanding of sport management competencies through rapid prototyping, human-centered design, and flash teams. One innovation sprint involved a cross-campus collaborative experience. The second focused on a multi-college/university collaboration within sport management. Though both experiences produced better-than-expected results, the inter-disciplinary sprint may have produced a higher level of outputs. Furthermore, faculty and students alike appear to benefit from inter-disciplinary interactions as everyone learns more about each field represented and allows everyone to have an equal voice through a common lens. If sport management programs remain in their designated silo, their graduates may be falling further behind the expectation of employers. Previous literature suggests the benefits of innovative practices significantly enhance learning and drive creative problem-solving. Therefore, sport management programs may want to exploreusing innovation sprints, flash teams, and inter-disciplinary collaboration practices as viable practices to enhance student learning outcomes.

X’s and O’s, Angles and Games

In 2017, NFL viewers complained when NBC Sports used the “Madden” camera for live play-by-play coverage of two Thursday Night Football games. Their comments indicated that they had a difficult time estimating yardage from the new perspective. Those games were just two recent examples of viewers complaining about changes in the visual presentation of live sports broadcasts—a phenomenon that has been happening with the Madden camera for more than a decade. The sports broadcasters’ inability to adjust its production technique for live football coverage, despite repeated attempts, provides important insights about the nature of mass communication. As sports broadcasters continue to look for new production techniques in a constantly evolving media landscape, these findings could help guide their production practices. Using game footage from four NFL broadcasts, the present study tested for differences in yardage estimations made from the traditional game camera (i.e., a stationary camera perpendicular to the field) and the Madden camera (i.e., a moving camera on wires positioned over the field). Participants (N = 473) were randomly assigned to watch 11 plays from either the traditional game camera angle or the Madden camera angle. No significant differences were found in estimates of yardage gains based on camera angle. Thehigh variance in the findings suggests that distance estimations are complex visual processes that may require specialized training to improve accuracy.

Factors Affecting Leaders’ Adoption of Innovation:

This study's focus is to determine why some leaders adopt an innovation, while others do not, through the case of high school athletic directors' digital ticket adoption. We explore the process through which sport managers evaluate an innovation as the best course of action. The purpose of this study was to identify critical factors influencing high school athletic directors' decisions to adopt digital ticketing as the best strategy for securing revenue and serving their event attendees. High school athletic directors (N = 628) completed an online survey measuring the effects that leaders' prior conditions and perceived characteristics of the innovation (i.e., independent variables) have on their decision to adopt or reject the technology (i.e., dependent variable). From a theoretical perspective, we extend the conceptual model proposed by Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation Theory, including two constructs specific to the situation considered (i.e., trust and cost). From a managerial standpoint, there appears to be a need to educate athletic directors on the free digital ticketing options available and its ease-of-use. Future research should explore the athletic directors' decision-making process across a more extensive timeline through a longitudinal study.

Augmented Reality in Sport Marketing

The augmented reality (AR) market is expected to grow to $60.55 billion by 2023 and there are currently an estimated 4.2 billion AR-capable devices in the hands of consumers. Experts believe that sport is a high-value market for AR as it is uniquely positioned to utilize AR in multiple marketing contexts (Haber, 2019). The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the rate at which sport organizations are utilizing AR as they attempt to reach fans and consumers that are limited or restricted from attending events in person. This article introduces augmented reality to sport managers and practitioners and defines AR, detailing how it can be used by citing examples of how it has been used in sport marketing to this point. Specifically, the paper discusses the three most common classifications of AR for marketing and their role in sport: advertising/promotion, product management, and customer service. The types of AR delivery systems (e.g., HMD, projector-based, smartphone, broadcast AR) are also discussed to clarify that AR is a grouping of technologies and not just one hardware platform. Sport and non-sport examples of AR implementations of the different classifications and delivery systems are provided in this text. Three recommendations are provided for AR development and implementation, namely that sport AR activations should be a complement to the sport product, focus on visual appeal, and strive for immersion. These recommendations are grounded in academic research and intended to assist practitioners planning to implement AR as part of their marketing strategy.

An Examination of the Effectiveness of the Elam Ending at TBT2018 and TBT2019

The Elam Ending calls for the final portion of each basketball game to be played without a game clock, as a way to preserve a more natural style of play through the end of every game. The rule aims to address certain late-game strategies and phenomena attributable to the game clock under basketball’s traditional, fully timed format. The Elam Ending was first implemented by TBT: The Basketball Tournament, in 2017. Since then, the format has been implemented in subsequent editions of TBT, the 2020 NBA All-Star Game, and the FIBA-sanctioned Canadian Elite Basketball League. However, limited research exists examining the effectiveness of the Elam Ending in meeting its aims. Elam (2019) used quantitative descriptive data to examine the only 11 games played under the Elam Ending at TBT2017. This study replicates the previous study, examining all 134 games played under the Elam Ending at TBT2018 and TBT2019. This study shows the Elam Ending to be effective in meeting all of its aims at TBT2018, and even more so at TBT2019 after the format was slightly modified. This study can be particularly useful for any organizer or stakeholder involved with a basketball league/event considering implementation of the Elam Ending.

Examining the Innovation Process of a Graduate Apprenticeship Program for Sport Organizations

This case study analyzed the innovation processes that led to the adoption of a work-integrated learning program among several sport organizations. A comparative case study analysis was used to deduce the commonly shared determinants between each of the sport organizations. Notably, having an innovation champion was a key determination. As well, lack of resources regarding staffing, the involvement of the managers with the participating higher education institution, the ease of contract design, and access to good candidates for the program were also influential in the innovation process. This study revealed, for sport organizations facing similar issues, that the graduate apprenticeship program could provide benefits. As well for sport management program, it could provide a stronger relationship with regional sport organizations. This research also extends the body of research regarding the underlying mechanisms by which sport organizations innovate generally.

Applying Activity-Based Costing to Intercollegiate Athletics

Current accounting methods in intercollegiate athletics make it difficult for leaders to assess and understand the true cost of each sport team operations. Institutional and athletics leaders often make decisions concerning sport sponsorship/offerings, budget allocations, overall program operations, and review Title IX compliance based on information that may not truly capture the cost of each sport. Additionally, intercollegiate athletics reform groups and the federal government are calling for athletic departments to report more consistent, accurate, and transparent financial data. The purpose of this paper is to respond to the call for accounting reform in intercollegiate athletics via an innovative application of activity-based costing (ABC) to one NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) athletics department. ABC was applied to the athletic department budget report with results showing how previously established ABC cost drivers for intercollegiate athletics (Lawrence, Gabriel, & Tuttle, 2010) and reallocation of expenses back to specific sports allow for a greater understanding of the cost of each sport.

COVID-19: Return to Youth Sports

COVID-19 has impacted all areas of life, and youth sports is no exception. States and counties are publishing their own unique guidelines for permitting youth sports to return over designated phases, creating a patchwork of guidelines and dates for returning to practice and games. Governing bodies, sports facilities, and event operators are creating modifications and adaptations for participants and spectators to ensure a safe environment. The Sports Innovation Institute at IUPUI, a partnership between Indiana and Purdue universities in Indianapolis, and Grand Park Sports Campus (Westfield, Ind.) collaborated to better understand how COVID-related adaptations are perceived by parents, athletes, coaches, officials, and administrators. The results provide youth sports facilities and event operators with data on how specific adaptions are received by these stakeholders who are looking to return to youth sports in a timely, but safe manner. Twelve adaptations were identified from a review of documents prepared by states, governing bodies, trade associations, media reports, and feedback from industry and academic experts. The survey questions were designed using the Kano Model (pronounced “kah-no”), which was selected due to its ability to determine how people feel about proposed adaptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each adaption comprised three questions that assessed the respondents’ feelings toward the adaptation (functional question), their feelings if the adaptation did not exist (dysfunctional), and their assessment of how important it is for the adaptation to occur (importance). The Kano Model is interpreted based upon these three scores, and each adaptation can be placed into one of five categories on a scatterplot. The survey was distributed to 40 organizations that circulated the survey to their members. The survey reached a national audience that represents the landscape of youth sports. A total of 10,359 people from 45 states completed the entire survey, representing at least 13 different sports. Nearly 92% of respondents were parents, but with the option to select multiple roles, coaches (25%), administrators (10%), athletes (9%), and officials (3%) were also represented. Results indicated that venues and events should invest heavily and visibly in sanitization of the facility, playing areas, and equipment before, during, and after events. Venue operators and event managers can feel confident the recommendations provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to sanitize playing areas and equipment after each use will be well-received and welcomed by users. Promotion and monitoring of social-distancing guidelines, limiting personal contact between players, limiting admission to those under age 65 with no CDC-indicated pre-existing conditions, and completing a health and contact-information questionnaire prior to entering are seen by users as must-be adaptations in order for players and spectators to feel comfortable returning to youth sports during the COVID-19 pandemic. This means their presence does not bring satisfaction, but their lack of presence brings significant dissatisfaction. Respondents felt indifferent toward changing arrival and departure routines, closing amenities, and minimizing the capacity and rearranging bench areas for athletes. The presence or absence of these adaptations do not make a real difference in users’ experiences. User sentiment regarding facemasks was mixed, with strong feelings about the use and non-use of facemasks. Finally, limiting entry to athletes and game personnel but excluding spectators was not well-received by survey respondents, especially parents. Youth sports venues and events should tread lightly when considering not allowing spectators into venues, and expect negative backlash from parents should such policies be adopted. Parents of recreational athletes viewed the adaptations in a more positive light and as a more necessary part of the youth sports experience than parents of travel athletes. A similar trend was found when comparing parents who are less willing to travel during the pandemic than those who do not expect their travel to be impacted. Travel sports parents demonstrated an increasing comfort level in traveling for competitions over the summer months, from 42% in May to 76% in August. The economic turmoil wrought by COVID-19 has touched nearly every component of American life. However, 59% of travel sports parents reported that the pandemic will not negatively impact their sports travel budget. Only 23% will experience a budget decrease greater than 25% related to youth sports travel.

Going All in on AI

The sport industry has become increasingly more complex with the expanse of digital technology such as fiber optic internet access, 5G wireless communication, and blockchain, just to name a few. These advancements have shifted the amount and variety of data produced and available for analysis by sport organizations. Yet, sport organization front offices remain well behind other industry segments (e.g., retail, communications) in regard to handling, processing, and analyzing the volume and variety of data to advance business objectives. In this brief, we introduce the notion of artificial intelligence (AI) to sport management. While AI, as a concept, has been discussed for more than 50 years, this article provides a definition and overview of its historical trajectory for sport managers. Concurrently, the article also identifies the value proposition for AI capability, notably the natural language processing across four customer-centered domains: 1) listening to the public narrative, 2) automating the sales process, 3) computerized consumer content, and 4) self-operating service. Integration challenges are also addressed for sport organizations as they seek to increase their digital competence, achieve competitive advantage through technical innovations, and ultimately become more efficient in a data-driven world.

Student-Athlete Development and Winning Success

The success of an athletic program is often defined by wins and losses. According to the sporting success framework (De Bosscher et al., 2006) as well as the athlete development literacy (ADL) model (Livengood et al., 2015), athlete development contributes to athletic achievement. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between athlete development personnel resources and winning success at NCAA Division I institutions. A total of 150 universities were included in this study. Utilizing the ADL model (Livengood et al. 2015) of personal and player development literacies, athletic department personnel selected for this study included: academic advisors, athletic trainers, doctors, learning specialists, nutritionists, mental health professionals, physical therapists, sport psychologists, as well as strength and conditioning coaches. Winning success was measured using the final 2017-18 Learfield IMG Directors’ Cup standings (Directors’ Cup, 2019). The results suggest that athletic trainers, learning specialists, and sport psychologists significantly contribute to winning success. As such, athletic departments should appropriately invest in athlete development specialists.