Is animosity toward rival fans generalizable across sporting and geographic contexts, and are such antisocial effects mitigated by multiple rivals? In Study 1, we replicate and extend a prior SMQ study by comparing animosity-related outcomes—prejudice, schadenfreude, disidentification, and behavioral discrimination—among fans ( N = 3,169) of professional teams in North America and the Indian Premier League (IPL). Results affirm significant contextual differences, with National Football League fans exhibiting higher animosity and IPL fans significantly lower animosity. In Study 2 ( N = 8,219), we introduce Rivalry Dispersion Theory , which is illustrated by findings that fans’ animosity toward the top rival is inversely associated with the number of perceived rivals and positively associated with variance in rivalry intensity. Importantly, fans’ identification and supportive behaviors are not strongly influenced by more rivals. Sport marketers can therefore consider mitigating the risk of antisocial effects by cultivating multiple rivalries without sacrificing fan support.
This study explored fan engagement patterns and league-specific discussion themes on X (Twitter) during the National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs and Major League Baseball (MLB) Postseason. Using BERTopic topic modeling, 38,585 fan-generated tweets were analyzed to examine how online fan communities structured playoff-related discussions. The findings revealed several shared themes, including fan emotional response to game outcomes, fan community support, collective cheering, championship talk, in-game updates, and player-centered narratives. The two leagues also exhibited distinct topic structures. NBA discourse placed greater emphasis on betting and prediction-related topics, player performance analysis, highlights, and event-oriented chatter, while MLB discourse was characterized by collectibles and trading cards, historical references, gameplay and scoring, lineup discussion, and rally slogans. The study supports and extends consumer culture theory and online brand community identification by showing how digitally mediated fan communities across leagues may prioritize different discussion topics as part of league-specific meaning-making during high-stakes competition.
Given the uptick in media coverage and investment dollars surrounding women's sports, female athletes' personal branding and social media activity have received more attention in recent years. As such, sport marketing, branding, and communication scholars have explored numerous perspectives of athlete personal branding. This established research line has discovered factors that make up the athlete brand image, revealed how athletes have monetized their brand, and present themselves online. However, little is known about the strategies women athletes use for their social media platforms. That is, a facet of athlete branding left unobserved in the literature is how athletes decide what, when, and how to post online. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the decision-making processes elite female athletes undergo when developing and maintaining their personal brand on social media.
This study explores how Generation Z football fans experience and evaluate AI-mediated sports content through a cognitive affective behavioral (CAB) framework. Drawing on qualitative interviews with football fans in Cyprus, the study examines how cognitive evaluations of AI-driven communication shape affective responses and, in turn, influence behavioral engagement. The findings indicate that while participants often perceive AI as a useful and efficient informational tool, such cognitive acceptance does not automatically translate into positive emotional responses. Concerns related to authenticity, emotional realism, and symbolic meaning frequently limit affective resonance, resulting in selective rather than fully integrated behavioral adoption. These patterns highlight that engagement with AI among Generation Z fans is conditional and mediated by emotional expectations rather than driven solely by technological capability. By applying the CAB framework, the study contributes to sports marketing literature by demonstrating the importance of affective alignment in AI-mediated fan engagement and by emphasizing the need for emotionally sensitive and context-aware AI strategies within football fandom.
The aim of this study was to explore the impact of self-image congruence (SIC), need for uniqueness (NFU), and limited edition characteristics on sport consumer's attitude toward collaboration in limited edition product settings. The two-factor (product type: limited edition products vs. regular ongoing release products & times; SIC: actual vs. ideal) between-subjects experimental design was utilized using three experiments with different stimuli (i.e., Nike & times; Virgil Abloh, Adidas & times; Alexander Wang, and Puma & times; Ye). The results indicated that each variable had a strong relationship in separate conditions (i.e., limited edition product, regular ongoing release product). For the theoretical implications, this study extends the sport marketing literature by examining SIC as a binary concept in the sport product collaboration settings. In addition, the current study emphasizes the importance of using collaboration strategy when targeting sport consumers who are familiar with collaboration regardless of the scarcity of products.
The COVID-19 pandemic influenced every industry dependent on human interaction, including an unprecedented influence on sport, as many events were canceled or played in front of empty stadiums. Since 2020, this natural experiment has been a unique focus of academic literature, though with attention to on-field effects. Based on exchange theory in relationship marketing, this study makes a novel contribution by questioning the impact of exchange uncertainty on sponsorship decision-making. Accordingly, we isolate the pandemic's effect on managerial commitment by comparing sponsor retention across multiple eras of Formula One (F1), finding evidence that uncertainty in (un)fair exchange affected sponsor retention during the pandemic-influenced 2020 season, yet improved trust in subsequent seasons. Results are encouraging for marketers in that the effects of the pandemic had a smaller impact than initial industry predictions, while also rebounding significantly following an unprecedented global event, underscoring the resilient exchange relationships within global sport.
Extant research has established that social media is a significant mechanism for college athletes to monetize their name, image, and likeness (NIL). Correspondingly, social media following serves as a significant predictor in the calculations of college athletes' NIL valuations. However, considering media coverage, fanaticism, and varying athletic conference and athletic department statures, additional inherent factors may also contribute to college athletes' NIL valuations. Accordingly, the present study sought to analyze a subpopulation of college athletes to determine the most significant predictors of their NIL valuations. Utilizing Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) athletes during the 2023-2024 academic year, NIL valuations of 5,649 available players were analyzed. Findings reveal that while conference affiliation and position significantly impacted FBS football players' NIL valuations, aggregate social media following was the most significant predictor of NIL value. Practical implications are discussed, and two distinct typologies of NIL-based compensation are proposed.
This international study connects sponsorship-linked marketing theories to practice by exploring team-based boundary conditions for congruence, brand clutter and equity, agency conflict (i.e., shared nationality), and the performance cycle. Are these accepted theories generalizable, at least within a common context, or does application result in heterogeneity? Employing five decades of data, we execute a longitudinal hazard model for six iconic F1 teams to discern influences to sponsorship longevity at the level of decision-making: the team-sponsor dyad ( N = 1,193). With some exceptions, the teams transcend geographic and business-to-business/consumer distinctions. Heterogeneity arises in factors characterizing the sponsoring brands (e.g., congruence only influences Ferrari's sponsorships; brand equity enhances relationships with McLaren and Williams; clutter is harmful to sponsorships with Ferrari, Red Bull, and Williams), as well as the performance cycle, which affects sponsorships with Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes. While the sponsorship literature has matured, generalizability warrants investigation as connection to practice advances.
Despite social media biographies (bios) being a dedicated space for communicating an account's identity, scholarly research has largely overlooked bios as an element of athlete branding. This study addresses this gap by examining how athlete bios function as strategic self-presentation tools and how audiences interpret these bios. Drawing on signaling theory and a social semiotics lens, we conducted semi-structured interviews with visual aids with 18 social media users and applied thematic analysis to explore how consumers perceive bios as elements of athlete brands on Instagram. Findings reveal that bios play important roles in communicating brand identity, establishing authenticity, and signaling brand networks. While consumer expectations varied based on athlete celebrity level, participants generally valued concise, professional bios that were cohesive with the broader profile ecosystem. These insights advance theoretical understanding and provide practical guidance for athletes and marketers aiming to craft compelling social media bios that engage social media audiences.
Leveraging the Sport Experience Design framework and Bayesian structural equation modeling, the current study represents an initial attempt to examine how sport context-centric antecedents interact with social-psychological characteristics to elicit an optimal holistic experience at a recreational participatory sport event ( n study1 = 181) and peripheral tailgating events at college football games ( n study2 = 1,246). The influence of service quality on customer satisfaction was attenuated when performance expectation was positively disconfirmed in the tailgating service, but not in the participatory sport service. Consumer involvement diminished the positive impact of service quality on satisfaction among customers of the participatory event, but not among tailgating attendees. Collectively, the results demonstrated heterogeneity in customer satisfaction, which can depend on the preexisting sport involvement of customers at participatory events of physically demanding sports but revolves around the reference-dependent assessment of service performance at tailgating events. These findings offer nuanced empirical support for the notion that sport consumer experiences would not be fully understood without considering the interaction between consumers’ social-psychological characteristics and service encounters.
The current study used an experimental design with eye-tracking technology to examine how consumers focus their visual attention on jersey sponsorships during Major League Baseball broadcasts. Results showed that participants dedicated limited dwell time to the jersey sponsorships, and after viewing the sponsorship once, they were unlikely to revisit the sponsorship. On average, participants looked at each of the sponsors’ logos ( N = 14) for just one second and revisited each sponsorship an average of 1.81 times. Even with increased exposure to jersey sponsorships on the batting team's uniforms, participants were more likely to observe sponsorships of the team that was up to bat compared to those playing defense in the field. In addition, participants revisited the sponsorship patch on the batting teams’ jersey 2.5 more times. Therefore, practitioners need to consider how gameplay influences visual attention regarding jersey sponsorships in baseball.
Social media play a key role in sport marketing—with athletes, teams, and leagues directly engaging with their audiences. While Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have received much attention in the sport marketing and communication literature, research on Reddit is scant. This is particularly noteworthy, as the platform is growing rapidly and promises utility for users with nonmainstream interests to find and engage with each other. This study employs a uses and gratifications approach to investigate how prevalent Reddit use is among fans of the United Football League (UFL), what motivates users to engage with the platform, and whether Reddit use leads to increased team identification. Findings indicate a high rate of Reddit use among sports fans, driven by a combination of six distinct motivations, leading to increased identification with their favorite team.
This study examines the impact of esports fans’ innovativeness on licensed merchandise consumption, with fan knowledge as a mediating mechanism and psychological connection as a moderating factor. Grounded in innovation diffusion theory and the psychological continuum model, cross-sectional data from 466 active esports fans were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results show that fan innovativeness significantly predicts merchandise consumption, which is primarily mediated through knowledge about fans and knowledge for fans, whereas no significant mediation is found in knowledge from fans. Importantly, psychological connection negatively moderates these relationships such that higher emotional attachment dampens the effects of innovativeness on knowledge from fans, knowledge about fans, knowledge for fans, and purchase behavior. These findings highlight the complex interplay between emotional loyalty and cognitive openness, which suggests that strong psychological bonds may inhibit novelty-seeking behavior despite high levels of innovativeness. This study contributes to the esports marketing literature by extending sport fan behavior models to digital fandom contexts and offering strategic insights for managing emotionally engaged yet innovation-sensitive fan segments.
This study investigates the factors that influence sport fans’ intentions to purchase a mixed reality headset, specifically the Apple Vision Pro. A cross-sectional survey of 272 US-based sport fans was conducted via Prolific Academic. Structural equation modeling was used to test a conceptual model integrating the technology acceptance model (TAM) with six dimensions of team identification (TID). Private evaluation and public evaluation (dimensions of TID) had indirect positive effects on purchase intention via perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude. Attitude mediated the relationship between TAM constructs and purchase intention. Findings highlight the importance of social and emotional identity in shaping sport fans’ adoption of mixed reality technologies. By demonstrating that fan identity influences core TAM belief constructs, the study offers theoretical and practical insights for promoting emerging fan engagement technologies.
Organizations are increasingly prioritizing green, or pro-environmental, goods and services due to the heightened urgency of environmental concerns. However, this trend has given rise to instances of greenwashing, or deceptively marketing pro-environmental claims with or without intention ( Delmas & Burbano, 2011 ). Greenwashing has been present in marketing campaigns for several decades and is gaining attention in sport organizations, though scholarly exploration remains limited. This study utilizes Arksey and O'Malley's (2005) framework for a scoping review to investigate the extent of green marketing in sport and potential greenwashing occurrences. Analyzing scholarly literature from 1990 to 2022 resulted in 34 articles for synthesis. Despite growing public awareness, most greenwashing in sport research is closely tied to recreation and tourism. Identified themes, such as social leveraging, highlight knowledge gaps at the intersection of sport marketing and sport ecology urging further scholarly inquiry in this area.
This study extends Media Richness Theory (MRT) by examining how emojis function as nonverbal cues in digital sport communication. This was accomplished through a mixed-method approach combining machine learning and quantitative content analysis of 13,642 X (formerly Twitter) posts from professional sport teams. The study aimed to understand how emojis function within sport organizations' digital messaging and to identify contextual factors that influence emoji interpretation in sport digital communication. Our findings indicate that emojis serve dual functions: (i) as replacements for textual content and (ii) as supplements that reinforce emotional resonance with the classification models, achieving higher accuracy for single-emoji (80.3% F1-score) versus multi-emoji messages (72.2%). Contextual elements, including immediate textual surroundings and broader sport situations, significantly shape emoji interpretation and effectiveness. Results show that strategic emoji usage patterns vary across game situations, team performance contexts, and marketing-related announcements. This research offers theoretical contributions by extending MRT to account for nonverbal digital cues while providing foundational understanding to inform sport marketing strategies. The findings establish patterns of emoji functionality that future research can build upon to directly measure consumer response and marketing outcomes across diverse sport contexts.
Sport organizations often use cause-related marketing (CRM) initiatives to enhance their image. However, CRM initiatives often fall short of intended objectives. Utilizing signaling theory, this study examines how a CRM initiative may influence college students' attitudes toward the athletic department. Respondents were shown a social media message promoting a mental health-related CRM initiative sponsored by an intercollegiate athletic department, and respondents' attitudes toward the athletic department were compared pre- and postviewing the message. A repeated-measures analysis of covariance design was utilized to examine if message presentation and/or respondent gender affected the change in attitudes toward the athletic department. Results indicate that CRM initiatives positively impact attitudes toward athletic departments, and female respondents showed a more significant attitude change than male respondents. Findings suggest there is value in athletic departments engaging in CRM initiatives, especially when targeting female consumers.
In this study, the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions was applied to the spectator sport context. We examined the upward spiral process of positive emotions toward human flourishing, defined as long-term positive functioning in both personal and social life. Three-wave (t1, t2, t3) panel data were collected from 326 baseball fans over two seasons. The results revealed that positive emotions (t1) induced by sport spectatorship were sequentially related to flourishing (t3) first through broadening cognitive (fan learning) and behavioral (fan rituals) repertoires (t1) and then through experiencing social fan well-being (t2) as an enduring social resource. Moreover, the effect of psychological fan well-being (t2), another enduring resource in this study, on flourishing (t3) was contingent on the quality of sport teams (t3). Our theoretical explanations and results provide clarity to guide future research on a bottom-up approach to enhancing future flourishing through spectator sport consumption.
This study explores the antecedents of fans' social media engagement with their favorite football team, focusing on sport involvement, team identification, and subjective perceptions of performance through the lens of the Consumers' Online Brand-Related Activities (COBRAs) framework. Data was collected from 609 football (i.e., soccer) followers of a sport Facebook page. The structural equation model analysis results showed that sport involvement predicts team identification, and that team identification leads to subjective perceptions of performance. Team identification was related to all social media engagement dimensions (i.e., consumption, contribution, and creation), whereas involvement was associated only with consumption and subjective perceptions of performance only with creation. Also, team identification was shown to mediate all the relationships between sport involvement and engagement dimensions, while subjective perceptions of performance mediated the team identification/creation relationship. This research expands on the literature surrounding social media fan engagement, highlighting the key role of sport team identification in shaping online fan behavior.
The study examined the effectiveness of using college athletes as endorsers in sponsored social media content, through name, image, and likeness partnerships. A 2 & times; 2 & times; 2 mixed-factorial design was used to investigate the impact of sponsored posts from student athletes on college student consumers, in terms of source similarity (college athlete vs. pro athlete), product relevance (high vs. low), and message authenticity (snapshot photography vs. studio ad). Findings suggested positive effects of using college athletes as endorsers. Source similarity, product relevance, and message authenticity all played significant roles in determining students' attitude toward the sponsored posts and brands. More favorable responses were reported toward the college athlete, high relevance product, and snapshot photography. Limitations and directions for future research were also discussed.
