The Journal of Applied Sport Management (JASM) is the official publication of the Applied Sport Management Association (ASMA), which is a scholarly organization that builds research partnerships between faculty and students. ASMA also facilitates connections between sport management faculty and students studying sport and practitioners working in the sport industry. In 2026, the annual conference was hosted by Temple University. Highlights from the annual conference include Dr. Robin Hardin from the University of Tennessee receiving the ASMA Distinguished Service and Mentorship Award and Drs. Corr, Petersen, and Stokowski becoming ASMA Research Fellows.
Despite widespread recognition of campus recreation as a key contributor to student well-being, many university students remain underactive, even when programming is available. This study explores student-generated strategies for improving participation in campus recreation, drawing on open-ended responses from 182 undergraduates at a large Canadian university. Using thematic content analysis and chi-square comparison, we examine how suggestions differ between students who report being sufficiently active and those who do not. Seven core themes emerged, with underactive students more likely to identify structural barriers such as inconvenient scheduling, limited facility access, and insufficient communication. These suggestions are interpreted through the Leisure Constraints Model and the concept of constraint negotiation, offering insight into how students envision institutional change. Rather than passive recipients, underactive students articulated concrete strategies for engagement, highlighting the need for responsive programming that aligns with student-identified needs. The findings support a shift toward inclusive scheduling, targeted promotion, and participatory planning as mechanisms for increasing equity in campus recreation. Implications for theory, policy, and practice are discussed.
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping how sport management educators design assignments, evaluate student work, and develop professional competencies. This article presents a practical pedagogical framework that integrates GenAI tools within the Design Council's Double Diamond process—Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver—to scaffold student thinking across project-based courses. Rather than positioning GenAI as a replacement for student reasoning, the model treats it as a collaborator in roles such as a research assistant, clarifier, creative teammate, and editor. Fluency in prompt engineering is developed progressively through structured exercises that emphasize verification, iteration, and critical evaluation of model outputs. Two complementary assessments—the Prompt and Decisions Portfolio and the Interactive Oral—ensure that authorship, reasoning, and adaptability remain central to evaluation. Aligned with guidance from UNESCO, the U.S. Department of Education, and the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, this approach equips sport management students to engage GenAI ethically, transparently, and with sustained human judgment.
The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is designed to engage college athletes in decision-making processes that influence the NCAA and its member institutions. College athletes provide personal insight into the NCAA intercollegiate athletic experience, thereby influencing policy. SAAC participation prompts the application of transferable sport-specific skills such as leadership and work ethic in a professional setting. This study explores SAAC’s impact on the leadership competencies of college athletes. Results reveal that college athletes who participate in SAAC scored higher on three of the nine leadership factors examined. These findings highlight the importance of leadership programming tailored for college athletes, with SAAC emerging as a promising initiative within every athletic department. Consequently, both practical and theoretical implications emphasize the need for structured leadership initiatives to prepare college athletes for post-sport endeavors.
This study examines the potential of utilizing sport simulation games in promoting real-world sport consumption. Drawing on diversification theory, we examine whether psychological experiences (arousal, belonging, achievement) in simulated sport play leads to sport enjoyment and subsequently increases sport consumption intentions (participating, spectating, media viewing); passion-type (harmonious vs. obsessive) is set as a boundary condition based on the dualistic model of passion. Using online survey data from 431 US/Canadian adults who regularly play sport simulation games, multi-group SEM was conducted. In harmonious group, arousal and belonging were positively linked to all three intention-types through sport enjoyment, supporting a positive relation (i.e., synergy) between gaming and sport. In obsessive group, arousal and achievement were positively linked to sport media viewing intention through sport enjoyment, but a stronger negative link between achievement and sport participation intention was also observed, indicating an overall negative relation (i.e., competing). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Recent changes in intercollegiate athletics have significantly impacted the economics of college football. Heightened competition and increased operational costs have necessitated greater revenue generation through ticket sales, as ticket sales contribute a significant amount of revenue to college athletic department’s budgets. Therefore, this study utilizes self-determination theory to investigate factors influencing football season ticket holders’ intentions to renew. Employing a survey of 6,777 season ticket holders from 11 schools competing in an NCAA Division I Power 4 conference, the study identifies significant predictors of renewal intentions based on intrinsic (Team Direction, Game Day Experience, and Sense of Being Valued) and extrinsic factors (Affordability, Seat Location, Season Ticket Discounts, and Season Ticket Holder Perks). Findings reveal that intrinsic motivations such as Team Direction and Game Day Experience are significantly associated with renewal intentions, emphasizing the importance of engagement and appreciation for enhancing fan loyalty and sustaining revenue streams.
The International Olympic Committee generated $7.6 billion in revenue from 2017-2021, with 30% coming from The Olympic Partnership (TOP) Program marketing rights, which has grown from $96 million to $2.3 billion since 1985. In addition to the direct sponsorship costs, additional activation costs are incurred by the organization as they market, advertise, and highlight their product during the event they sponsor to achieve a financial return. The purpose of this study is to assess whether TOP partners outperform a matched non-partner during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. This study utilizes an event study methodology to create three event windows related to the 11 trading days prior to, the 11 trading days during, and the 11 trading days post the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The 14 TOP partners were matched with a non-partner to ascertain what effect TOP sponsorship had on the companies during these Olympic event windows using a multiple regression model. The results of the linear regression do not demonstrate a TOP effect for outperforming a non-partnering competitor. There was a 5.9% reduction in returns for tech companies prior to the Olympic Games, which taken together can provide potential trading strategies related to the Games.
The Journal of Applied Sport Management (JASM) achieved a major milestone in Fall 2025 with its acceptance for indexing in Scopus, marking a pivotal advancement in the journal’s visibility, credibility, and global reach. This accomplishment reflects years of collaborative effort among JASM’s editors, reviewers, authors, and the Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange (TRACE) team at the University of Tennessee–Knoxville. Since its founding in 2009 as the Journal of Sport Administration and Supervision and subsequent rebranding in 2013, JASM has evolved into a leading open-access platform for applied sport management scholarship. Under the leadership of Dr. Marshall Magnusen (2020–2025), the journal realized its long-term goal of Scopus indexing, supported by the contributions of associate and assistant editors including Drs. Brooke Forester, Jun Kim, and Lawrence W. Judge. Beginning in 2026, Dr. Judge will assume the role of Editor, continuing to strengthen JASM’s scholarly impact and international influence. With no author fees or access restrictions, JASM remains committed to advancing inclusive, evidence-based research that bridges theory and practice, positioning the journal among the foremost outlets in the field of sport management.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming NCAA sports recruiting by offering scalable, data-rich tools that enhance how talent is identified, evaluated, and strategically pursued. Amid the complexities introduced by the transfer portal, name, image, and likeness (NIL) regulations, and rising recruitment costs, AI enables collegiate programs to make faster, more accurate, and financially informed recruiting decisions. Drawing on examples from emerging technologies and real-world institutional practices, the paper highlights the operational benefits of AI, such as efficiency gains, enhanced evaluation accuracy, and expanded reach to under-resourced or geographically remote athletes. At the same time, it critically explores challenges around algorithmic bias, ethical use, and the displacement of human judgment. The article concludes by identifying future imperatives for athletic departments, including staff upskilling, ethical oversight, and the integration of AI as a strategic partner, rather than a substitute, in building competitive and inclusive collegiate sports programs.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping both sport management and environmental science, yet these developments have largely evolved in parallel. AI can serve not merely as a technical tool but also as a catalyst for systemic sport ecology, a field that integrates sport, digital innovation and environmental sustainability. Advances in discriminative, generative and agentic AI enable the synthesis of complex ecological and sport-related data, improving monitoring, forecasting, resource efficiency, policy design, and decision-making across scales. In doing so, AI offers a pathway beyond fragmented sustainability interventions and can support holistic approaches to the interconnected crises of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. However, the catalytic potential of AI depends on responsible implementation, equitable access to data, and attention to environmental costs. In short, AI can drive systemic transformations by enhancing the collection and integration of social-ecological data, fostering governance innovation and operational sustainability within the sport sector.
Advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) occupy an increasing position and function within the institutional setting of collegiate athletics. At both the departmental and programmatic levels, collegiate athletic stakeholders have consistently increased their reliance on AI and data within decision-making processes and strategic development. Given its importance to competitive success, AI interfaces such as machine-based learning, predictive analysis, and natural language processing has been increasingly integrated within the recruiting process of prospective and transfer athletes. However, while such reliance on data-driven strategies and predictive analytics hold competitive value within the talent identification and evaluation process, the relational role of the recruitment of prospective athletes remains foundational to successful recruiting in collegiate athletics. This manuscript operationalizes the formation of recruiting within this setting and discusses the limited performative value of AI within the traditional college athlete recruiting process.
Sport represents humanity's largest-scale emotion laboratory where intense competitive emotions are practiced within safe boundaries through collective participation. As artificial intelligence evolves to systematize virtual and digital experiences, sport's irreplaceable embodied practice of collective participation becomes more apparent, not less. This conceptual paper demonstrates how artificial intelligence can optimize emotional learning from large-scale sport experiences while highlighting, rather than replacing, their unique human development value. Authors propose a four-level framework positioning sport organizations as comprehensive emotional development centers that leverage AI-powered technologies, including video analytics capturing facial expressions, body movements, and collective synchrony, to systematize emotional intelligence development. The framework creates measurable competitive advantages through enhanced fan loyalty, operational efficiency, risk mitigation, and new revenue streams. Sport's role as a cornerstone of human capital development through embodied participation will strengthen with artificial intelligence, positioning sport management as a leader in leveraging technology to enrich, not replace, authentic human experiences.
This paper introduces the special issue while also exploring the theoretical foundations and practical applications of AI in sport management, guided by Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (Russell & Norvig, 2021). The manuscript examines AI's evolution from rule-based systems to large language models (LLM)-driven intelligent agents and classifies the technology into five major subfields- machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, reinforcement learning, and AI agency. Using real-world sport industry examples and recent academic research, this paper presents a modern taxonomy of AI's role in sport management, articulates managerial implications, and outlines future research directions necessary for sustainable and ethical integration of AI in sport organizations
Advances in artificial intelligence, large-scale machine learning, and simulation technologies are rapidly transforming how sport is played, analyzed, and consumed. To date, most scholarly and industry discussions frame these technologies as tools that enhance embodied sport by improving performance, officiating, media production, and fan engagement. This paper extends that conversation by posing a more provocative strategic question: under what conditions might simulation move from enhancement to substitution? Focusing explicitly on sport as a business and entertainment enterprise, we argue that many of sport's core sources of cultural and economic value-uncertainty of outcome, narrative continuity, legitimacy, and collective meaning-are structurally produced and not inherently dependent on human physical performance.
Guided by conservation of resources theory, the authors examine how team identification, impulse control difficulties, coping strategies, and psychological capital shape fans' well-being in negative fan experiences. Surveys from 300 sport fans were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results showed that identification promoted adaptive coping and reduced cutting off reflected failure, whereas impulse control difficulties increased denial and cutting off reflected failure. Denial unexpectedly enhanced psychological capital while reducing well-being, and venting functioned as a double-edged mediator across positive/negative pathways. Psychological capital was the strongest predictor of well-being, underscoring its role as a central resource linking coping to outcomes.
The Journal of Applied Sport Management (JASM), originally launched as the Journal of Sport Administration and Supervision in 2009, has published a total of 231 peer-reviewed manuscripts during its first 16 years. Although many other journals within this field have been studied to better understand research topics, types, and impact, JASM has yet to be examined. This content analysis study explored 19 variables related to the research topics, methods, authorship, and impact of these articles, and provided important insights from descriptive and inferential statistics regarding existing trends and opportunities for development for both the journal as a whole and its contributing scholars.
The IOC generated $7.6 billion in revenue from 2017-2021, with 30% coming from TOP marketing rights, which has grown from $96 million to $2.3 billion since 1985. The purpose of this study is to assess whether TOP partners outperform a matched non-partner during the 2024 Paris Olympics. This study utilizes an event study methodology to create three event windows related to the 11 trading days prior to, the 11 trading days during, and the 11 trading days post the Paris Olympics. The 14 TOP partners were matched with a non-partner to ascertain what effect TOP sponsorship had on the companies during these Olympic event windows using a multiple regression model. The results of the linear regression do not demonstrate a TOP effect for outperforming a non-partnering competitor. There was a 5.9% reduction in returns for tech companies prior to the Olympics, which taken together can provide potential trading strategies.
This study examines the relationship between financial investment and team performance in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision football programs from 2010 to 2023. Key variables include total football spending, head coach salaries and bonuses, and win-loss records. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models were used to examine these associations, controlling for conference affiliation by distinguishing between the so-called power and non-power conferences. The results indicate that greater investment in football operations and coaching compensation is significantly associated with higher win percentages, particularly within power conference programs. However, the impact of financial investment on final rankings differs by conference type. Total football spending is a significant predictor of rankings in power conferences, whereas head coach salary is the only significant predictor in non-power conferences. These findings suggest that financial investment enhances team performance, although its effectiveness varies depending on institutional context.
In jersey sponsorship, some sponsors today have decided to modify their logo colors to match the team colors. The present research examined the role of team-colored sponsor logo in jersey sponsorship, paying particular attention to its impact on perceived aesthetics of the jersey and fans' willingness to purchase. Three experiments using both fictitious and actual sponsors across two different sports showed that the team-colored sponsor logo on a jersey was a positive predictor for both perceived aesthetics and purchase intention at all levels of team identification. The findings also revealed the indirect effect of the team-colored sponsor logo on purchase intention via perceived aesthetics. The findings provide insights for both sponsors and teams to maximize jersey sponsorship outcomes for short-and long-term benefits.
