The Big Six clubs in the English Premier League (EPL) made investments of more than £3.19 billion to acquire players in 2025. This is a staggering number that raises a fundamental question: How are these investments making money in return? Existing research has examined fan identification and purchase behavior separately. It could be said that there is a lack of a comprehensive understanding of the pathways linking fans’ emotional responses to transfers with revenue generation. This study aims to fill that gap. We investigate whether social media engagement directly drives commercial revenue or whether it works indirectly through mediation by first building purchase intention. The distinction seems to hold significant strategic implications for clubs. The theoretical foundation is grounded in Social Exchange Theory (SET), Self-Expansion Theory, and Global Consumer Culture Theory (GCCT), which leads to the development of a structural model that tests six hypothesized relationships among fan sentiment, social media engagement, purchase intention, and commercial revenue. Methodologically, Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with formative measurements was chosen. Survey data from 359 Big Six clubs football fans were studied to map, both direct and indirect influence pathways. The formative approach allows us to better capture the multidimensional, composite nature of each construct rather than treating them as single-dimensional. This analysis sequentially examines how emotional reaction to player transfers and fan sentiment through digital behaviors and purchase decisions ultimately affect commercial revenues. The findings aim to deepen the theoretical understanding of the fan-to-buyer conversion process while providing evidence-based guidance to the clubs for optimizing their transfer investment strategies.
The sport industry has faced numerous crises involving ethical misconduct, ranging from sexual abuse and corruption to match-fixing, doping, and financial mismanagement. Despite the implementation of governance principles and compliance mechanisms, many institutional responses have been superficial and largely ineffective. We argue that both academic and practical approaches have focused too narrowly on prevention, often neglecting the critical importance of examining and addressing past failures. This article introduces the concept of Aufarbeitung, a German term rooted in confronting the legacy of the Nazi regime, as a more holistic approach to dealing with ethical misconduct in sport. Lacking a clear theoretical foundation, we first develop a model of Aufarbeitung by drawing insights from disciplines beyond sport. The process begins with an investigation asking: What happened? How could it happen? How was it addressed? On this basis, institutions can adequately handle the past, meaningfully manage the present, and shape the future. We test our model against five diverse cases of ethical misconduct in sport, analyzing how institutions have responded, and the roles played by victims, secondary victims, perpetrators, bystanders, and other stakeholders. These case studies demonstrate the model’s potential to broaden perspectives and enhance institutional learning. Our findings suggest that effective responses to ethical misconduct require more than governance reforms. They demand a deep cultural engagement with past wrongdoings. Aufarbeitung offers a valuable foundation for developing more comprehensive and sustainable strategies in sport ethics. To move forward, sport organizations must first confront and learn from their past.
Quality physical education (QPE) is vital for holistic student development and is a key driver of public health. However, in low-resource countries such as Uganda, physical education (PE) is often marginalized. This study assessed the status of PE in lower secondary schools across Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono, and Mpigi districts. It specifically examined the implementation barriers to PE and their public health implications. Using an explanatory concurrent mixed-methods design, data was collected from thirty-seven schools—involving 317 students and 174 teachers—through questionnaires, key informants’ interviews, focus group discussions, and observations. Findings revealed that although PE is part of the curriculum, it is marginalized and receives low prioritization compared to other subjects. In addition, while PE quality was rated as “good,” challenges persist, including limited facilities and insufficiently trained personnel. The study also found strong support for inclusive PE, although schools struggle to meet the needs of learners with disabilities. Key barriers to implementation of QPE included deficits in teacher skills, infrastructure, staffing, and administrative commitment. These findings point to the fact that barriers to teaching QPE are not only teacher-related but also institutional and structural and do hinder effective implementation and limit PE’s potential as a public health intervention. This study emphasizes the need to position PE as a strategic component of public health. Therefore, it advocates policy reforms that would elevate PE status, strengthen teacher capacity, and ensure equitable infrastructure. Such reforms are essential for achieving both quality education and improved adolescent health outcomes in Uganda.
This study seeks to examine the role of sports academies in revenue generation, employment, and the facilitation of foreign direct investment (FDI). An online survey questionnaire was designed and distributed among the residents in Oman. We selected a sample of seventy-four participants representing various sports academies in Oman. The collected data was analyzed applying statistical techniques, including Chi-square goodness-of-fit, ordinal logistic regression, and one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The analysis revealed that sports academies contribute to the Omani economy through monetary transactions in the form of sponsorships, subscription fees, and renting the facilities. Likewise, sports academies contribute reasonably toward employment. They hire staff to support sports activities such as management and administration. Furthermore, on the occasion of sports events, they also hire temporary staff. However, the sports academies in Oman face challenges with funding from the government, which is the only available avenue. Among the many reasons, awareness and infrastructure are the main reasons sports academies are not able to attract private investments from both local and multinational companies. Moreover, it was observed that the geographic locations of sports academies do not play a significant role in reaping the economic and financial advantages associated with them. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first of its kind conducted in Oman that investigates the potential of sports academies toward employment and economic growth.
This article introduces the concept of agonistic embodiment to the sociology of sport through an analysis of tennis as a distinctive site where cultural capital, political contestation, and individual agency intersect in embodied practice. It develops a theoretically integrated framework that draws on sociological, political, and phenomenological perspectives to show how tennis both reproduces and contests social hierarchies through embodied performance. Rather than treating the sport as a purely recreational activity, the article conceptualizes tennis as a field in which style and bodily practice become mechanisms through which power and identity are enacted and negotiated. Drawing on selected cases from international tennis, the analysis demonstrates how phenomena such as athlete activism and the contestation of racial and gender norms reveal the dynamics of agonistic embodiment. By synthesizing these dimensions, the article develops agonistic embodiment as a conceptual lens that highlights how tennis magnifies the intersections of culture, politics, and identity. In doing so, it positions tennis as a distinctive and underexplored domain within the sociology of sport, contributing to broader debates on power and political expression.
This special issue explores the contested concept of neutrality in the relationship between sport and politics, and in sport studies. Amid rising geopolitical tensions and ideological polarization, neutrality is increasingly seen as untenable or politically loaded. Our article examines how neutrality functions as both a political position and a site of conflict: in international sport governance and in research on sport. Based on the contributions in this special issue, we argue that the concept of neutrality must be rethought as a shifting, negotiated stance rather than a fixed or apolitical ideal.
