Sports Leagues Research Articles

The psychological contract of women athletes in semi-professional team sports

ABSTRACT Within the dynamic landscape of women’s semi-professional and professional leagues, athletes and their employers are negotiating their employment relationship parameters. Positioning our research in a postfeminist sensibility, we explore both parties’ expectations and obligations through psychological contract (PC) theory. We conducted interviews across two semi-professional sports leagues, with 30 athletes, 20 coaches and managers and two league-level representatives. The data analysis identified three themes: 1. Obligations, commitment, and choice; 2. Expectations of conformity and power relations; 3. Fulfilling organisational goals. Many athletes spoke about power imbalances in the PC with employers “exploiting” athletes’ desire to be play in the league at almost any cost. Athletes felt they had little choice but to accept the current state of employment, endure sacrifices and hope for a better future where they could reach their potential through viable career pathways and a living wage. Our research provides a better understanding of the PC employment relationship and associated implications. Greater knowledge about PCs could be used to develop work practices and relations that enhance and benefit athletes and employers.

Sports fandom in the metaverse: marketing implications and research agenda

The metaverse is transforming how sports fans consume sports, express their fandom, and interact with sports brands representing professional sports leagues, teams and athletes. However, scholars and practitioners lack an understanding of how sports brands can effectively appeal to their fans using the metaverse. This conceptual study aims to address this gap by combining marketplace evidence and extant research through the lens of social identity theory. The study suggests that sports brands should engage their fans in the metaverse by offering exclusive experiences that strengthen fans’ identification as a fan, facilitating opportunities for fans to demonstrate their fandom and reinforce their association with the fan community, and fostering immersive experiences that enable fans to interact with each other and the sports brand. This study outlines several potential areas for future research based on three themes, namely experiences, personalization, and inclusivity. By addressing these areas, sports brands can better understand and optimize their engagement strategies with fans using the metaverse.

Improving the Generalizability of the Effects of Sport Sponsorship on Brand Awareness: A Longitudinal, Multilevel Perspective

Abstract: While the effects of sport sponsorship are widely researched, many studies suffer from a lack of generalizability and are oftentimes cross-sectional, given the challenges inherent in the collection and analysis of longitudinal data. Tis study seeks to remedy these issues by analyzing a longitudinal, heterogeneous dataset comprised of more than 500 sponsorships of North American sport leagues spanning 14 years. Results reveal an 8% increase in brand recognition in the first year following the initiation of the sponsorship. However, lagged variables indicate that the effect is reduced significantly after the second year. A second analysis confirms that effects are generalizable across multiple leagues and sponsorship categories. These results contradict the prevailing assumption that investments in sponsorship necessarily need to be long-term, suggesting that effects on brand awareness are more immediate and that effectiveness wanes the longer a brand remains a sponsor, representing an important and novel managerial contribution.

Losing money to make money: The benefits of redistribution in collective bargaining in sports

I develop a model of majority-rule collective bargaining between a sports league and its players when delay costs incurred by players are wealth-dependent. I propose a refinement of subgame perfect equilibrium that requires equilibrium strategies to be immune to deviations by any majority subgroup. I show this is equivalent to giving the player with median bargaining power the unilateral ability to negotiate with the league. Using this model, I demonstrate that policies reallocating surplus from high-talent to moderate-talent players, such as maximum contracts in professional sports, can improve the welfare of all players. Redistribution of surplus harmonizes players' interests, giving a majority of them a greater stake in the bargaining outcome. The model highlights the gains to be had if a heterogeneous group agrees to concessions that increase the alignment of their individual interests.

The impact of a new women's professional sport league on pre-existing sport organisations: a modified, integrative approach to examining change

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore the process of change in existing professional sport organisations as they initiate a women's team.Design/methodology/approachThree Australian Football League clubs with licenses for professional women's teams were examined, with semi-structured interviews held with three key department managers from each club.FindingsThe findings suggest organisations adopt either a community-focused or commercially focused approach, the selection of which is a response to the interplay of institutional pressures (e.g. league demands), resource demands (e.g. human and financial) and the strategic choices of a few, key “idea champions”.Originality/valueThis study provides insight into the approach change taken by clubs as they introduce a women's team into their existing organisational structure.

A “toxic culture”: the experiences of underrepresented ticket sales employees across professional sport

PurposeThe purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the workplace experiences of current and former underrepresented ticket sales employees.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilized survey methodology to answer the research questions. Purposive sampling was used to identify potential respondents: individuals who were either currently employed as sport ticket sales employees or had been previously. The researchers examined online media guides from North American major league sports teams and identified ticket sales representatives who were compiled into a database and then cross-referenced through social media platform LinkedIn. Individuals were located via LinkedIn profiles and sent an anonymous, electronic survey which included a combination of Likert scale and open-ended questions regarding respondent experiences working in ticket sales departments.FindingsSurvey responses from 511 ticket salespeople revealed negative experiences related to management and career advancement opportunities, as well as significant differences in negative experiences for underrepresented populations regarding mentorship and culture.Originality/valueSport sales managers desire to expand employee diversity (Wells et al., 2019) and improve overall retention rates, but if a clear understanding of organizational vision toward diversification is not established within sports teams, managers are less likely to embrace diversity initiatives. Thus, it is imperative to understand the lived experiences of underrepresented ticket salespeople in order to improve workplace culture and effectiveness.

Team Physicians in Men's and Women's Professional Sports Leagues: Gender Representation and Career Path Analysis.

The most common orthopaedic fellowship is for sports medicine, but few fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeons fill roles as team physicians. Gender disparities within the field of orthopaedics, coupled with male-dominated professional sports leagues in the United States, may lead to lower representation of women as professional team physicians. To (1) determine the career path trajectories of current head team physicians in professional sports, (2) quantify gender disparities across team physician representation, and (3) further characterize professional profiles of team physicians appointed to women's and men's professional sports leagues in the United States. Cross-sectional study. This is a cross-sectional study of professional sports head team physicians in 8 major American sports leagues: American football (National Football League), baseball (Major League Baseball), basketball (National Basketball Association and Women's National Basketball Association), hockey (National Hockey League and National Women's Hockey League), and soccer (Major League Soccer and National Women's Soccer League). Online searches were used to compile information on gender, specialty, medical school, residency, fellowship, years in practice, clinical practice type, practice setting, and research productivity. Differences according to league type (men's vs women's leagues) were analyzed with the chi-square test for categorical variables, t test for continuous variables, and Mann-Whitney U test for nonparametric means. Bonferroni correction was applied for multiple comparisons. Within the 172 professional sports teams, 183 head team physicians were identified, including 170 men (92.9%) and 13 women (7.1%). Team physicians in both men's and women's sports leagues were predominantly men. Overall, 96.7% of team physicians in men's leagues were men, and 73.3% of team physicians in women's leagues were men (P < .001). The most common physician specialties were orthopaedic surgery (70.0%) and family medicine (19.1%). Compared with team physicians in women's leagues, those in men's leagues were more likely to be orthopaedic surgeons (40.0% vs 71.9%, respectively; P = .001) and to have more experience (15.9 vs 22.4 years, respectively; P < .001). Study findings indicated disparities in gender, practice experience, and physician specialty representation among team physicians in men's versus women's professional sports leagues.

Gender Disparities Among Professional Team Sports Medicine Physicians.

Although recent trends from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) present encouraging growth of female representation in sports medicine, the field is still lagging behind other specialties. This study investigates gender disparities among physicians providing care for professional sports teams in male and female sports leagues. Information regarding physicians providing sports medicine care to professional teams obtained by database queries (May 2021). Chi-square analysis compared gender data of orthopaedic team physicians with American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) and American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) membership, residency, and fellowship census data. Primary care sports medicine physicians were compared with American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) and primary-care sports medicine fellowship census data. Professional sports health care. Professional league physicians. None. Gender, residency, and fellowship training of professional league physicians. Among a total of 608 team physicians, 572 (93.5%) were male and 40 (6.5%) were female. Orthopedic surgeons comprised 64.7% of the physicians. Fourteen (3.6%) team orthopedic surgeons were female. Thirty-five percent of team physicians were primary care sports medicine physicians. Twenty-six primary care sports medicine physicians (11.6%) were female. Orthopaedic female team physician representation overall was comparable with AOSSM and AAOS membership but significantly less than orthopaedic surgery residents and sports medicine fellows ( P < 0.01). Women's National Basketball Association orthopaedic team physicians were more represented than female membership among AOSSM, AAOS, and orthopaedic sports medicine fellows ( P < 0.01). Except for the WNBA, Premiere Hockey Federation, National Women's Soccer League, and United States Football League, female primary care sports medicine physicians were underrepresented in professional sports compared with AMSSM membership and primary care sports fellows ( P < 0.01). Overall, female representation is poor among orthopaedic surgeons and primary care physicians providing sports medicine care to professional teams. Leagues encompassing female athletes tend to have better representation of female physicians. IV.

Predicting sports fans’ engagement with culturally aligned social media content: A language expectancy perspective

There is limited research showing how strategically generated content can boost Twitter engagement. The problem is acute for sports clubs with large fan bases. We determine the ideal content generation strategy using Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions and Language Expectancy theory. This study examines whether culturally aligned tweets can improve fan engagement. Using tweets from a sports league, we demonstrate that culturally aligned features may be used to build machine learning and deep learning models that predict a tweet's engagement level. According to our research, culture-specific social media content that meet fans' language expectations can increase Twitter engagement.

Implication of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on sport activities

Background: The world witnessed a sudden outbreak of a new strand of a deadly disease that rapidly spread throughout the globe. The spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) first originated in Wuhan, Hubei province of China in December 2019. This virus strain extended quickly throughout China and became a pandemic in the country. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed the COVID-19 novel coronavirus as a universal pandemic. Methods: Appropriate keywords were included in Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar to identify the available data. Result: Due to the rapid spread and fatality of the COVID-19, the 2020 Olympic Games formally slated for July 24 until August 9, 2020, will commence on July 23 to August 8, 2021. In March 2020, most of the European professional sports leagues, including football, were discontinued for the predictable future. Conclusion: Football resumption after the lockdown was challenging because of the inability to affirm the health status of the players when they return to their clubs. Every measure must be clear to reduce the risk of the disease and to clarify the response strategy about self-protection to the public. The sport organizing-bodies control-outlines for sports events should be strategized based on the laydown sports rules and quarantine protocols. National public health organizations and sports associations should work together to protect every level of human health and sport all over the world.

Do sporting events amplify airborne virus transmission? Causal evidence from US professional team sports

We analyze the impact of professional sporting events on local seasonal influenza mortality to develop evidence on the role played by spectator attendance at sporting events in airborne virus transmission. Results from a difference-in-differences model applied to data from a sample of US cities that gained new professional sports teams over the period 1962–2016 show that the presence of games in these cities increased local influenza mortality by between 4% and 24%, depending on the sport, relative to cities with no professional sports teams and relative to mortality in those cities before a new team arrived. Influenza mortality fell in cities with teams in some years when work stoppages occurred in sports leagues. Health policy decisions, and decisions about the subsidization of professional sports, should take into account the role played by sporting events in increasing airborne virus transmission and local influenza and coronavirus mortality.

The knowledge structure of corporate social responsibility in sport management: a retrospective bibliometric analysis

PurposeCorporate social responsibility (CSR) has become increasingly significant in the sport industry, and athletes, leagues, teams and sport organizations are actively engaging in socially responsible activities. The popularity of CSR has attracted the attention of scholars in the field of sport management. However, little research has investigated the overview and evolution of the extant literature on CSR research in sport management. Therefore, this study aims to explore the knowledge structure of CSR in sport management and provide implications for future research.Design/methodology/approachThis work investigated and examined bibliographic data of scientific documents (N = 234) indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) database from 2008 to 2021. The Bibliometrix R package and VOSviewer software were used to analyze and visualize the knowledge map of CSR research in sport management.FindingsThe bibliometric analysis found that CSR has become a critical topic in the field of sport management. Most studies focus on the implementation of CSR activities by sport organizations and their impact on consumers' reactions and behaviors.Originality/valueThe findings of the current paper provide an efficient overview of the evolution of CSR in sport management and offer avenues for future scientific endeavors.

Проблемы рассмотрения индивидуальных трудовых споров спортсменов и тренеров в юрисдикционных органах спортивных федераций и профессиональных спортивных лиг

The article is devoted to the problems of consideration of individual labor disputes of athletes and coaches in the jurisdictional bodies of sports federations and professional sports leagues. The current legislation provides for the possibility of creating bodies of pre-trial settlement of disputes in the field of physical culture and sports within the structure of all-Russian sports federations and professional leagues, which can consider individual labor disputes of athletes and coaches. At the same time, certain problems arise already at the stage of determining the jurisdiction of these bodies in terms of the possibility of considering individual labor disputes by them. Within the framework of this study, the problems related to the issues of the correlation of labor legislation and legislation on physical culture and sports, related to the procedure and conditions for the formation of jurisdictional bodies, the peculiarities of submitting a dispute for their consideration, and the observance of the principle of equality of the parties are identified. Proposals have been developed to improve the current legislation.

Объекты маркетинга в студенческом спорте

The article analyzes the main objects of marketing in Russian student sports, examines the opportunities for marketing in university sports– international sporting events and sports organizations that create and earn from their marketing products. The relevance of this study is justified by the need to find new sources of funding for the development of university sports in Russia. The objective is to identify existing marketing markets, marketing objects and marketing products in university sports, assess the potential for their implementation and leverage of additional financing. Based on the results of the research, we have identified marketing objects in university sports, segmented markets and studied marketing opportunities for different objects, opportunities and options for realizing the marketing potential of university sports. Currently, university sports in Russia has all the attributes of a developing marketing market – it creates and offers marketing products, works with interested audiences, and has clearly defined marketing objects in the form of sports events, student sports leagues, student sports clubs, student athletes. The market has positive potential for further growth and increase in extra-budgetary revenues of student sports organizations.

Anonymity in sharing the revenues from broadcasting sports leagues

We study the problem of sharing the revenues from broadcasting sports leagues axiomatically. Our key axiom is anonymity, the classical impartiality axiom. Other impartiality axioms already studied in broadcasting problems are equal treatment of equals, weak equal treatment of equals and symmetry. We study the relationship between all impartiality axioms. Besides we combine anonymity with other axioms that have been considered in the literature. Some combinations give rise to new characterizations of well-known rules. The family of generalized split rules is characterized with anonymity, additivity and null team. The concede-and-divide rule is characterized with anonymity, additivity and essential team. Other and combinations characterize new rules that had not been considered before. We provide three characterizations in which three axioms are the same (anonymity, additivity, and order preservation) and the fourth one is different (maximum aspirations, weak upper bound, and non-negativity). Depending on the fourth axiom we obtain three different families of rules. In all of them concede-and-divide plays a central role.

Passion for sport and satisfaction with life in judo fighters from the province of Cañar

The objective of this research was to analyze the predictive role of passion for sport and satisfaction with life in Judo athletes from 12 to 15 years of age through validated questionnaires to determine motivation towards sports practice. The study presented a non-experimental design with a cross section, with a quantitative approach, 178 young athletes from the discipline of Judo aged between 12 and 15 years (M = 13.80), 92 of sex male and 86 female from the Cantonal Sports League of Cañar, Biblián and Azogues. The Passion for Sport Scale and the Satisfaction with Life Scale were used. The results show that there is a significant correlation between Life Satisfaction and Harmonious and Obsessive Passion, in addition, the importance of applying correct and timely strategies that strengthen these aspects for the development of the athlete and not abandon the sport must be highlighted.

Analogous Forecasting for Predicting Sport Innovation Diffusion: From Business Analytics to Natural Language Processing

The purpose of this study was to analyze the diffusion of one sport innovation to forecast a second. Contextualized within the diffusion of innovations theory, this study investigated cumulative business analytics diffusion as an analog for cumulative natural language processing (NLP) diffusion in professional sport. A total of 89 teams of the 123 teams in the Big Four North American men’s professional sport leagues contributed: 21 from the National Football League, 23 from the National Basketball Association, 22 from Major League Baseball, and 23 from the National Hockey League. Utilizing an analogous forecasting approach, a discrete derivation of the Bass model was applied to cumulative BA adoption data. Parameters were then extended to predict cumulative NLP adoption. Resulting BA-estimated parameters (p = .0072, q = .3644) determined a close fit to NLP diffusion (root mean square error of approximation = 3.51, mean absolute error = 2.98), thereby validating BA to predict the takeoff and full adoption of NLP. This study illuminates an ongoing and isomorphic process for diffusion of innovations in the professional sport social system and generates a novel application of diffusion of innovations theory to the sport industry.

경쟁균형지수의 분류와 분석에 관한 연구

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to classify and analyze the competitive balance index for measuring competitive balance in sports leagues.BR Method: The competitive balance index was classified and analyzed based on 10 indices related to concentration measurement, 5 indices related to dominance measurement, and 4 indices capable of measuring both concentration and dominance simultaneously.BR Results: The analysis results showed that most of the competitive balance indices can be applied to both open and closed leagues, but some indices cannot. Therefore, cuation is needed when using these indices. For example, indices such as range, relative entropy, Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHIC), Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHID), and descriptive statistics should not be applied to closed leagues, while indices such as Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient (GD), ANOVA-type measures, and mobility gain function (MGFt) should not be applied to open leagues.BR Conclusion: The competitive balance index is an important method for measuring competitive balance in sports leagues, analyzing the competitiveness and equality among teams in the league, and evaluating various policies and regulations to enhance the league’s competitiveness. Through this, fans can better understand the league’s competitiveness, and league operators can establish policies and regulations to enhance the league’s competitiveness. Therefore, further research on the competitive balance of various sports leagues is necessary based on the research results. These results are expected to provide useful insights to sports league operators, policy makers, and researchers.

A combinatorial auction to sell TV broadcasting rights in league sports

The centralized sale of TV broadcasting rights in league sports constitutes a cartel which in many European countries is allowed only if it complies with certain conditions set by competition authorities. Two of the most important conditions are: i) partial unbundling, i.e. the rights must be unbundled into several separate packages; and ii) the no-single-buyer rule, i.e. the packages must be sold to different broadcasters. This article shows how a combinatorial auction can be employed to sell broadcasting rights allocating them endogenously based on the broadcasters’ bids and, thus, without requiring the seller to pre-determine the packages of such rights. This feature can address various competition policy issues, including facilitating market entry and preventing coordination among bidders. Also, a combinatorial auction has the potential to achieve higher levels of allocative efficiency and higher revenue levels compared to auctions with pre-determined packages of broadcasting rights.

Athletes’ displaced dissent on social media: triggering agents, message strategies, and user-generated responses

ABSTRACT Organizational dissent is ubiquitous in task-oriented groups, including sports teams and leagues. Yet, how and to whom that dissent is voiced and the responses to dissent can vary extensively. This study investigates how professional athletes enact displaced dissent and how the public reacts via sentiment analysis of Trevor Bauer’s YouTube channel. Findings identified 53 triggering agents that were consistent with those of subordinates in traditional workplaces. A novel triggering agent of external stakeholder management was also identified, which addressed Major League Baseball’s focus and consideration for its public, their interest in baseball, and relationships with athletes. Bauer expressed his dissent via 94 messages, mainly featuring a combination of rhetorically effective strategies and emotional release. Sentiment analysis of commenters’ 1,612 replies revealed rhetorically competent messages were either unassociated with or enhanced negative sentiment, but positive sentiment was created through entertainment (i.e. humor and pressure), inclusion (i.e. coalition building), and shared ideals (i.e. inspiration).