Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the post-event perceptions of Rio de Janeiro residents regarding the legacies left to them from hosting the 2016 Olympic Games. Additionally, this study examines how perceptions of Olympic legacies differed amongst demographic groups. Design/methodology/approach Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, participants were asked to complete a survey questionnaire and answer three open-ended questions. An adapted version of Fredline et al . (2003)'s General Scale to Measure Social Impacts (GSMSI) was selected for this study. In total, 156 useable responses were collected. An exploratory factor analysis was utilized for the survey items while the three open-ended questions were coded abductively as positive, negative or mixed feelings. Findings The quantitative results shows that Rio residents believe that hosting the 2016 Olympic Games had a mostly negative impact on their perception of legacies. Through reading open-ended responses, participants expressed disappointment over the legacies left to them. These findings suggest that hosting the Olympic Games may not have been beneficial to the life of Rio de Janeiro residents, and it may have been particularly worse for members of the middle class. Originality/value Due to the recency of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, a few studies have explored the long-term legacies left to the local population. However, the uniqueness of this study lays on the perceptions of legacies from hosting the Rio 2016 after a full Olympic cycle has passed.

This study examines subsequent head coach opportunities for former National Football League (NFL) head coaches. Under a subsequent CEO career framework, survival analysis is used to examine the effects of race and market characteristics on subsequent NFL head coach opportunities for former head coaches. Observations of former head coaches who neither ended their coaching careers nor possess head coach positions in the observed seasons are used (n = 1,132). Black former NFL head coaches are less likely to secure subsequent NFL head coaching opportunities if their most recent coaching position was in a large media market. However, both Black and non-Black former head coaches who most recently coached in highly segregated metropolitan areas experienced higher likelihoods of securing subsequent head coaching opportunities. This segregated market effect is even stronger for Black former head coaches. The NFL can utilize this information in policy formation decisions regarding hiring policies and practices. Teams and their lead executives can also use this information to identify any personal biases that may arise within the head coach labor market. Coaches may use the information to best position themselves for subsequent career opportunities.

Concerns about the mental well-being of collegiate athletes, given high reports of psychological issues, have prompted a survey-based study among NCAA Division I student-athletes. The research explores the influence of athlete identity, motivation, and satisfaction on mental well-being, and how it varies among different NCAA classifications (i.e., G5, FCS, DI-NO). Instruments used include the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS), the Athlete Satisfaction Questionnaire (ASQ), the Student-Athlete’s Motivation Towards Sports and Academics Questionnaire (SAMSAQ), and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). The secondary aim investigates differences in these factors across Division I competition levels (i.e., G5, FCS, DI-NO). This study provides valuable insights into NCAA Division I collegiate athletes' mental well-being, uncovers obstacles to seeking help, such as perceived stigma and coach attitudes, and suggests improvements for institutional psychological programs. In understanding these psychological challenges and barriers, the research aims to inform the development of more effective mental well-being strategies and interventions for collegiate athletes.

This study examined the experiences of 16 racially minoritized diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) professionals working in U.S. intercollegiate sport. Drawing from semi-structured interviews analyzed via open and axial coding, four overarching themes were developed to get a better understanding of why and how racially minoritized individuals navigate their engagement in DEI work: (1) motivations for engaging in DEI work, (2) role of racial identities in DEI work, (3) pushing boundaries from within the system, and (4) future optimism for DEI work. Findings reveal that DEI work in athletics is complex and requires a cautious and strategic approach to change an industry that has historically been homogenous and resistant to change. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

The emergence of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) professionals (i.e., staff with DEI-specific responsibilities) is a fairly recent phenomenon, and research to date has rarely examined the experiences of these DEI administrators despite the fact they are often solely charged with driving DEI within and beyond their department. Utilizing Ahmed's diversity work framework, this study draws from semistructured interviews with 23 athletic administrators to identify barriers to efforts for driving DEI action in the context of intercollegiate athletics. Five higher-order themes were identified in the data, representing barriers to effective DEI work: (a) structural barriers, (b) cultural barriers, (c) conceptual barriers, (d) emotional barriers, and (e) social/relational barriers. Findings indicate that DEI athletics professionals perceive barriers on multiple levels, from personal levels (emotional and social/ relational barriers) to those of a systemic nature (structural, cultural, and conceptual barriers). Limitations, directions for future research, and implications for praxis are discussed.

We estimate the effect of racial congruence in middle management on firm performance using the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision setting. We first identify the effects of leadership representation on racialized minority recruitment into central positions. Subsequently, we evaluate the role of racial congruence among upper-middle (offensive coordinators) and lower-middle (quarterbacks) managers in the propensity for teams to participate in racially stratified strategic choices (racial tasking/task segregation). Most central to our inquiry, we identify the role of this racial congruence on firm (offensive) performance. Our results show that racially minoritized coordinators are more likely to recruit racially congruent quarterbacks; however, task segregation persists even in the face of racial congruence. Despite these persistent race-based strategic choices, racial congruence is associated with strong performance improvements. This effect is specific to racially minoritized pairs and is enhanced through traditionally racialized work tasks. The estimated effects are only positive in nature, and there is no performance-reducing effect of non-congruent pairings for majority race quarterbacks or coordinators. These results suggest that leadership representation can play an important role not only in improving organizational and managerial diversity, but also increasing firm productivity.

The current study examined how athletic stakeholders (e.g., coaches and support staff) at a NCAA Division I mid-major university attempt to assist international student-athletes (ISAs) with their transition into the American university setting. Semi-structured interviews with 10 athletic administrators and coaches discussed common transition issues ISAs typically encounter (e.g., cultural changes, dietary/nutritional adjustments, financial misunderstandings, homesickness, etc.), as well as resources (e.g., consistent on-boarding checklists) and a training (e.g., cultural competency training) that should be provided to practitioners that assist/coach ISAs. Additionally, programmatic offerings that might provide support systems and improve the student-athlete experience for ISAs were discussed. Our findings highlight the considerations that athletic administrators and coaches should know when attempting to support ISAs during the beginning stages of their transition to America. Due to the growing number of ISAs competing in college sport, understanding how best to support this population is crucial for athletic departments that are hoping to attract and retain ISAs.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the experiences of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) professionals in the NCAA athletics governance structure. The specific focus was centered on the multiple crises of summer 2020, including both the COVID-19 pandemic and calls for social injustices and its effects on DEI work and the impacts on DEI professionals within college athletics. In total, 23 semi-structured interviews were completed with the DEI professionals, with five major themes emerging from the results, including: (1) Reorganization of Priorities, (2) Reactive vs. Proactive Work, (3) Challenges of Virtual DEI Engagement, (4) Emotional Fatigue, and (5) Validation of DEI work. The implications for future research and practitioners will be further explored.

Ensuring that student-athletes develop the competencies and skills needed to get jobs, not just degrees, after graduation is a responsibility that college athletic departments are trying to achieve through student-athlete support services. Past research has revealed concerns that student-athletes may lack practical work experiences given the time invested in their sports. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine what services are currently available to assist student-athletes in obtaining an internship and/or practicum, and the subsequent challenges that arise in getting student-athletes to utilize those services. Our findings show that student-athlete support service programming has advanced (e.g. job shadowing, mini-internships, student-athlete specific networking events, etc.) in efforts to provide creative and diverse experiential learning opportunities to student-athletes. Furthermore, our conversations highlighted the challenges student-athlete support service professionals encounter when working with student-athletes, coaches, and athletic administrators.

The landscape of women in college sports has improved dramatically since the enactment of Title IX in 1972. Participation rates and funding have increased, providing a more inclusive environment for female student-athletes to compete. However, females ascending to leadership positions within the NCAA has experienced a downward trend. Currently, males hold the majority of athletic director positions and serve as head coaches on over half of female varsity sport teams. This may be detrimental to female student-athletes as women in leadership positions provide same-gender role models and mentors relationships for female student-athletes. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between coaching gender and perceived self-efficacy of female student-athletes to pursue coaching as a profession, while also investigating the impact of perceived barriers (discrimination and working hours) to entering the field. The sample population, Division III female student-athletes (n=192), regardless of their coach’s gender, indicated having high coaching self-efficacy. Additional findings found that coaching self-efficacy had a statically significant relationship with gender (p=.48), desire to coach (p

Racial discrimination in the coaching labor market has garnered substantial attention among researchers; however, scholars have struggled to empirically answer the question of why these disparities exist. The stacking of players into certain positions based on race in football substantially impacts future coaching candidate pools, as studies consistently find that incumbents of central positions experience more upward mobility in their careers. The purpose of the present study is to identify factors that allow coaches to make lateral moves into central coaching positions, specifically focusing on race. Examining all lateral moves among position and assistant position coaches across 32 National Football League seasons, logistic regression results indicate that, holding central position playing experience constant, Black coaches are less likely to lateral move to coach central positions. Moreover, earlier and later in the sample period, minority head coaches were less likely to assign Black assistant coaches to coach central positions. In addition to race, a separate effect of central position playing experience exists, which further emphasizes the effect of racial stacking, resulting in Black coaches experiencing discrimination still emanating from their playing careers. Based on these findings, implications within and outside sport are discussed.

Higher education in the United States, and sport management in particular, has faced contemporary attacks for its perceived lack of academic rigor. To investigate these criticisms, this study examined 830 students enrolled in 69 semester-long courses across four consecutive years in a single sport management program to measure perceived course rigor and its relationship to overall course ratings, course grades, and course level. Seven rigor questions were added to existing student ratings and distributed at the end of each semester. A factor analysis strongly supported the conceptualization of rigor utilized in the study. Pearson correlations indicated that student ratings and rigor were positively related. An ordinary least squares multiple regression also revealed that overall student ratings and course grades significantly aid in predicting course rigor. Pragmatically, the results suggest that sport management students appreciate rigorous courses and that faculty should strive to include elements of rigor into their courses without fear of retributional bias on student ratings.

One prominent, well-debated issue in the American higher education system is whether university officials should remove the names of individuals with racist pasts from campus buildings/structures that bear their namesake. The purpose of this study was to analyze basketball and football facilities at Division I Football Bowl Subdivision institutions to explore the racialized history of the people whom these facilities are named after. Utilizing a collective case study approach, the authors identified 18 facilities that were named after athletic administrators, coaches, and philanthropists who engaged in racist activities or harbored racist views. The authors argue, using critical race theory and systemic racism theory as interpretative lenses, that naming buildings after racist persons legitimizes their legacies, rationalizes systemic racism, and continues to unjustly enrich this particular group.

Racial tasking focuses on prejudicial attitudes toward racial minorities' athletic and cognitive abilities, and the subsequent impact on coaching decisions. Lacking, however, is a definitive conceptualization of racial tasking and its theoretical tenets. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to advance the concept by clearly outlining the four essential tenets of racial tasking: (a) positional similarity, (b) racial dissimilarity, (c) interest convergence/task divergence, and (d) capital (dis)accumulation. To this end, the authors introduce and review influential theories and ideologies, with particular application to the sport industry. In doing so, the authors detail the primary tenets of racial tasking, provide examples, and discuss implications to further situate this phenomenon and framework within the sport industry and sport management research. (C) 2019 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tiffany Chin's emergence in figure skating, and the ways in which she was depicted by the media, can be understood as the birth of the oriental female skater on White ice. Figure skating has historically been viewed as a White sport, so Chin's success in that space created an opportunity for future Asian American skaters. To that end, the media's coverage of Chin offers insight into how the 'differences' of Asian American female skaters were initially registered, constructed, and communicated in a racialized and gendered way. This claim is supported through an understanding of how the background and history of American women's figure skating, the sport's traditional alignment with Whiteness, and a critical reading the media narratives surrounding Chin, combine to represent an American view that framed this Chin's successes as the birth of the oriental female skater.

This article examines how some in the American media covered the emergence of Asian and Asian American athletes in the historically White-dominated sport of figure skating. Utilizing McDonald and Birrell's Reading Sport Critically approach, we analyzed a variety of major national newspapers, news magazines, sports magazines and periodicals to determine what narratives and beliefs were conveyed to explain the successes of Asian and Asian/American skaters, and the subsequent decline of American skaters. Our results show that some American media members struggled in describing this phenomenon, in that they utilized an essentialist racial lens and viewed the sport as a White space that was experiencing an 'Asian Invasion'. The findings of this paper add to the race and gender discrimination in sport literature by describing the process that a historically dominant power group (Whites) employed as Asian and Asian American figure skaters started to dominate their White space.

This study sought to determine what factors influence the decision-making processes of college football coaches when over-signing a recruiting class and/or roster. NCAA Bylaws limit the number of scholarships Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) members can award for their program (85) and annually (25) in recruiting. Over-signing is the term used to describe the practice of college programs signing prospective collegiate athletes to a National Letter of Intent (NLI) that may exceed the maximum number of athletic scholarships permitted by the NCAA, or when a team brings in a recruiting class that pushes the team’s number of players on scholarship past 85. This action results in coaching staffs taking a scholarship away from a returning player or later informing an incoming player he will not be extended a scholarship. Although many sport journalists have written about this issue (Bachman, 2011; Doyel, 2010; Feldman, 2007; Gordon, 2011; Towers, 2011; Whiteside, 2011), it has not yet been examined through an empirical study. Seventeen college football coaches and personnel staff were interviewed for this study. Our findings show that over-signing occurs because it is an accepted practice that can give coaches a competitive advantage, while also compensating for general attrition and indecisive recruits.

The purpose of this study was to examine fan opinion toward the active recruitment of prospective student-athletes with deviant pasts. College football fans were surveyed to determine to what extent the deviant behavior of a prospective student-athlete impacted how much they would support their favorite team recruiting that athlete. There were three primary findings: (a) deviant behavior negatively impacts a prospective student-athlete’s fan support score, (b) assault of a female student is the most severe deviant behavior in which an athlete could engage, and (c) White recruits were judged more harshly for using illegal drugs when compared to Black recruits.